Atrás
The Los Angeles Lakers will be without one of their key role players in Friday night's NBA Cup opener against the Golden State Warriors.
Ziaire Williams is out for the second consecutive game with a left foot injury, the team announced Friday, Oct. 30. He's considered day-to-day and was questionable after missing the 103-87 win over the Los Angeles Clippers on Wednesday, Oct. 28 before having his status downgraded.
Head coach JJ Redick told reporters before that game that both Williams and Luka Dončić woke up sore after Tuesday's loss to the Portland Trailblazers and that the team preferred to be cautious on the second night of a back-to-back with a stretch of five games in the next seven days ahead of them.
Dončić is not on the injury report and is expected to play against Golden State Friday night.
Williams is hampered by the same foot injury that limited him throughout the preseason, though the 25-year-old wing has thrived in a starting role this year. He is averaging 11.3 points on 57.1% shooting and 46.7% from 3-point range, providing spacing and athleticism alongside the core of Dončić, Austin Reaves and Walker Kessler. Williams has also played well on defense in his four games this season with 1.5 steals per game, but his value on that end of the floor devives from things that don't show up in the stat sheet, like clogging up passing lanes with his length and diving for loose balls.
The Lakers signed Williams to a one-year, $2.8 million contract in July after he spent two years with the Brooklyn Nets and the previous four with the Memphis Grizzlies. He immediately made an impression on Redick and earned a spot in the starting five out of training camp despite the injury.
"(I) think everybody in our building that’s been around him for the last six to eight weeks just recognizes what a special human being he is and I really believe in him as a player," Redick told reporters earlier in October. "I think he has a lot of room to grow still, which is exciting for all of us."