The Los Angeles Lakers were not at full strength when they started the 2022-23 season at the Golden State Warriors on Tuesday evening.
Guard Dennis Schroder was out after having a procedure to fix a finger injury he suffered during the preseason. Small forward Troy Brown Jr. missed all of the preseason with a back injury, and he’s still not ready to make his Lakers debut.
Meanwhile, center Thomas Bryant looked very solid throughout the exhibition season, but he was not available on Tuesday versus the Warriors. He had suffered a sprained thumb, and after having surgery to fix the ailment, he will be out for at least the next three weeks.
Lakers center Thomas Bryant underwent successful surgery today to repair the ulnar collateral ligament on his left thumb.
Bryant will be reevaluated by team doctors in approximately three weeks, and further updates will be provided at that time.
— Los Angeles Lakers (@Lakers) October 18, 2022
Without him, head coach Darvin Ham started Anthony Davis at the 5. Damian Jones, the team’s other true center, didn’t get any playing time on Tuesday as Ham elected to go small.
[mm-video type=video id=01gfpd87cqyqfnh9vhgp playlist_id=01f09kz5ecxq9bp57b player_id=01f5k5xtr64thj7fw2 image=https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/video/thumbnail/mmplus/01gfpd87cqyqfnh9vhgp/01gfpd87cqyqfnh9vhgp-7fd06769c13804598b0d194b0948ed0f.jpg]
[listicle id=86758]