Another busy week in the NBA provided us with plenty of highlights and lowlights – including out west where the Los Angeles Lakers provided fans with a little bit of both over the past seven days. The Lakers were supposed to be a team that earned many headlines this season but instead, they’ve faded into the abyss. Here is a quick look at some of the important news and notes from around the NBA this past week.
Kobe Bryant’s Shoulder Is Nagging
The good news for the Lakers is that Bryant hasn’t suffered another long-term injury. The bad news is that he’s banged up again. The Lakers held Kobe Bryant out of Sunday’s game against the Phoenix Suns because of a shoulder injury, which now makes it back-to-back games in which No. 24 was unable to go. Bryant wanted to play but his shoulder was bothering him, so the team decided to hold him out for at least one more game and he remains day-to-day. Kobe has had a decent year in terms of fantasy production but it makes sense to be wary of his position right now. There has been no official word from the team about how Bryant aggravated the shoulder but it is worth noting that he tore his rotator cuff on a dunk in January of 2015 and was forced to miss the remainder of the year. Don’t expect the Lakers to push him as his farewell tour is at least temporarily put on hold. The Lakers would rather lose as much as possible as they’re aiming for a rebuild and a high draft pick. Those are their biggest goals this season.
Lakers Put Together Win Streak
It’s almost somewhat comical that a paragraph recapping Kobe’s injury situation is followed by news that the Lakers have strung together three wins in a row – including the last two without him. Los Angeles had not won three in a row since last February but Lou Williams scored a season-high 30 points on Sunday and the Lakers followed up wins over the Boston Celtics and Philadelphia 76ers with a 97-77 win over the Phoenix Suns. Most basketball fans understand why Kobe may very well be a detriment to his team at this point. He’s an inefficient shooter that demands a ton of touches and struggles to keep up at the defensive end of the floor. Ultimately, Los Angeles will need to continue to lose games in order to retain its protected top-five pick for this year’s NBA Draft, so they have to hope Kobe returns soon to help the team struggle again. Make sense? The Lakers had won just five times in their first 32 games prior to their current three-game streak.
Jarrett Jack Suffers Torn ACL
The Brooklyn Nets will be without point guard Jarrett Jack for the remainder of the season after he suffered a torn right ACL on Saturday. The 32-year-old had been very productive for the Nets and for his fantasy owners this season, so it is disappointing to see him go down with a long way still to go this season. The Nets will turn to Shane Larkin as their starting point guard moving forward and while he has averaged a modest 6.2 points, 3.0 assists and 2.3 rebounds per game so far this season. However, his production should increase as he takes on a bigger role for Brooklyn moving forward, so he has now become fantasy relevant.
Curry Dealing With Calf Strain
Golden State Warriors’ point guard Stephen Curry isn’t dealing with a significant injury but any time that the MVP is dealing with a nagging issue it is worth mentioning. Curry wasn’t able to finish Saturday’s game against the Denver Nuggets because of a nagging shin injury and he is officially listed as questionable for Monday’s game against the Charlotte Hornets. Curry is considered day-to-day right now but his fantasy owners in particular will keep an eye out for any update this week with a level of optimism he returns to action and everything is just fine after all.
