Los Angeles Lakers’ Nick Young Shooting Without A Cast

Los Angeles Lakers' swingman Nick Young, who has missed the start of the NBA season with a torn ligament in his thumb, is shooting without a cast Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports
Los Angeles Lakers' swingman Nick Young, who has missed the start of the NBA season with a torn ligament in his thumb, is shooting without a cast Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports /
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Los Angeles Lakers‘ swingman Nick Young, who has missed the start of the NBA season with a torn ligament in his thumb, is shooting without a cast

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The Los Angeles Lakers have gotten off to an awful start. They didn’t win their first game until Sunday night when they defeated the

Charlotte Hornets

107-92 to improve to 1-5.

They still haven’t recovered from losing Dwight Howard to the Houston Rockets in free agency in 2013 and lost another big man who’s likely destined for the Hall-of-Fame this offseason in big man Paul Gasol, who signed with the Chicago Bulls in the 2014 offseason.

They’ve also been hit hard by injuries. Point guard Steve Nash is out for the season with a back injury and has likely played his last NBA game while swingman Nick Young had surgery to repair the torn radial collateral ligament in his right thumb.

On Monday, Young went through shooting drills with the Lakers without a cast. He showed he could shoot and drive to the basket but still hasn’t been cleared to practice.

“This is another step in the process and taking that next step for Nick,” coach Byron Scott said via Arash Markazi of ESPN Los Angeles. “He was able to handle ball today and shoot. There’s still no contact. Hopefully next week sometime he’ll be able to go through a full day of contact and scrimmaging and then we’ll go from there.”

Young won’t turn the Lakers around but he could provide enough offense to help them win a few more games.

Young averaged 17.9 points, 2.6 rebounds and 1.5 assists per game while shooting 43.5% from the field, 38.6% from beyond the arc and 82.5% from the free throw line. In his career, he has averaged 12.2 points, 2.0 rebounds and 1.1 assists per game while shooting 42.9% from the floor, 37.7% from three and 82.7% from charity stripe.

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