Lakers News: Darvin Ham Explains Decision To Sit D'Angelo Russell In Second Half Of Rockets Blowout

D-Lo sat with a sore left foot.

Los Angeles Lakers starting point guard D'Angelo Russell was shelved for the second half of LA's emphatic 134-109 blowout win over the Houston Rockets due to a sore left foot, which is never what you want to hear with just four games left in a team's regular season run.

After the game, Los Angeles head coach Darvin Ham spoke with reporters about the severity (or relative lack thereof) of the ailment. LA next plays on Tuesday, against the struggling 36-41 Utah Jazz.

“We always said we wanted to get stronger as the season gets longer.” Darvin Ham sees the team coming together at the perfect time of the season and more. pic.twitter.com/nCe1zhMKDK

— Spectrum SportsNet (@SpectrumSN) April 3, 2023

“It was definitely precautionary," Ham revealed of the injury. "Just a little left foot soreness, [it] flared up a little bit. He could have continued if we needed him to, but [with] the bodies we have have available to us now, we just didn’t want to risk it. We decided to hold him out and he'll be evaluated, we'll see how he feels in the morning.”

With Russell healthy, the Lakers have gone 8-6. Since he was activated for LA following the February 9th NBA trade deadline, the club has gone 15-7 overall, thanks to the team's other new additions around its incumbent stars, Anthony Davis and LeBron James.

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