Christian Koloko reportedly cleared by NBA to return to court
The Lakers and Christian Koloko have gotten through the final hurdle with the NBA’s medical board reportedly clearing a return to play.
At last, Christian Koloko will be able to make his return to an NBA court.
After signing with the Lakers this summer, Koloko has reportedly been cleared by the NBA’s medical board to return to play, as reported by Shams Charania of ESPN on Tuesday. Koloko has been cleared by both his doctors and the Lakers, but needed clearance from the NBA to actually play games again.
Promising news for the Lakers’ development program, which now adds Koloko to recent successes in Austin Reaves and Dalton Knecht. Lakers have been intrigued with Koloko, who is expected to provide another center to play alongside Anthony Davis in the frontcourt. https://t.co/Sb7qbwcp88
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) October 29, 2024
Now, as reported by Charania, Koloko will be able to practice again, something he hasn’t been allowed to do yet this season. Obviously, that means he is quite some way away from playing, but it’s certainly an encouraging step in the right direction.
There had been a growing sense of optimism by the Lakers that a decision was coming from the NBA. Naturally, given their own findings before signing him, the Lakers — and Koloko — believed he was fit to return to the court and that confidence eventually paid off.
In the immediate future, Koloko has been listed as out on the injury report, though it’s unclear how much he has remained with the team. With the G League season starting soon, it would make sense if he was assigned to South Bay to allow him to participate in their training camp and practices since the Lakers won’t be doing much of that on the road.
Even then, Koloko hasn’t played an NBA game since April of 2023, so things are still going to go slow in this process. But at least now, the team and Koloko have the ability to work toward the target of appearing in an NBA game again, something they haven’t been able to do for much of this season.
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