A few days ago, the Lakersannounced that the sprained ankle which had been keeping Sasha Vujacic on the sidelines for most of training camp was actually something more serious. It turned out to be an "avulsion fracture," something that was pre-existing but was aggravated by the more recent sprain. The injury was supposed to keep Sasha away from any basketball-related activities for 10-14 days, and the thinking was that he would end up missing the entire pre-season. As it turns out, things seem to be progressing ahead of schedule, and Sasha may be able to hit the court sooner than expected.
After sitting for most of today's practice and getting treatment on the ankle, Sasha spent a while afterward playing with rookies Joe Crawford and Brandon Heath in a long-range shootout. Even though it was just shooting, that sounds basketball-related to me, and Sasha said he's feeling good enough to target Monday as a time for him to start working himself back into practices.
“I’m shooting to try to do something on Monday, to see how might ankle will feel,” Vujacic said. “It feels really good walking.”
“Right now I’m swimming, bike riding, lifting weights, doing a little shooting and some Pilates,” Vujacic said. “Anything that doesn’t put stress on the ankle. I’m trying to stay in shape as much as I can.”
Ultimately though, the Lakers' training staff will be the ones to decide when Sasha will be back on the court. Even though pre-season is a time to get into a rhythm with your teammates and Sasha could use the work, they're not going to rush him back at the risk of re-injuring the ankle, which would cause him to be out even longer. And that's something the Lakers definitely can't afford once the season starts, considering they're shooting a dismal 9-39 from three-point land in the three pre-season games they've played with Sasha out of action.
