The Lakers will be without Rui Hachimura in the second night of their back-to-back on Thursday as he will be out with left patellar tendinopathy.
Hachimura has recently returned from the injury, but it will be one that lingers for the rest of the season. Given that he is also still on a minutes restriction, it’s not a surprise that he is not featuring in a back-to-back.
On Wednesday, Hachimura played 28 minutes in the win over the Pacers, the most since his return. It’s also notable that his minutes restriction had been between 20-24 minutes, so that was a high figure for him.
After coming back against the Bulls, Hachimura spoke about his injury, revealing that it was something that wouldn’t heal during the season. In fact, he said his knee was only about 70-80% and wouldn’t be 100% without extended rest.
It’s likely, then, that there will be more games where Rui rests. In fact, it wouldn’t be a surprise if he doesn’t play in any of the team’s three remaining back-to-backs, including Thursday.
The good news is that, outside of Rui, there are no changes to the injury report. LeBron James also recently returned from injury, but back-to-backs are not off the table for him. Similarly, Luka Dončić has sat out in back-to-backs this season, too, but is active for this one.
The Lakers will need all hands on deck against a Bulls team they lost to less than a week ago in one of their worst defensive performances of the season, to say the least.
You can follow Jacob on Twitter at@JacobRude or on Bluesky at@jacobrude.bsky.social.