The Lakers announced on Sunday that two-way center Colin Castleton would be out multiple weeks with a fractured wrist.
The blows keep coming for Lakers centers in recent weeks as Colin Castleton is the latest to suffer an injury. The two-way big man was diagnosed with a fractured wrist, the team announced on Sunday, and will be re-evaluated in two weeks.
Update: Lakers two-way center Colin Castleton has a right wrist fracture and will be out for at least two weeks before he’s re-evaluated. Tough timing for CC and the Lakers, who could have used the big man especially in the absence of Christian Wood.
— Mike Trudell (@LakersReporter) February 25, 2024
A two-week timeline is going to really start to push up against the end of the season. The G League season will likely be finished at that point and the NBA season will be in its final weeks as well.
Castleton hasn’t featured in any real minutes for the Lakers this season. His seven games played have all been garbage time minutes this season.
Castleton has played in 12 games in the G League, averaging 14.1 points and 9.7 rebounds while shooting 53.8% from the field. He’s played an average of 28.7 minutes per game and has been a strong defensive presence, averaging 1.6 blocks and a steal per game.
While he hadn’t featured in NBA action, the possibility was there with Christian Wood also out for multiple weeks with a knee injury. In the stretch run of the season, it was unlikely the Lakers were going to toss him out there for any real minutes.
But it does take away an option nonetheless. It leaves the Lakers remarkably thin at the center position with only Anthony Davis and Jaxson Hayes on the roster. And after signing Spencer Dinwiddie, the team doesn’t have an open roster spot to sign one either.
It’s a roster crunch of a situation for the Lakers and while, again, this move alone doesn’t hurt their NBA team all that much, it just thins the options available if a worst-case scenario happens.
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