NBA: Lakers: Long break for Lopez

Brook Lopez injured his right ankle in the game against the Golden State Warriors on Tuesday night. On Wednesday, the Los Angeles Lakers announced that the ankle is sprained.

Lopez will be dropped out for the time being and will be re-evaluated in three weeks. The injury had occurred in an attempted block in the first half.

“Brook means a lot to our game,”Lonzo Ball said on Wednesday about the Starting Center,”He’s an offensive and defensive force in the zone and he can throw, so we’ll miss him very much and hope to compensate for his failure somehow. Everybody’s got to shove a scoop on it.”

Luke Walton did not want to announce on Wednesday how he will change his Starting Five now, but Rookie Kyle Kuzma will presumably start again on the fourth and Larry Nance will move up to Center. It is also conceivable that Julius Randle will be promoted to a starter.

Lopez has scored 12.8 points, 4.3 rebounds and 1.6 blocks on average so far this season.