Lakers Injury Report: Jarred Vanderbilt Rehabbing Heel With LA Coach

Hopefully he'll be back soon.

Los Angeles Lakers power forward Jarred Vanderbilt, who has missed the past couple of weeks of gameplay including the first two games of the season with a heel injury, looks to be back on the court without any brace or obvious physical limitations with assistant coach Phil Handy.

Jarred Vanderbilt was back on the practice court doing skill work with Phil Handy pic.twitter.com/cVrVD7uQFN

— Dave McMenamin (@mcten) October 28, 2023

Despite his return to skill work, he's expected to be out for and re-evaluated in two weeks.

Jarred Vanderbilt, who was re-examined by team doctors on Thursday, will be re-evaluated by the Lakers medical staff in 2 weeks, the Lakers say.

The Lakers say Vanderbilt's left heel bursitis is improving.

— Khobi Price (@khobi_price) October 27, 2023

Vando's loss has been big for the Lakers, as they've struggled to contain versatile scorers in both of their first two matchups. In the opening night loss to Denver, Jamal Murray had 21 points on a highly efficient 7-11 from the field, and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope had 20 points. 

In their second game, a win against Phoenix, Kevin Durant put up 39 points on 28 shots, which magnified the loss of Vanderbilt's 6'9" height and 7'1" wingspan against the 6'10" 3-level scoring threat. 

While the Lakers have great depth and that has limited the impact of Vando's absence, he's the team's best perimeter defender who is capable of guarding 1-4. 

As the regular season kicks into full swing, getting Vanderbilt back for the bulk of the in-season tournament, which tips off on November 10th for the Lakers, should be what Lakers fans hope for.

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