NBA teams don’t practice much during the season. Teams play almost every other day, and this is a recovery league where keeping the players fresh is understood to be the best way to both win games and avoid injury (except in Chicago, apparently). Teams have shootarounds, walk-throughs, film sessions, but full-on practices are the exception, not the rule, during the season.
So when a recovering player needs practice, teams are leaning more and more on their G-League affiliates.
Rajon Rondo is the latest example, the Lakers announced they have assigned him to the G-League’s South Bay Lakers so he can get in some practices. Don’t expect to see Rondo suiting up for a G-League games
Rondo won’t be playing in a G League game; he’s just practicing with the team. https://t.co/HMrBaKDrS4
— Mike Trudell (@LakersReporter) December 17, 2018
Rondo has been out for a month following surgery to repair the third metacarpal bone in his right hand (his shooting hand), and last week the team announced a setback in that recovery process as Rondo needed fluids drained from his hand. There is no timetable for his return, but it is getting closer.
Rondo averaged 8.5 points, 6.5 assists, and 4.5 rebounds a game prior to the injury. The Lakers have gone 10-6 since Rondo was sidelined. LeBron James has had the ball in his hands more as a playmaker, yet the offense hasn’t been particularly good (especially when LeBron sits, but overall bottom 10 in the league since the injury). However, the Lakers have kept winning thanks to a top 7 defense in that stretch.
