Trevor Ariza made his highly-anticipated regular season debut on Sunday, and though it wasn’t under the circumstances he or Lakers fans would have liked, it was a necessary step in getting the 36-year-old veteran back to being a regular rotation player.
“I’ve been wanting to play,” Ariza said. “I got cleared today to play, and I was able to get out there for a few minutes.”
Ariza said the plan was always for him to return around this point of the season, but given the little practice time he had leading up to Sunday’s game, he wasn’t sure if he’d play.