LOS ANGELES — For Cam Reddish, the last week or so have been a “roller coaster.”
“Mentally, physically, spiritually,” Reddish said Monday morning ahead of the Lakers’ home game against the Oklahoma City Thunder. “Everything.”
But after missing a month of game action because of a sprained right ankle, Reddish is optimistic that he’ll regain his rhythm during the stretch run of the season.
Reddish missed the Lakers’ 14 games from Jan. 23-Feb. 28 after suffering the ankle injury in a loss to the Clippers.
“I didn’t know what to expect, to be honest with you,” Reddish said. “They told me 3-4 weeks, it was around three to four weeks. It kind of all lined up.”
Since returning in last Wednesday’s 116-112 victory over the Clippers, Reddish has once again been a fixture in the rotation off the bench, including being in the Lakers’ closing lineup in Saturday’s 124-114 loss to the Denver Nuggets.
He had played 20, four and 19 minutes in the three games he played since returning entering Monday.
“Obviously my minutes have been all over the place,” Reddish said. “Just trying to find that middle ground. My ankle feels good.
“It’s always tough to find a rhythm on both sides of the ball. I’ll be back in no time, you know, so I’m not too concerned about that. Conditioning, I’m not really concerned about that either. So just give it a little more time, I’ll be fine.”
With just 19 games left in the regular season after Monday’s matchup against the Thunder, Reddish will be limited in time and opportunities to get back to the level he was playing at before the injury.
“I mean I’ve been doing everything possible to [keep] ankle right, all types of treatment, icing, medicine, you name it,” Reddish said. “So I mean it’s all about hopefully I don’t have a fluke landing again and keep it pushing.”
PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Lakers star LeBron James was named the Western Conference Player of the Week for games played between Feb. 26-March 3.
It marked an NBA-record 68th time he received a weekly honor.
James averaged 30.3 points (56.9% shooting), 8.7 assists, 4.7 rebounds, 1.3 steals and one blocked shot during a week the Lakers went 2-1.
INJURY UPDATES
Lakers coach Darvin Ham didn’t have injury updates on guard Gabe Vincent, who is recovering from a Dec. 27 left knee surgery, or forward Jarred Vanderbilt, who has been sidelined for a month because of a sprained right midfoot.
When Vincent had his injury, the team said he would be reevaluated in approximately eight weeks, which was two weeks ago from this upcoming Wednesday.
Vanderbilt was expected to be reevaluated in about 3-4 weeks.
“I think the next update is scheduled to be next week sometime, if I’m not mistaken,” Ham said. “Everything is going according to plan.”