Starting Los Angeles Lakers forward Zaire Williams has been downgraded to out for Sunday's game against the Toronto Raptors as he deals with a foot injury.
Williams was listed as questionable in the lead-up to the game after he missed the previous two contests against the Golden State Warriors and LA Clippers. Jake LaRavia is expected to keep his starting role, while Quentin Grimes, Sandro Mamukelashvili and Jarred Vanderbilt should continue to see an uptick in bench minutes.
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Vanderbilt was re-inserted into the rotation only after Williams went down with an injury. In his two previous games, he averaged 17.0 minutes for JJ Redick, in which he averaged 5.0 rebounds and 2.5 assists and played solid defense. As such, Vando could continue to play a key role for Redick as the Lakers await Williams' return.
Can Lakers Bank on Vanderbilt?
After the loss to the Warriors, Vanderbilt identified rebounding as a key area where he can help the Lakers, who rank 28th in the league
in rebounding chance percentage.
"Just the rebounding aspect, the physicality aspect," Vanderbilt said of how he can help the team, via California Post's Khobi Price.
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"Whether that's boxing out, securing rebounds, finishing possessions. Obviously on the offensive glass, too. Just putting pressure on the rim and offensive glass, two areas I feel like I could contribute to."
A few years ago, Vando was regarded as one of the best perimeter defenders in the league. He believes he can recreate some of that magic
playing next to Quentin Grimes, Collin Sexton, Jake LaRavia and Matisse Thybulle.
"Even when I get out there, obviously just flying around and causing chaos, crashing the boards and kind of propelled [Quentin Grimes] and Collin [Sexton to] start picking up full court," Vanderbilt said of the Lakers' elite defense in the win vs. the Clippers.
"Jake [LaRavia] started crashing. It's contagious when everybody's boxing out. You don't want to be the one guy that's not boxing out and your man gets the rebound. So it kind of puts that pressure on everybody to just lock in, box out and do all the dirty work that's required."
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Zaire Williams Out for Lakers
JJ Redick also praised Vanderbilt for staying ready and producing good minutes after warming the bench through the first four games of the season.
"Yeah, it was good," Redick said
of Vanderbilt's intensity off the bench.
"…Vando is always gonna play hard, he's always gonna impact the game with just his effort. I thought he did that tonight. The pairing with Mamu is probably the best pairing in terms of having another big out there that can space and shoot and play-make."
While LaRavia has filled in admirably — averaging 6.0 points, 6.0 rebounds, 2.0 steals and 1.5 blocks as a starter — the Lakers clearly miss Zaire Williams, who was off to a strong start to open the season.
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Before his injury, Williams posted career highs across the board, averaging 11.3 points, 28.5 minutes, 2.3 assists, 1.5 steals and 1.8 threes while shooting a blistering 57% from the field and 47% from deep. Redick picked him as a starter largely for his 3-and-D skill set, granting Williams his first full-time starting role since 2024–25 after he started just 108 of 269 games with the Brooklyn Nets
and Memphis Grizzlies.
This article was originally published on HEAVY
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