Jarred Vanderbilt Suffered a Gruesome Injury During the Lakers Loss to the Thunder

The Los Angeles Lakers, already massive underdogs in their playoff series against the Oklahoma City Thunder and without their top scorer, are now down another key rotation player. Jarred Vanderbilt, a defensive forward who comes off the bench for the team, fully dislocated his pinkie during the team's first game against the Thunder, which they lost 108-90.

Following the news that Jarred had pretty severely injured his finger, many wanted to know exactly what happened to it. Here's what we know.

Vanderbilt suffered a full dislocation of his right pinkie finger after he attempted to block a dunk by Thunder center Chet Holmgren. Vanderbilt swiped at Holmgren from behind and swiped his finger on the backboard, and immediately screamed in pain and curled in on himself, forcing the Lakers to take a time out. According to ESPN, he needed stitches post-game because the dislocation was so severe that it broke through the skin.

Several players on the Thunder bench looked away from the injury, which appears to have been pretty gruesome. Lakers head coach JJ Redick walked the length of the floor in order to check on him.

"I had to go check on him because it just looked bad," Redick said after the game. "I mean, he was audibly screaming, and you knew he had done something. So, we're obviously disappointed that happened. It's just a freak injury."

Vanderbilt immediately left the game and was ruled out from returning at halftime. Given the severity of the injury, it seems likely that he will miss most of the rest of this series.

"He's in as good of spirits as you can be in this situation," Redick said after the game. "Obviously, frustrated with what happened."

Lakers star LeBron James also weighed in, saying "If Vando was in pain, then something actually really happened. So, it sucks."

Vanderbilt had averaged 13.2 minutes for a team that is already playing without Luka Doncic, who led the league in points during the regular season. The Thunder were already heavy favorites headed into this series, and now, the Lakers are down another key rotation player as they deal with a team that most analysts agree is deeper than they are.

Thankfully, Vanderbilt didn't have to leave the arena to seek further medical treatment, and he was still in the locker room with a bandage wrapped around his finger after the game.

The Thunder were heavy favorites to come out of this series even with a healthy Vanderbilt, and that will be even more true without him.

They are the defending champions and heavy favorites to repeat, but if the first round of this year's playoffs taught us anything, it's that it can be difficult to know exactly what will happen as series progress. The Thunder are the best team in the NBA on paper, but that doesn't mean that they're guaranteed to repeat as champions, or even make it back to the Finals.