Kyle Kuzma took a nasty shot to the face from Thunder rookie Darius Bazley on Tuesday night.
The incident occurred in the second quarter of Oklahoma City’s 112-107 loss to the Los Angeles Lakers when Bazley was driving towards the basket with Kuzma guarding him.
Kuzma left the game with blood pouring from his right eye. He did return to the bench after halftime but did not come back into the game.
Per Yahoo! Sports, Lakers head coach, Larry Vogel, told reporters after the game that Kuzma suffered an eye abrasion and that he used his “better judgment” to keep Kuzma on the bench in the second half.
Frank Vogel said Kyle Kuzma was diagnosed with an eye abrasion. He was available to play and cleared by the medical team, but Vogel said he used his "better judgement" and decided not to play him for the second half.
— Kyle Goon (@kylegoon) November 20, 2019
According to The Los Angeles Times, the Lakers said on Wednesday that Kuzma will play in Friday’s game in Oklahoma City despite the eye abrasion.
Additional testing confirmed Kyle Kuzma has a right eye abrasion.
He is expected to practice with the team on Thursday and play on Friday.
— Los Angeles Lakers (@Lakers) November 20, 2019
Kuzma is the Lakers’ third-leading scoring, averaging 13.1 points per game. He’s also pulling down 3.9 rebounds and .6 assists in 22.2 minutes per game.