Lakers’ Larry Nance Jr. has surgery on hand he broke during game at Portland

Larry Nance Jr. is undergoing surgery this afternoon on his left hand, which was broken Thursday during the third quarter of the Lakers’ 113-110 loss to the Trail Blazers in Portland, according to a source who was not authorized to speak publiciy on the matter.

The injury was to the second metacarpal bone in his left hand, which is his non-shooting hand, Lakers officials said. It is an injury that typically takes several weeks to heal.

“Obviously he fractured his hand; I have no idea how long that takes,” coach Luke Walton said Thursday night. “When we get all that information, we will sit down, and I have always been a believer that it’s not just the next best player, [it’s] how does it affect second units, how does that affect the starting unit and what we are trying to do. There are a lot of variables to decide between, so we will figure that out in the next day.”

Nance played 19:27 in the game, making three of four shots for seven points. He also had one assist, five rebounds, a steal and a blocked shot. Kyle Kuzma took his place with the Lakers starting group to close out the game along with Brandon Ingram, Lonzo Ball, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Brook Lopez.

“It’s tough but that’s what team sports are about,” Walton said. “Someone else has to step up and fill that role now. We’ll get him healthy. He’ll be back on the court when he’s ready to go.”

The injury comes in a season when Nance was awarded a starting role after a training camp battle for the position. He was averaging 11.1 points, 7.9 rebounds and 1.6 steals a game this season, having started all seven games.

Last season, Nance mostly came off the bench, starting seven games of the 63 in which he played.

tania.ganguli@latimes.com

Twitter: @taniaganguli

UPDATES:

4:15 p.m.: This article has been updated with news that Larry Nance Jr. is undergoing surgery on his broken left hand.

This article was originally published at 4:40 a.m.