After suiting up only 10 of the 15 players on their roster against Utah on Sunday, the Lakers appear to be getting healthier by the hour.
D’Angelo Russell (right ankle sprain) and Brandon Bass (corneal abrasion) are listed as probable for Tuesday’s meeting with New Orleans, while Kobe Bryant (right Achilles strain) is questionable. All three missed Los Angeles’ last game against the Jazz.
Bryant was out for the first three games of the new year with a sore right shoulder before playing a back-to-back on Jan. 7 and 8.
The Achilles ailment is a new development for the 17-time all-star.
“I’m not too concerned about it right now, and he didn’t seem to be very concerned about it,” head coach Byron Scott said at practice Monday. “We’ll see how he feels tomorrow. I think if it goes a little like his shoulder — five or six days — it is what it is.
“He seems to respond well from rest and treatment, so we’ll just have to wait and see.”
Meantime, Russell tried to play on Jan. 8 but was unable to. After sitting out against the Jazz, he is looking to recapture the momentum he created by dropping 27 points in Sacramento before hurting that ankle in the fourth quarter.
“I don’t look at it as a setback,” Russell said. “I look at it as: It just happened. (We should) go back to how we were playing as a team.”
Scott says the team will use discretion with its No. 2 overall draft pick.
“The ankle looks better, but that’s from the outside,” Scott said. “He says it still has that pain in there, so we have to be very cautious with that and make sure we get him back to as close to 100 percent as possible.”
Julius Randle (bone bruise) was given the practice off, but Bass was able to participate. He was poked in the eye on Friday, which caused him to sit on Sunday.
“(Bass) said he could see,” Scott said. “That’s kind of a big deal in basketball.”
Ryan Kelly and Tarik Black were back with the team after spending the weekend playing for the Los Angeles D-Fenders at the D-League Showcase in Santa Cruz.
