Lakers No. 2 overall pick D’Angelo Russell sat out the final few minutes of Thursday’s practice due to a bone bruise in his right foot, an injury he believes to be minor enough that he may play in the team’s second practice on Thursday evening.
“I feel fine,” Russell said. “It’s just a little bruise.”
The 19-year-old suggested that he needs to take better care to ice his foot, and hopes it’s just a small flare up due in part to all of the running the team’s been doing for the first three days of Byron Scott’s training camp.
“We’ll see how he feels later on tonight, see if he can go tonight,” said Scott. “And if not – if he has pain there – we’ll sit him down for precautionary reasons and we’ll get him ready for tomorrow. But right now he’s not ruled out for tonight’s practice.”
Russell has been working with Jordan Clarkson and Kobe Bryant in what may well be the starting group alongside some combo of Roy Hibbert with Julius Randle or Brandon Bass. Bryant’s been highly complimentary of the rookie.
“He loves the game,” Bryant said. “When you have a player that really loves the game it’s my responsibility to make sure he never loses sight of it in the difficult moments. … Once you have that, you’ll problem solve everything.”
Russell’s hoping that some ice and an afternoon rest is all the bruise in his foot needs.
We’ll learn more at the evening practice.