Los Angeles Lakers head coach Luke Walton is ‘fairly confident’ that his starting point guard D’Angelo Russell will return from a calf/knee injury tomorrow when the Lakers take on the Denver Nuggets in Los Angeles.
The 20-year-old Russell went through Lakers practice on Sunday without any reported issues for the first time since suffering a mild knee sprain and a strained calf that have caused Russell to miss Los Angeles’ last three games. Russell is officially listed as questionable on the Lakers’ injury report.
If Russell is unable to play once again tomorrow, Walton will likely turn to veteran point guard Jose Calderon to start once again, but not play a whole lot of minutes. Calderon started alongside Nick Young in the backcourt in the Lakers’ last contest against the Utah Jazz, while Luol Deng, Tarik Black and Timofey Mozgov made up the front court.
Lakers power forward Julius Randle has been ruled out of the game with an illness, meaning that same lineup could poentially happen once again tomorrow, with Russell in place of Calderon if all goes well. Brandon Ingram, Larry Nance Jr., Jordan Clarkson, and Lou Williams will still likely play more minutes than some of the starters.
Russell is averaging 14.3 points, 3.7 rebounds, and 4.4 assists per game this season.
