JJ Redick was hopeful Deandre Ayton would be all right after he got poked in the face Tuesday night, but the Lakers coach candidly admitted his star center’s eye was “not in good shape.”
Just after the Lakers scored a 115-107 victory over the Nuggets at Ball Arena in Denver, Redick provided a bit of a concerning update on Ayton, who was not able to finish the game after he got his face raked during a play.
“His eye is, it’s not in good shape,” Redick told media members.
The coach added that Ayton was wearing a patch that made him look “like a pirate,” before he said they were holding their breath that “it’s at the bare minimum just a poke in the eye and he’ll be fine” on Wednesday.
For Ayton’s part, he didn’t seem overly worried about things, as he added a playful caption on a picture of his bandaged face in a late-night update on his Instagram page.
“Arrr!!!” Ayton wrote in a caption on a photo that showed off his eye patch. He added several emojis, including a pirate flag one.
Ayton played 14 total minutes in the Lakers’ victory, scoring four points with eight rebounds.
He’s played in 37 games for L.A. this season, averaging 13.9 points, 8.8 rebounds and one block per game.
Ayton won’t have long to heal up if he wants to be ready for the Lakers’ next tilt — L.A.’s scheduled to head across town on Thursday night to play the Clippers at Intuit Dome.
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