Trevor Ariza will miss the first months of the season. The forward has had to undergo an arthroscopic operation on his right ankle, which will force him to be out of the team for about eight weeks and miss the first months of competition, as the Lakers have announced in an official statement.
Therefore, it will take time for the player to be able to wear gold and purple again on the floor. Ariza was already a Lakers player between 2007 and 2009, and even won a ring in his last season in Los Angeles, something he hopes to achieve again with this return. Trevor was called upon to be one of the men who would bring choice and versatility to Vogel at forward, even fighting for the starting position if he opted for small quintets, but it looks like that will have to wait for now.
Ariza started last season with the Thunder, but did not play with them for a single minute and was traded to Miami in March, where he hoped to give Spoelstra’s men a boost heading into the playoffs. There, however, he did not quite perform well, especially in the playoff series against Milwaukee, in which he was greatly outmatched in practically all facets and at times well out of the tie.
However, he did have regular-season meetings in which he showed his level, and now in the Lakers he hopes to once again be an important piece in a contender as it already was in his time in the Rockets. We will have to wait until, after these eight weeks, the doctors of the franchise decide to discharge him to see how much he can contribute to the Angelenos.
(Cover photo: Harry How / Getty Images)