The Los Angeles Lakers’ solidified starting lineup of point guard D’Angelo Russell, shooting guard Austin Reaves, All-Star small forward LeBron James, power forward Rui Hachimura, and center Anthony Davis has been largely healthy this season (although it took a while for head coach Darvin Ham to begin starting these five together). But the rest of their roster has been beset by injury issues. Most critically, the team has been without reserve point guard Gabe Vincent and backup combo forward Jarred Vanderbilt for much of the season. Vincent has missed all but five games with a left knee effusion, and is still out. Vanderbilt has played in just 29 contests with a variety of maladies. Small forward Cam Reddish and center Christian Wood have also missed extended time.
Now, another Lakers role player is down for the count. In fairness, his availability is far less critical to the team’s success than the aforementioned four backups. Shams Charania of The Athletic reports that LA’s rookie first round draft pick, combo guard Jalen Hood-Schifino out of Indiana University, had a minor back surgery today. Charania notes that the Lakers are calling it a lumbar microdiscectomy procedure.
Lakers say Jalen Hood-Schifino underwent a lumbar microdiscectomy back procedure today.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) March 21, 2024
Hood-Schifino had yet to crack LA’s primary rotation, outside of occasional garbage time run. LA selected him with the No. 17 pick in last summer’s draft, directly ahead of three probable All-Rookie players in Miami Heat wing Jaime Jaquez Jr. out of UCLA, Golden State Warriors guard Brandin Podziemski out of the University of Illinois, and Houston Rockets forward Cam Whitmore out of Villanova. But it’s early yet.
Getty Images/Harry How
As an All-Big Ten guard with the Hoosiers in 2022-23, Hood-Schifino averaged 13.5 points on .417/.333/.776 shooting splits, 4.1 rebounds and 3.7 assists across 32 games last year. The 6’6″ playmaker was looked at as a big point guard, and no doubt Rob Pelinka was hoping he could serve as a supplemental playmaker alongside James. With the Lakers, Hood-Schifino played mostly at off-guard, but only saw the floor in 21 contests for an average of 5.2 minutes per.
He did impress during his minutes with LA’s NBAGL affiliate, the South Bay Lakers. Across his 15 contests with South Bay, however, Hood-Schifino looked like he was blossoming into an encouragingly robust scorer. He posted averages of 22 points on a .473/.432/.800 slash line, 5.3 assists, 4.7 rebounds, 0.9 steals and 0.6 blocks.
Uncommon Knowledge
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.