Rumors about the Lakers: Chronology of ankle injuries to Lonzo balloon extended due to bone contusion | Bleacher's report

Los Angeles Lakers playmaker Lonzo Ball suffered a sprained third-year ankle against the Houston Rockets on Jan. 19. He has not been here since.

The Lakers first announced that Ball would be away for four to six weeks, but Tania Ganguli, from Los Angeles Times reported Friday that the second year pro could now be absent even longer.

Per Ganguli, "Ball According to a familiar person, he was suffering from a bruise on his left ankle, which could lengthen his recovery for six weeks. [his] state."

The former UCLA Bruin has averaged 9.9 points, 5.4 rebounds, 5.3 assists and 1.5 interceptions in 47 games this season.

The Lakers need Ball as soon as possible.

The team is 2.5 games behind the Los Angeles Clippers for the eighth and final place in the Western Conference playoffs.

In addition, Ball was doing well in the month before his injury. He collected a triple-double of 16 points against the Charlotte Hornets on December 15th. Between that date and January 17, the goalkeeper accumulated 12.6 points on average with 42.9% shooting, 6.0 assists, 5.9 rebounds and 1.7 steals. He also touched 36.7% of his three points.

As Ganguli noted, the team's defense takes a shot without a ball, giving up 123 points per game when he was absent from the game for all or part of the match.

The good news is that he seems to have made some progress recently in his reeducation. Ganguli noticed that Ball was working on different types of treadmills over the last two weeks.

The Lakers will open the second half of their season Saturday to the Pelicans of New Orleans.