Report: Dwight Howard, Malik Monk join THT in protocols for Lakers

Update: Dec. 14, 11:14 p.m. — Dwight Howard and Malik Monk have joined Horton-Tucker in COVID-19 protocols and will be out Wednesday vs. the Mavericks.

Los Angeles Lakers SF Talen Horton-Tucker has been placed in the NBA’s health and safety protocols and could miss several games, The Athletic reported on Tuesday afternoon. The Lakers have been dealing with an injury to PF Anthony Davis as well and he’s being listed as questionable to play Wednesday vs. the Dallas Mavericks. There’s a good chance THT is held out of that game. The Lakers had to cancel practice Tuesday.

Fantasy basketball impact

With THT out, the Lakers have even less depth at forward. AD missed the previous game due to a knee injury. If both players miss Wednesday’s game, then we could see a number of players enter the starting lineup, including Wayne Ellington Austin Reeves and Malik Monk. Carmelo Anthony likely remains coming off the bench as a scorer for the second unit.

This really just puts more strain on LeBron James and Russell Westbrook. The Lakers have won three of the past four games and are figuring things out on the fly. The big problem is thwarting the COVID-19 outbreak. If THT is in protocols, we could see more players added from the Lakers. LeBron landed on the list not too long ago and was cleared swiftly with a ton of tests resulting in enough negatives to get cleared.