Lakers' Jarred Vanderbilt Suffers Gruesome Finger Injury in Game 1 Loss to Thunder

Los Angeles Lakers forward Jarred Vanderbilt suffered a gruesome finger injury during the team's 108-90 Game 1 playoff loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder on Tuesday night.

Vanderbilt jumped to block a dunk by Thunder star Chet Holmgren but missed. His pinkie finger caught on the backboard as he came down. He was in severe pain, and even players on the Thunder bench reacted to the sight of his hand.

"I mean, it just — it looked pretty gruesome in my opinion," Thunder guard Jared McCain said after the game. "I don’t even know, to be honest, what I was looking at. It looked pretty bad, though. So prayers for him. Sending him love."

Vanderbilt, who averaged 4.4 points per game in the regular season, played only six minutes in Game 1. He scored two points and grabbed one rebound.

Lakers coach JJ Redick addressed the injury afterward and called it a "freak injury."

"I went to go check on him because it just looked bad," Redick said. "He was audibly screaming. Knew he had done something. We’re obviously disappointed. But, that happened, and it’s just a freak injury."

The Lakers have dealt with multiple injuries over the past month. Austin Reaves and Luka Doncic missed the final games of the regular season. Reaves returned for Game 5 against the Houston Rockets, where he scored eight points in 36 minutes.

Doncic remains sidelined by a hamstring injury that kept him out of the last five regular-season games and Game 1 against Oklahoma City.

Game 2 is scheduled for Thursday night.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.