D'Angelo Russell to miss Lakers' next 2 games due to sore left knee

LOS ANGELES -- Lakers point guard D'Angelo Russell will miss Tuesday's game versus the Oklahoma City Thunder, as well as Wednesday's game against the Golden State Warriors, because of a sore left knee, the Lakers announced.

Russell, the Lakers' second-leading scorer at 16.1 points per game, has been dealing with soreness in his knee for some time, Lakers coach Luke Walton said recently. It forced Russell to miss Friday's loss to the San Antonio Spurs.

Walton characterized the injury as "day-to-day."

"Obviously the more time he misses, the more serious it seems to be, but I'm not going to try to guess or make [a] judgment on that," Walton said before Tuesday's game. "We're just going to continue grinding away, going to work and when the training staff, the doctors and D'Angelo let us know that he's good to go, he'll be back in there."

Walton added, "If he can't go out and play without any restrictions, it's not really worth having him out there right now. He's too young and his future is too bright to risk that. But if he can get out there and play the way that we know he can, then obviously we want him on the court."

Russell, the No. 2 overall pick in the 2015 draft, played in Sunday's loss to the Chicago Bulls but indicated afterward he was still feeling soreness in his knee.

The Lakers are 7-7 entering Tuesday's game against the Thunder.