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Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James (23) sits next to Los Angeles Lakers forward Jarred Vanderbilt (2) and Los Angeles Lakers forward Jake LaRavia (12) during the game against the Utah Jazz at Crypto.com Arena on November 18, 2025 in Los Angeles, California.
The new year hasn’t brought new tidings for the Los Angeles Lakers. If the injuries to Austin Reaves (grade 2 lef calf strain), Rui Hachimura (right calf soreness), Adou Thiero (right MCL strain) and Gabe Vincent (back strain) weren’t enough, the Lakers have been dealt another blow ahead of their first game of 2026 against the Memphis Grizzlies on Friday night.
The Lakers announced Thursday that Jarred Vanderbilt, who averaged nearly 25 minutes per game in December, has been diagnosed with right leg soreness. The 3-and-D wing is questionable for the game against the Grizzlies.
In Hachimura’s absence, Vando was expected to receive even more playing time behind starting forwards LeBron James and Jake LaRavia. Another reason for his growing role can be attributed to the Lakers’ shoddy perimeter defense, which forced head coach JJ Redick to re-insert the lanky wing into the rotation in December.
Lakers Injury News
It may take a while before the Lakers are at full strength again. While Hachimura will be re-evaluated early next week, Reaves and Thiero have been ruled out for at least a month, per The Athletic’s Dan Woike. As for Vincent, the Lakers’ backup point guard has been out of action since the Dec. 14 game against the Phoenix Suns, with no set timetable for his return.
After Tuesday’s 128-106 loss to the Detroit Pistons, LeBron James spoke candidly about the Lakers trying to overcome the loss of key players throughout the 2025-26 season.
“We haven’t had a full team all year,” James said, via ESPN’s Dave McMenamin.
“We got some very important guys out right now. And obviously I started the year being out [for the first 14 games]. And having our All-Star, 2-guard [Austin Reaves] out, and Rui [Hachimura] is now out. Gabe [Vincent has] been out for a minute. Jaxson [Hayes] just came back. There’s been a lot of in and out. So that’s very hard to get a rhythm of chemistry on the floor with guys that you know you’re going to play with every night. …
“But still no excuse. We still got to go out and execute.”
Lakers Rotation Gets Thinner
The Lakers, who went 5-7 in December, will play 10 of their 16 games in January on the road — a terrifying prospect for an injury-ravaged squad. The tough slate of games includes away contests against the San Antonio Spurs, Denver Nuggets, LA Clippers, Dallas Mavericks and Cleveland Cavaliers.
Redick realizes that things could quickly go from bad to worse for his Lakers, citing the fact that his team has been forced to use 17 different starting lineups in 31 games.
“The flow of lineups and rotations and all that has been challenging for everybody, not just the coaches,” Redick said after the last game of 2025.
“It’s just a challenge for the players, and building an identity is difficult. If you think about our team last year, this team is different, and our identity will eventually be different, but we didn’t get that identity till late January, it felt like. And then we had to shift again. So, I don’t think it’s unnatural.”
With five rotational players expected to miss Friday’s game, the Lakers will start Luka Doncic, Marcus Smart, LaRavia, James and Deandre Ayton, with Nick Smith Jr., Bronny James, Dalton Knecht, Maxi Kleber and Jaxson Hayes coming off the bench.
That doesn’t sound like a passable 10-man rotation, putting the onus on the Lakers front office to desperately make roster upgrades ahead of the Feb. 5 deadline.
Sai Mohan covers the NBA for Heavy.com. Based in Portugal, Sai is a seasoned sports writer with nearly two decades of publishing experience, including bylines at Yardbarker, FanSided’s Hoops Habit, International Business Times, Hindustan Times and more. More about Sai Mohan
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