Lakers reel from latest blow, as Julius Randle has surgery on broken leg

The Lakers were still trying to figure out their season two days into it.

They had already seen the curveball, Steve Nash sidelined the whole season, but then came the fastball — Julius Randle, their prized rookie, was expected to miss the rest of the season because of a broken leg.

Coach Byron Scott said the Lakers were still “a little shocked” by Randle’s injury.

“I didn’t get a whole lot of sleep just thinking about that play and talking to him after the game and basically holding him and just listening to him cry, trying to console him as much as possible,” Scott said Wednesday before the Lakers’ game with the Phoenix Suns.

Randle, 19, underwent surgery Wednesday morning at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center and was expected to make a full recovery.

He heard from James Worthy, who sustained a similar injury toward the end of his rookie season in 1982-83. Worthy turned out all right.

Randle also heard from pretty much all the present-day Lakers.

“I texted Julius [on Tuesday] night and told him, ‘Welcome to Gilligan’s Island with me,’ ” injured forward Nick Young said Wednesday. “He wrote back ‘laugh out loud.’ I told him to keep his head up.”

Kobe Bryant could also play a big part in the recovery of Randle, the seventh pick in this year’s draft.

“Having Kobe here, who was going through some injuries in the last year or so, definitely will help,” Scott said. “He’s living proof that you can come back from injuries that a lot of people said were career-ending type of injuries. Not saying that Julius’ [injury] is … but he’s got one of the best players to ever play the game that can console him and talk to him about kind of moving on.”

Randle was driving toward the basket midway through the fourth quarter Tuesday against Houston when he planted awkwardly and ran into two Rockets players. He stayed on the court for several minutes and was taken off via stretcher.

With Nash already out for the season because of chronic back problems, the Lakers could file another disabled-player exception with the NBA that would give them an additional $1.5 million in spending power. They would receive about $4.9 million to spend on a free agent or a player via trade if they were granted a disabled-player exception for Nash.

If the Lakers experience one more extended injury in addition to Nash, Randle and Young, they could ask the NBA to extend their roster to 16 players via the rarely used “hardship” rule.

When Young returns from a torn thumb ligament, the Lakers would have to go back to 15 players. He is expected back in about a month.

mike.bresnahan@latimes.com

Twitter: @Mike_Bresnahan

Times correspondent Eric Pincus contributed to this report from Los Angeles.