The Lakers announced that Adou Thiero has suffered an MCL sprain in his right knee and will be reevaluated in approximately four weeks, Khobi Price of the Orange County Register writes in a subscriber-only story.
Price notes that it’s not clear when Thiero suffered the injury. He played in the team’s last six games and 15 of the past 18. He was on the court for four minutes in the fourth quarter of Tuesday’s loss to Detroit.
The 21-year-old rookie forward had surgery on his left knee while he was still in college. That caused him to fall to the second round of the draft and forced him to miss the Summer League and preseason.
The recovery process caused Thiero’s NBA debut to be delayed until November 15. He has seen limited action in 15 games, averaging 1.3 points and 1.2 rebounds in 5.8 minutes per night and shooting 38.9% from the field.
The injury comes at an unfortunate time for Thiero, who may have been able to increase his role with the short-handed Lakers. Austin Reaves is sidelined for at least three more weeks with a calf strain, Gabe Vincent has missed the last six games with lower back pain and Rui Hachimura is dealing with right calf soreness.