Jarred Vanderbilt and Christian Wood are still not available for Game 3 against Denver Nuggets

The Los Angeles Lakers have listed forward Jarred Vanderbilt and big man Christian Wood as out for Thursday night's crucial Game 3 against the Denver Nuggets. Vanderbilt has been sidelined since February 1 due to a right midfoot injury suffered during a game against the Boston Celtics. Before it, Vanderbilt had been regaining shape after missing the first half of the season with left heel bursitis.

Vanderbilt has had multiple steals in five of his previous six games. Vanderbilt is well known for being one of the league's greatest perimeter defenders, but they also scored in double digits in five of those games. His defence and energy might provide a much-needed lift to Los Angeles Lakers reserves in a game that has been exceedingly tight thus far despite the Lakers being down 0-2, but it will have to wait until Game 4 at the most. 

The same is true for Wood, who didn't play until February 14th following arthroscopic knee surgery. The Lakers are currently averaging just 101 points in their series against Denver Nuggets; the big man would provide another size option and maybe an offensive lift. 

Jarred Vanderbilt and Christian Wood may return till Game 4

Thus far in the series, the Lakers reserves have offered them very little. The Lakers could use another player or two to relieve some of the load off the starters, especially LeBron James and Anthony Davis, since Taurean Prince is the only bench player to score through two games.

Both LeBron and Davis are labeled as probable for Game 3, but neither will miss the most critical game of the Lakers' season. Both are throwing all they have to defeat the reigning champion Nuggets, but it hasn't been enough so far. 

It would be pointless to expect Vanderbilt or Wood to return from months away due to injury and radically change things, as it takes time to properly recover. However, a return for either or both should at least provide the Lakers with alternatives to see if anything will help them beat the Nuggets, so it will be intriguing to see if either can play in Game 4 on Saturday.