Nick Young will likely sit out for the rest of the season, head coach Byron Scott said at practice on Saturday. Young has missed the Lakers’ last 20 games due to a fractured left kneecap.
“I haven’t even even talked to (head athletic trainer) Gary (Vitti), to be honest with you,” Scott said. “My feeling really is that, with seven games left, he probably won’t play the rest of the season. Like I said, the last report that I did get on him — which was when we were on the road — was that he really wasn’t making much progress.”
Young has been out of L.A.’s rotation since suffering his injury against Boston on Feb. 22. Since then, he has been re-evaluated on a weekly basis.
“Being out as long as he’s been out with seven games to go, I don’t really see how he can probably play,” Scott said. “He’s got to get back into game condition and things like that. So I don’t think there’s a chance he’s going to play in the next week.”
This season has been a trying one for Young, who also missed the first 10 games of the season due to a torn ligament in his thumb, as well as three games in the middle of the season due to a sprained ankle.
The 29-year-old has also shot a career-low 36.6 percent from the field this season. During the 2015 calendar year, Young's slump has been even worse, shooting just 69-for-214 from the field (32.2 percent) and 30-for-105 on 3-pointers (28.6 percent).
“It’s just a matter of him getting healthy … and understanding going into next year his priorities need to be a little different,” Scott said. “He’s a home run or a strikeout type guy on the offensive end. Just like I told him: He has to elevate his game.
“He has to grow as a basketball player if he wants to continue to play in this league for a long time. He has to get better moving without the ball; being able to defend people a little bit better; and be a better off-the-ball defender as well.”