Following an excellent start to his 2026-27 campaign, Ziaire Williams has missed the Los Angeles Lakers’ past three games because of a left foot injury. In speaking with reporters prior to Sunday’s win over the Toronto Raptors, head coach JJ Redick didn’t seem too worried about Williams’ status, however.
“The images have been clean. It’s this, I would describe it as a soreness that just pops up in the morning,” Redick said. “He’s feeling a lot better. I think just being, again, cautious with the back
to back.”
Los Angeles has gone 2-1 without Williams in the lineup as Jake LaRavia’s stepped up to replace his sidelined teammate. In Williams’ stead, LaRavia is averaging 6.7 points (46.7% shooting, 50% from deep), 4.7 rebounds, 1.7 steals, 1.3 blocks and 1.3 assists over the past three outings.
Before injury struck, Williams was filling a crucial role for the Lakers as one of their primary point-of-attack stoppers and an efficient off-ball scorer capitalizing on his chances alongside Luka Dončić and Austin Reaves. In four games, he’s averaging a career-high 11.3 points (69.2% on 2-pointers, 46.7% beyond the arc), 3.0 rebounds, 2.3 assists and 1.5 steals. Los Angeles has outscored its opponents by 29 points during his 114 minutes this season.
Already fairly thin on the wing, especially at power forward, the Lakers will hope Williams is back sooner rather than later. Aside from Monday’s second leg of a back-to-back, they don’t have another back-to-back until Nov. 17 and 18, so the schedule isn’t too jumbled in the coming weeks. That should help limit how many — if any — more games Williams misses.
Courtesy of another sensational performance on Sunday from Dončić (45 points, 15 rebounds, six assists, five steals, one block), the Lakers dispatched the Kawhi Leonard-less Raptors, 131-125, and moved to 5-2, good for fourth in the West (if an early season standings watch is your cup of tea).
They’ll look for their sixth win of the year Monday night when they welcome the Heat to town. After a sluggish 0-4 start, Miami’s won two games in a row. Tipoff is slated for 7 p.m. inside Crypto.com Arena.
You can follow Jackson on Twitter at @jackfrank_jjf.
