We already knew D’Angelo Russell, after missing Tuesday’s game against the Thunder, was ruled out for today’s game against the Warriors. It turns out, however, that he will be out longer than just those two games. According to the team, he received a PRP injection into his left knee and will be out a minimum of two weeks. He will be reevaluated after one week, likely to see how his knee has taken to the injection.
For those who are not familiar with PRP, it is similar to the treatments Kobe used to travel to Germany to treat his knee issues in the second half of his career. Per wikipedia, PRP “is blood plasma that has been enriched with platelets. As a concentrated source of autologous platelets, PRP contains several different growth factors and other cytokines that can stimulate healing of soft tissue.” In layman’s terms, they take some of Russell’s own blood, treat it in a way to concentrate the platelets (which promote healing), and then inject it back into the area which you want to feel better — in this case, Russell’s knee.
While it’s a downer to have Russell be out for an extended period, I think it’s good to be cautious with him. He’s 20 years old. The last thing the team needs is for him to play through knee pain and 1). make it worse or 2). overcompensate to that pain and injure something else. Russell himself said he favored the knee when he played on Sunday and, long term, I see little good coming from him attempting to do that night after night.
If him getting this treatment and taking some time off helps him come back pain free, I am all for that. Even if he has to sit out longer, I’d ultimately be okay with that too. It would be even more of a downer if that ended up being the case, but again, he’s 20 years old. He should have another decade plus in this league and doing right by his body to ensure he not only gets those years, but is healthy and can maximize his play during them should be the highest priority.
So, the Lakers will need to go on without him. Jose Calderon should slide into the starting lineup and he will be tested severely, playing one of the toughest positions in the league night to night and doing so as a 35 year old. The Lakers will need to leverage his shooting and try to cover up for his defensive deficiencies, but that’s what coaches are paid for. Some nights they will be successful in this, others not as much. Hopefully it’s more the former than the latter.
It begins tonight in Oakland when Calderon goes up against some guy named Steph Curry. Not ideal for Jose, but he’s a big-boy and a veteran in this league. He knows the drill and will just need to do his best. Hopefully his teammates can pick him up on nights where he’s not doing as well and lean on him when he has it going. That’s what being a good team is about. And while we do not yet know if the Lakers actually are a good team, I think they can be.
This upcoming stretch will tell us more about that. Here’s hoping they can continue to surprise.
KevTheBold says
Bummer, and it also alters the results of what is a first test of our mantle as a team and each individual.
In addition, he will miss out on a bonding experience of this 1st period of war along side his comrades.
Conversely in perspective, they are only just beginning their journey together {hopefully} and a few weeks will make little difference and his health long term is of the utmost importance.
_ Robert _ says
Very bad news
Playing him against Chicago was a bad move
Hopefully we will not repeat this, but this was
Byron/Kobe/Viti esque
mgoldman1959 says
Can you clarify–I’m not clear exactly on what the nature of the injury is, how it occurred, is it considered serious or will minor treatment like this and rest deal with it, etc? Is there a tear of something, etc? All I hear is that there is ‘soreness’ and that this treatment will ‘heal tissue.’ Not sure what that all means long term. I get they are being cautious. But not clear what they are being cautious about. Any clarification appreciated.
_ Robert _ says
mgoldman1959: I do not have any extra info on the injury other than that which is readily available in the main articles on this. However when you have a sore knee and miss a game, then play a game then miss another game, and then are declared out for at least 2 weeks:
That is not being cautious. What is means is that you should not have played against Chicago.
bluehill says
This sucks. Get better DLo!
Here’s some background on PRP.
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/platelet-rich-plasma-therapy-dennis-cardone-sports-medicine-injury/
“How could concentrating the platelets that are at the site of injury help healing?
Theoretically, many of the athletes may have a type of http://www.scientificamerican.com/podcast/episode/080882C2-E7F2-99DF-34CA6F31FB03358E,
[such as] Achilles tendonitis or, say, patellar tendonitis in the knee
or tennis elbow. Many of these tendon injuries become chronic, and
involve microscopic tearing of the tendon and formation of scar tissue. A
reason why it’s difficult to heal these tendon injuries is related to
poor blood supply to the region. The perfect example would be the
Achilles. It’s a tendon with, in general, a poor blood supply, so when
there are these microscopic tears or chronic scarring, the body has a
difficult time healing it. The theory is that the body can’t on its own
get enough of these healing or growth factors to the area, but now this
concentrated platelet injected there just enhances the nutrients and
growth factors to allow the body to heal it.”
FredP says
Even though this treatment is similar to what Kobe had performed on his knee, the lack of an MRI suggests that the Lakers are not worried about cartilage damage yet. This may be an attempt to keep the knee from progressing to damage that would require shutting Russell down for the season. The impact of Russell sitting is not too bad since all of the Lakers play “restricted” minutes and Calderon and Huertas are capable of spot minutes. The Lakers version of the death lineup is not changed by keeping Clarkson with the second unit and Ingram seems to be improving with each game.
A Horse With No Name says
You might be right. But knee soreness is a fact of life for athletes who run and jump. My college freshman volleyball player ices literally every day for chronic knee soreness. The laker training staff went through the standard protocol and weren’t concerned that DAR had incurred damage to his knee. The PRP will likely get him better sooner. Let’s see before you invoke doom and gloom.