Lakers likely to be without F Kuzma for up to a week as he suffers ankle sprain

The Los Angeles Lakers are likely to be without forward Kyle Kuzma for up to a week after MRI results revealed he suffered a minor ankle sprain, the team announced Tuesday. Kuzma suffered the injury in Monday's 113-105 loss to the Los Angeles Clippers, apparently rolling his right ankle in the fourth quarter. He limped off the floor and didn't return to the game.

The Lakers' second-leading scorer this season with an 18.8-point average (a career high), Kuzma also has personal bests through 60 games in field goal percentage (46.5 percent) and assists (2.5). He has been ruled out of Wednesday's game against the Denver Nuggets by the Lakers, who also have other injury problems. Listed as questionable for Wednesday's game are Brandon Ingram (shoulder), Tyson Chandler (neck) and Lance Stephenson (toe). The Lakers hope to have Ingram back in the lineup as they try to end a three-game losing streak.

"The injuries are catching up a bit," Lakers head coach Luke Walton said after Monday's game. "I thought the mindset we asked for with the way we want to compete was there [against the Clippers], but between being down the type of bodies that we've been down, I think it felt like that in the second half we missed a lot of those wide-open shots. That just kind of deflated some of the energy out of us and then in the third quarter they put up 30 points on us." 

(With inputs from agencies.)