Lakers Injury Update: Williams and Thiero Practice Fully, Sexton Trends Toward Opening Night, Carr Still Out

LOS ANGELES

The Los Angeles Lakers go into Friday's preseason finale against the Denver Nuggets with a healthier practice floor than they have had all month — and with their most important injury question now pointing toward the night that actually counts. After practice on Thursday, October 15, head coach JJ Redick updated the status of four players, according to reporting by Sports Illustrated, Lakers Nation and ESPN: forward Ziaire Williams and second-year forward Adou Thiero were full participants, guard Collin Sexton did everything except the live portion of practice and is trending toward being ready for Opening Night, and rookie Cameron Carr remained out.

Start with Sexton, because his case carries the most weight for the regular season. Sports Illustrated reported that Sexton has not played at all this preseason while dealing with a lower leg injury, and Lakers Nation reported the same lower leg issue has kept him out of games while he worked back through practice. On Thursday, according to Lakers Nation's reporting of Redick's comments, Sexton completed the full drill portion of practice — about an hour of work, including up-and-down drills against coaches — and sat only when the session moved to live play. ESPN's Dave McMenamin, as cited by Sports Illustrated, captured Sexton after practice doing closeout drills with kinesio tape visible on his right calf, a small but telling detail: he was moving, cutting and working on the defensive movements the Lakers will need from him, even if the staff is still keeping him out of full-contact scrimmage. Redick's assessment, reported by both Sports Illustrated and Lakers Nation, was that Sexton is trending in the right direction for Opening Night.

Williams may be the closest of the group to a game uniform. Lakers Nation reported that Williams has been dealing with a minor foot issue — described in its reporting as a foot contusion, and in other coverage as swelling in his left foot — that cost him the last three preseason games after he appeared in the preseason opener. On Thursday he was, in Redick's words as reported by Lakers Nation, a full participant in practice, with no carve-outs. Williams himself, according to Lakers Nation, said he feels healthy and ready, while leaving the final call on Friday's finale to the staff who have managed his return. That distinction matters in the last week of preseason: a player can be cleared for practice and still be held from a game that does not count, and the Lakers have shown all month that they would rather arrive at the opener whole than win an argument about readiness in mid-October.

Thiero's update is the quietest and, in its own way, the most reassuring. Sports Illustrated reported that the second-year forward was a full participant on Thursday, and Lakers Nation reported that his absence from the last preseason game was maintenance rather than a new injury — a planned rest, not a setback. In a preseason that has seen the Lakers' rotation shuffled nightly by small injuries, a maintenance day followed by a full practice is the profile of a player the staff is managing, not worrying about. For a young forward trying to lock down a place in the regular-season rotation, simply being available and practicing fully in the final week is the job.

Carr is the one name moving the other way. Sports Illustrated reported that the rookie remained out of practice on Thursday with an undisclosed injury, and Lakers Nation reported the undisclosed issue has kept him out of practices and games for the last week. Neither outlet reported a timeline for his return, and Redick's Thursday update, as reported, offered no new detail beyond his continued absence. For a rookie, the cost is not just a missed finale — it is missed repetitions in the exact week when coaching staffs settle the back end of a roster and decide which young players have shown enough to trust. Carr's status is the one item on this list the Lakers still cannot describe as trending anywhere.

Context explains why the Lakers are handling all of this with such patience. Their most recent outing was a 101-89 preseason loss to the Golden State Warriors at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, a game recapped by the Sporting Tribune and SportsGrid, in which Los Angeles built a 20-point lead, then gave the game away in the second half while committing 29 turnovers. Austin Reaves carried the offense with 28 points and seven assists, and new center Walker Kessler made his Lakers debut with 11 points and nine rebounds, according to that recap — but a team turning the ball over 29 times is a team whose lineups have not played together enough, which is precisely the condition a month of nagging injuries creates. Redick's position, as reported by Lakers Nation, has been consistent: the injuries are not considered serious, he cannot control them, and the answer is to play the players who can play. Friday's finale against Denver — a Nuggets side dealing with its own injury news, as our Nuggets injury coverage details — is therefore less a dress rehearsal than a final availability test.

What to watch Friday is consequently simple. If Williams plays, even briefly, it confirms the full practice was a clearance and not a workout. If Sexton dresses but does not play, the Opening Night framing holds — the Lakers have already told you, through Redick's Thursday update, which game they are saving him for. And that game is close: the Lakers open the regular season on October 21 at home against Golden State, the same Warriors who just beat them in Las Vegas, which gives the finale a clear dividing line. Everything before October 21 is information; everything from October 21 is standings. On Thursday's evidence — two full participants, one key guard doing everything but live work, and one rookie still out — the Lakers will get most of their answers in time. Follow the rest of the preseason run-in in Previously Sports and the Previously newsroom.