D'Angelo Russell suffers moderately sprained right ankle in Lakers' 116-105 loss to Nuggets

The festive crowd gasped abruptly. Nearly all of Staples Center went silent. Numerous Lakers hovered around.

Lakers rookie point guard D’Angelo Russell had just rolled his right ankle after stepping on the foot of Nuggets guard DJ Augustin during a defensive rotation. Moments later, Metta World Peace, Tarik Black and Jordan Clarkson carried Russell off the court.

The Lakers’ 116-105 loss to the Denver Nuggets on Friday at Staples Center ended with another clinic of ineffective defense. Denver’s Augustin (20 points), Jusuf Nurkic (18), Will Barton (16), Gary Harris (13) and JaKarr Sampson (11) logged double digits.

Yet, more conce centered on Russell, who posted two points on 1-of-4 shooting in 12 minutes before leaving the game with 3:10 left in the second quarter.

To the Lakers’ relief, x-rays tued out negative on what they called a moderately sprained right ankle. To the Lakers’ conce, Russell sat out of the second half and will receive an evaluation on Saturday to assess the extent of his injury.

This marked the second time in a week Russell left a game early after suffering an ailment. He bruised his left shin in Tuesday’s game against Memphis after colliding into JaMychal Green. Russell missed the second half before retuing in Wednesday’s contest in Phoenix.

The Lakers (15-57) can only cross their fingers Russell retus just as quickly for Sunday against the Washington Wizards at Staples Center. All of the Lakers’ 10 remaining games mark precious opportunities for Russell to accelerate his growth after averaging 13.3 points on 42.1 percent shooting and 3.5 assists in 27.7 minutes thus far.

At least Russell’s health conces did not coincide with more season-long angst about Kobe Bryant’s durability.

Bryant appeared spry as he logged 28 points on a 10-of-22 clip in 29 minutes, marking the third consecutive game he has played this week while nursing season-long soreness in his right shoulder. Bryant had missed two games last week as well as six of the last 10 contests.

Lakers coach Byron Scott stressed beforehand that Bryant still has “a daily dialogue” on his health.

“His intentions are to play every game,” Scott said. “Some games, his shoulder won’t allow him to play. So we have to play it by ear.”

Yet, Bryant did not seem as limited, especially after scoring 11 points on a 4-of-7 clip in the third quarter.

He did not show any frustration with his movement. He only demonstrated that over a lack of foul calls, though he has still recorded zero technical in his 20th and final NBA season.

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The Lakers also did not appear as frustrated as in Wednesday’s loss to Phoenix when they resorted to frequent one-on-one play. Then, Scott reiterated the Lakers have a lack of trust.

The Lakers showed more improvement in that area against Denver. Bryant, Jordan Clarkson (20 points on 8-of-16 shooting), Lou Williams (14 points) and Julius Randle (10 points, 18 rebounds, career-high 10 assists) all logged double digits. The Lakers also recorded 23 assists on 37 field goals.

But with Scott arguing Russell’s self-criticism in that area “shows a lot of maturity,” the Lakers’ rookie point guard did not have an opportunity to spearhead that effort. Russell will soon find out how many opportunities remain.