The Lakers received a scare last night when news broke that center Pau Gasol had suffered a broken finger on his non-shooting hand while practicing with the Spanish national team.
The good news is that Gasol shouldn’t be out of action for very long following surgery on the digit (reportedly, only three weeks).
The Spanish paper Marca filed the initial report, but since I can’t speak or read Spanish, we’ll quote the LA Times:
Lakers forward Pau Gasol, 29, had surgery Monday after breaking the middle finger of his left hand during a practice with the Spanish national team, Lakers spokesman John Black said. Black said that information came from Arn Tellem, Gasol’s agent. Tellem could not be reached for comment.
Black said he wasn’t given a timetable for Gasol’s recovery, but said Tellem told him there were no problems involving the surgery.
The details aren’t crystal clear just yet; all we know at this point is that Gasol broke the left middle finger while attempting to block a teammate’s shot during the practice in preparation for the European championships.
At the moment, all indications seem to point to Gasol being ready by the time L.A. opens its training camp in September.
