Los Angeles Lakers: Fallout from Rajon Rondo’s injury

For the second time this season, the Los Angeles Lakers will be without Rajon Rondo for an extended period of time, this time for a month.

The Los Angeles Lakers are currently playing their best basketball of the season. They’ve won six of their last seven games, including four straight after a 126-117 win over the Portland Trail Blazers on Nov. 14.

Their rotation seemed set with the addition of Tyson Chandler providing another big man with JaVale McGee, but an injury to the Lakers backcourt in that Portland win forces head coach Luke Walton to reshuffle his bench with Rajon Rondo injured.

Rondo had surgery to fix the broken third metacarpal in his right hand on Nov. 16, an injury sustained in the final frame of that game while attempting to make a steal.

He is expected to miss four-to-five weeks and comes at a time when the Lakers were finally turning the corner with the early part of their season. Rondo was suspended three games earlier in the season for his part in the Lakers-Houston Rockets fight, with the Lakers going 2-1 in that brief stretch.

Rondo is averaging 8.5 points, 6.5 assists, 4.5 rebounds and 1.2 steals in 25.3 minutes on a per game basis in his 11 games this season. He has provided stability to the team with his veteran presence and high basketball IQ, while also presenting Walton options with his closing lineups.

Coach Walton stated the point guard position “will be a work in progress” and that Rondo’s skill set “can’t be replaced”, but a next man up approach will be utilized.

The Lakers have ball handlers to cope with his loss, but his communication and barking out plays on both sides of the floor will surely be missed. Here are two developments from his injury.