Rob Palinka says Lakers are ‘hopeful’ Jarred Vanderbilt won’t need season-ending surgery.

Jarred Vanderbilt’s mid-game absence from the Lakers’ last road trip against the Celtics due to a foot injury dealt a severe blow to the team. There was some hope in the initial diagnosis because Vanderbilt would not require surgery and would be reevaluated in about a month.

That does not, however, imply that surgery is completely off the table. Rob Pelinka, vice president of basketball operations for the Lakers, offered additional details of Vanderbilt’s injury while maintaining the option of surgery.

Pelinka stated, “You’re kind of always in the evaluation process of figuring out what it’s going to take to get a player healthy and back onto the court until an injury heals and the player is back.” To put it simply, we’re hoping that Jarred can return to health and play without requiring surgery. However, you never know. Though only time will tell, it is undoubtedly our hope.

While our own Dr. Rajpal Brar, a physician, provided his analysis, I am neither a doctor nor did I stay at a Holiday Inn Express, but this feels a lot like LeBron James’ injury from the previous year. Although it was unclear at the time if LeBron would require surgery, he finally made a comeback and played out the season and playoffs before deciding that surgery was not necessary.