injury

Julius Randle Injury Update

Julius Randle has missed three games due to a hip pointer injury, and the forward spoke about the injury after Monday's practice

Los Angeles Lakers forward Julius Randle played through a hip pointer issue in the Los Angeles Lakers' thrilling 101-109 victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder, but the 21-year-old forward appeared hampered by the nagging injury.

Since then, he has missed three games and remains questionable to play at the start of LA's upcoming four-game road trip.

"Julius did non-contact stuff, still questionable with hopes that he'll be ready to play at some point on this road trip," Lakers coach Luke Walton provided a brief injury update on Monday.

Walton admitted that the upcoming schedule did not allow for practice time to assess the forward's progress, "He'll have to go to the gym and do some stuff whether it's before a game and really push it and once he's pain free and doing some stuff, we'll get him on the court."

According to Randle, the trickiness of the injury is that it is based in both muscle and bone. The combination led to a slower than expected healing process, but the forward is doing his best to be patient and mature about his recovery.

"I don't have to be pain free," Randle explained that the bone bruise may be more painful but isn't the major concern, as the muscular aspect could have longer effects. "I'm just trying to figure out a way around it. The biggest thing is I don't want it to get worse. It's easy to play through an injury, but I don't want it to get worse. And then, it affect us down in the long run, you know, (if) we're fighting for a playoff spot, we're fighting for a seed and I'm not there because I didn't take care of a nagging injury 20 games into the season."

Randle explained that he feels the pain and discomfort when he makes sharp "game moves" and also when he takes on contact. Given that Randle's game is heavily based on being physical, the inability to handle contact would significantly hamper the forward's effectiveness.

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Randle concluded, "I want to play. It's just a process."

Notes: D'Angelo Russell is also out due to a sore left knee, which received a PRP injection. Russell is not in contention to play on the upcoming road trip, but the point guard will travel with the team.

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