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Julius Randle Breaks Leg In NBA Debut, Out For Season

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  • Julius Randle Breaks Leg In NBA Debut, Out For Season

    Julius Randle of Los Angeles Lakers suffers serious right leg injury in opener - ESPN Los Angeles



    Just great. One of the reasons I was excited for this season is to see how Randle would do. Start to think 76er mode and just tank the season. Its loss and this makes it worse. Top 5 pick means Lakers keep pick instead of giving it to Suns in that stupid Nash trade. Im all for tanking.

    LOS ANGELES -- Lakers rookie forward Julius Randle, the team's top draft choice in June, broke his right leg midway through the fourth quarter of Tuesday night's 108-90 loss to the Houston Rockets.

    The Lakers said the initial diagnosis by team doctors at Staples Center was a broken tibia. Randle was to undergo further evaluation, and the Lakers said they would provide an update on his status Wednesday.

    "It is heartbreaking, because I saw him all summer," coach Byron Scott said. "I saw the work that he was putting in. I saw the progression that he was making, the steps that he was taking to get better. And his first game, he goes down. I don't think anybody in that locker room is happy about the way we played, but we're even more saddened about the fact that we lost one of our young guys."

    Randle, the 19-year-old former Kentucky standout selected seventh overall in June, was driving to the basket when his right foot buckled and he collapsed on the court, holding his leg for several minutes while medical officials tended to him.

    Scott said he was told that players on the court heard a "pop" when Randle went down.

    The Staples Center crowd fell quiet as a stretcher was brought out and Randle's teammates huddled around him beneath the basket. Lakers star Kobe Bryant shook his head in disbelief. Randle's right leg was immobilized, and he was taken off the court.

    Scott said he spoke with Randle after the game.

    "I just told him to stay strong," Scott said. "Adversity tests the true character of a man. This is some adversity that we're facing with a young guy being out, and obviously, it's something that he's facing. I feel for him. I feel extremely bad for him. He was kind of crying, and I just told him to stay strong and that it's going to make him a better basketball player."

    Randle was the SEC's freshman of the year while helping the Wildcats to the NCAA championship game last season.

  • #2
    Julius Randle of Los Angeles Lakers will miss remainder of rookie season due to fractured tibia - ESPN Los Angeles



    The Los Angeles Lakers expect Julius Randle to miss the rest of the season after the rookie forward underwent surgery Wednesday to repair a fractured tibia that he suffered in his first NBA game.

    Randle, the Lakers' top draft choice and the seventh overall selection in June, suffered the injury in the fourth quarter Tuesday night in the Lakers' season-opening loss to the Houston Rockets at Staples Center.

    The 19-year old drove to the basket, planted his right foot awkwardly and collapsed. Randle, a former Kentucky standout, remained on the court until he was carted off on a stretcher. He scored two points.

    Randle's surgery was performed by Dr. Donald Wiss at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, the Lakers announced.

    Randle is the second Lakers player in as many weeks that the team has ruled out for the season because of health issues. Last week, the team announced that 40-year-old point guard Steve Nash would remain sidelined because of recurring back issues.

    The Lakers' health troubles date back to last season, when their players combined to miss a league-high 319 games because of injury.

    It's expected that the Lakers will file for another disabled player-exception with the NBA, as they have done with Nash. If granted in Randle's case, the team would expected to receive an additional $1.5 million.

    Randle is the Lakers' first first-round pick in seven years, a talented prospect in one of the more touted lottery classes in years. He was also their highest draft choice since selecting James Worthy first overall in 1982. Worthy's rookie season also ended early because of a broken leg.

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