Lakers Hit With More Bad Injury News Ahead of Raptors Game

The Los Angeles Lakers will continue to be without their best defensive player, Marcus Smart, in Thursday’s clash against the Toronto Raptors.

Per the NBA’s official injury report, Smart has been listed out due to Lower Back Injury Management. The news means Smart will miss a fourth consecutive game due to back spasms, spelling trouble for a Lakers team that ranks 18th in defensive efficiency.

In the last three games without Smart, the Lakers gave up 125 points to the Phoenix Suns, 119 to the Dallas Mavericks and 118 to the Los Angeles Clippers, struggling mightily on the defensive end. After the loss to the Suns, Lakers head coach JJ Redick provided a positive update on Smart, calling it a “day-to-day” thing.

“He was feeling a little tightness, I guess it was three games ago now, before the game,” Redick said of Smart, via LakersNation. “Played through it, tightened up after, I guess it was really tight the next day, the day before Thanksgiving.”

Lakers Miss Marcus Smart

Redick added that Smart’s imaging resembled that of a “normal 11-year veteran” and didn’t cause many alarms within the Lakers’ medical staff.

“So he got imaging. Imaging was unremarkable, it looked like a normal 11-year NBA veteran,” Redick said of Smart’s injury. We’ve all got that MRI. So we’re not concerned long-term, it’s a day-to-day thing.

“I had a number of those week to two-week episodes during a stretch of my career when I played for the Clippers and it would just pop up and you would feel like you’re progressing and then it would kind of plateau. So we expect him to be back soon, it’s not a long-term thing.”

The Lakers have been a significantly better team with Marcus Smart on the floor, giving up 106.7 points when he’s on and 115.8 when he’s off — a 9.1-point differential.  As such, Redick’s team desperately needs Smart back to shore up its perimeter defense.

Lakers Also Missing Luka Doncic

To make matters worse, the Lakers will also be without their best player, Luka Doncic, for Thursday’s game against the Raptors. The Slovenian is out for personal reasons.

The game versus the Raptors marks the first of a three-game East Coast road trip that also includes stops in Boston and Philadelphia.

In Doncic’s absence, the Lakers are expected to start Austin Reaves, Gabe Vincent, LeBron James, Rui Hachimura and Deandre Ayton.

The Lakers would hope to get Smart and Doncic back quickly given the cut-throat nature of the Western Conference. Despite owning a 15-5 record, the Lakers are only 2.5 games ahead of the sixth-seeded Minnesota Timberwolves (13-8) and just 0.5 games ahead of the fifth-seeded Denver Nuggets (15-6). As such, a few bad losses could mean the Lakers lose their hold over the top-three seed.

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