Lakers fans will have to wait even longer for the regular season debut of Maxi Kleber this season.
The team announced on Tuesday morning that Kleber would be reevaluated in two weeks with an oblique strain.
He was initially listed as questionable for the season opener.
Kleber has been dealing with injuries throughout his Lakers career. During training camp, he suffered a quad injury, which limited his availability in the preseason to just the final game.
Now he’ll be out for the regular season opener and then some with this new ailment.
Last season, Kleber joined the Lakers as part of the Luka Dončić trade. When he arrived, he was recovering from foot surgery. Kleber was only available for Game 5 against the Wolves last year, which he did, in fact, take part in.
For the Lakers, Kleber is likely a third-string big, so his absence isn’t devastating. Still, this is less than ideal.
Not having Kleber once again makes the frontcourt options that much slimmer. The Lakers will have to rely even more on Deandre Ayton and Jaxson Hayes. They might also have to begin using two-way player Christian Koloko’s availability. As a two-way player, he can suit up for a maximum of 50 NBA games.
The good news is that two weeks for a reevaluation isn’t a long time, relatively speaking. Ideally, Kleber will make progress on his injury and can return, missing just the early parts of the season. However, with Kleber, the injury bug seems to continuously bite him. So, for now, it needs to be a wait-and-see approach regarding his availability.
Hopefully, this is just a bump in the road for Kleber, and he will be relatively healthy this year. The Lakers would certainly prefer that, so they can see what he can still contribute to this team on the court.
You can follow Edwin on Twitter at @ECreates88 or on Bluesky at @ecreates88.bsky.social.
