With training camp underway, the Lakers already have a handful of injuries they have to deal with. LeBron James missed the first practice, as did Gabe Vincent, Marcus Smart and Adou Thiero, who are all in different stages of the return-to-play protocols.
On Wednesday, the Lakers got good news with Vincent participating, but they are now dealing with a Maxi Kleber injury. The Lakers forward tweaked his quad during conditioning on Tuesday and sat out of practice on Wednesday as a precaution.
Redick said
Kleber will be getting an MRI in the afternoon and hopes it’s nothing too serious.
Kleber already has a long history of being on the injury report as a Laker. He was part of the blockbuster trade that brought Luka Dončić to the Lakers, but Kleber was recovering from foot surgery when he joined the roster.
He needed to be re-evaluated for a return after eight weeks and was cleared for on-court activities in April.
This allowed him to make just one appearance in a Lakers uniform, playing in Game 5 against the Wolves. Kleber played for five minutes in that game and was rather pedestrian.
With a full offseason to prepare, there was optimism he would be fully ready to play this year. That might still be true if the tweak is minimal, but now the Lakers have to hope the MRI comes back clean.
Kleber found plenty of success playing with Luka in Dallas, so hopefully this is just a minor bump in the road for him and not a replication of last year’s injury woes.
He has career averages of 6.4 points, 4.4 rebounds, and 1.2 assists per game, making him a valuable addition, providing the Lakers with some much-needed depth.
Injuries are always a part of any season, and even before games have begun, they are a factor in determining who can participate in training camp.
We’ll see if Kleber’s injury is minimal and his return is quick in the coming days. The Lakers are set to begin preseason action this weekend.
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