Los Angeles Lakers: Brandon Ingram’s diagnosis comes at worst time for player and team

The Los Angeles Lakers’ injury-riddled season hit rock bottom with the news of Brandon Ingram missing the rest of the season with a blood clot in his arm.

With injuries hindering their postseason chances since Christmas, the Los Angeles Lakers received the final injury blow with Brandon Ingram’s deep venous thrombosis (DVT) diagnosis that will keep him from playing the rest of the season. DVT is when a blood clot forms in a deep vein and is very serious if not treated right away.

This injury comes after Ingram missed two games due to shoulder pain, and if he hadn’t said anything and tried to play through the pain, the ensuing result could have been much worse. Blood clots are not to be messed with. They can clog up passageways to main organs, which prevents blood from flowing to those organs and may result in them shutting down unless treated.

The most recent example of blood clots affecting a NBA career is Chris Bosh, who first discovered his in leg in 2015. This forced him to sit out the remainder of that season before returning for the following season, only to have an All-Star year cut short again because of a reappearance of a blood clot. Bosh failed his physical the next season and will officially retire when his jersey is retired by the Miami Heat on March 26.

Bosh held out hope to be cleared to return to the court, but it wasn’t worth the risk due to the severity of blood clots and how they can reappear at any time. Ingram’s are in the early stage of the treatment, so we will see how his body reacts to the blood thinners and other forms of medication. Regardless, this injury comes at a terrible time for both him and the Los Angeles Lakers.

Ingram was playing the best basketball of his NBA career, averaging 23.3 points, 5.8 rebounds and 3.1 assists over his last 13 games. He was shooting efficiently from the field, knocking down 55.1 percent of his 15.9 attempts per game, including 38.5 percent of his 2.0 3-point attempts. Most impressively, Ingram was converting 77.4 percent of his 6.5 free throw attempts per game as a career 66.2 percent free throw shooter.

His defense has been a strength of his in his early NBA career, but becoming that efficient of a scorer and increasing that free throw clip is massive for his potential. Ingram is not even surrounded by floor-spacers, but still gets his shot off and gets to the rim. He seemed to turn a corner with his confidence, and this serious medical issue comes at the worst time for him.

The severity of the injury goes beyond basketball for B.I., but this comes at a terrible time for the Lakers as well. They are unofficially out of the playoff race, but with Ingram and Lonzo Ball out for the season, Kyle Kuzma nursing an ankle injury of his own and LeBron James having his minutes restricted, it’s over. Them being shorthanded will help their tanking efforts to increase their odds of a higher pick, so there is one silver lining at least.

This version of the Lakers was not going to be a force in the postseason and the team was already turning its attention to this summer. Whether or not he played himself out of trade conversations was to be determined, but any move to acquire Anthony Davis or another big star this offseason centered around Ingram heading the other way.

Ingram’s DVT diagnosis will require at least a couple months of medication that will limit his basketball activity. Teams trading for him will want to know the blood clot issue is completely healed before compiling a trade package. If Ingram is still off the practice court come early August, the Lakers may miss their opportunity to include him in trade talks, causing them to lose out on AD or other stars.

That is the business side of this injury that probably should be overlooked until more is known about Ingram’s health, but this is a business and it’s safe to say the Lakers front office and others around the league have thought about this. Ingram’s DVT puts a halt to his season and any efforts to trade him for a star, which hamstrings the Lakers’ ability to make moves this summer.

The health of Brandon Ingram takes precedence over his timetable to return to the court or how frequently his name will come up in trade rumors. Everybody saw Ingram flash his talent the past month, now it’s time for Ingram to get back to full health and hopefully grace the basketball court, and worry about everything else when the blood clots are managed.