Lakers star Rajon Rondo fractures his thumb during practice and will be off the field for 8 weeks.
Lakers Rajon Rondo got his thumb fractured while practicing at Lakers on Sunday. According to The Athletic’s Shams Charania he is going to miss 6-8 weeks. Sunday was only the Lakers’ second practice in Orlando ahead of the NBA’s restart.
It is said that Rondo is the first player to get his thumb injured at Disney, though a hand injury is most commonly caused by rust. Rajon Rondo missed time during 2018-2019 season with a broken hand previously.
Rondo is the only true point guard on the Lakers roaster averaged 7.1 points, 5.0 assists and 3.0 rebounds per game even before the season was shut down,is not wrong. His role in his team is not just stick to one, he serves as reserved, he serves as the primary Lakers ball-handler while their team functional point guard LeBron James went to bench.
Lakers depth already took a hit significantly when starting guard Avery Bradley opted out of playing at Disney, while the Lakers are struggling with Rondo on the floor, while Bradley decided not to play the rest of the season and former backups Alex Caruso and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope were already in line for more playing time. Quinn Cook is the only reserved guard who spent the entire season with his team with the Lakers.
Lakers did however sign Doin Waiters just before the season was suspended and then sign J.R. Smith on July 1 during the league’s transaction window. But this can be seen as their weakness, as the players have no significant similarity, as compared to the stylish skills of Rondo.
This proves to be Lakers bench one of the biggest weakness of the season, their offense scores 113.3 points per 100 possession with James on the floor, but only 105.2 per 100 possessions with him on the bench. As their struggle is on Lakers need somebody to carry their score burden bravely with James out.
By seeing Rondo’s playoffs experience and his basketball IQ make him more preferable to both LeBron and Anthony Davis who played with him on the New Orleans Pelicans.
All the players in the team have faith on Rondo despite analytics stood against him, trust is the most valuable thing with NBA finishing with such unfamiliar way and with Rondo missing a significant proportion of time due to his injury. The only thing which moves Lakers to be in the game is their hope for the backcourt rotation which can pick up the slack.
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