Jarred Vanderbilt had offseason procedures on both feet, but Lakers believe he'll be ready by opener

The curious case of Jarred Vanderbilt and his career fighting off health issues has taken another interesting turn — a surprise to fans of the Los Angeles Lakers. The former Kentucky forward was limited to just 29 games last season dealing with left heel bursitis and a right foot sprain. Now, it’s been confirmed the six-year pro underwent procedures on not one, but both of his feet this offseason.

Lakers VP of basketball operations and general manager dropped that bomb this week, but added Vanderbilt is on track to be ready for the start of the season.

“This offseason he did have two procedures, one on each of his feet. The procedures were highly successful and he’s on a return-to-play program that so far has been lock-step and very promising, led by our new director of performance, Dr. Leroy Sims, and his team,” Pelinka said. “They’ve been doing a great job and we have a lot of optimism that when the real games start, he’ll be available. Between now and then, there’s still about a month and a lot of ramp-up steps that need to go well.

“So hopefully there won’t be setbacks. But so far, very promising and we’re grateful he has the issues in his feet behind him. It’s now just a matter of getting fully ramped up and ready to be cleared.”

Vanderbilt has taken things slowly in the NBA in an attempt to manage a long history of feet-related injuries, namely the two and a half months he sat out with a broken left foot during his lone season at Kentucky. He played in just 17 games as a rookie and 11 in year two before stretches of 64 games, 74 games and 78 games from 2020-23 — the healthiest run of his career, leading to a four-year, $48 million extension with Los Angeles last September following his first season with the franchise.

Known for his defensive versatility, the former Wildcat has averaged 6.1 points, 6.4 rebounds, 1.4 assists and 1.1 steals in 20.5 minutes per contest across 273 career games. His best season came in 2022-23, closing out the year with averages of 7.9 points, 7.5 rebounds, 2.4 assists and 1.1 steals in 24.1 minutes.

During his one-and-done career at Kentucky in 2017-18, Vanderbilt appeared in 14 games and averaged 5.9 points, 7.9 rebounds and 1.0 assists per game. He led the Wildcats in rebounding when he was in action, grabbing 10 or more boards in five of his 14 appearances.

New head coach JJ Redick previously singled out Vanderbilt as a player he expects to be a ‘big part of what we do’ in Los Angeles going into 2024-25.

“I think the unique thing about Jarred, and a number of really good teams that made deep playoff runs have guys like him, that are energy, defense, ball hawks,” he said. “He can sort of — I call them energy shifters. He can change the energy of an entire game, and he doesn’t have to do it with scoring, which makes him really unique. I can’t wait to coach him. … When he’s healthy, he’s going to be a big part of what we do.”

‘When he’s healthy’ is a pretty significant caveat there, but it’s great to hear the procedures were successful and there is optimism he’ll be back on the floor sooner rather than later.