Lakers Trainer Marco Nunez Reportedly Fired After LA's Struggle with Injuries

The Los Angeles Lakers reportedly fired head athletic trainer Marco Nunez on Wednesday following the conclusion of their 2018-19 season.

Dave McMenamin of ESPN reported L.A.'s latest staff change after president of basketball operations Magic Johnson suddenly resigned Tuesday night.

The Lakers' bid to earn a playoff berth was knocked off course by a series of high-profile injuries, led by LeBron James, who was out for five weeks after suffering a groin injury against the Golden State Warriors on Christmas Day.

Los Angeles dropped from a tie for fourth place in the Western Conference to ninth by the time he returned in late January, and it never recovered before fading considerably down the stretch.

Along with James, Rajon Rondo (36 games), Lonzo Ball (35) and Brandon Ingram (30) all missed a significant portion of the campaign with various ailments.

In all, L.A. lost 212 games from its players because of injury, the ninth-highest total in the NBA, per Spotrac.

Nunez took over as the Lakers' head athletic trainer in July 2016 after Gary Vitti retired. He'd served as an assistant to Vitti for the prior eight years.

"Being an L.A. kid, I thought, Why can't I work for the Lakers?" he told Andrea Canales of ESPN.com in June 2017. "If I want to work with the best, that should be my ultimate goal."

Nunez has already been removed from the team's official website. Assistant athletic trainer Nina Hsieh and director of strength and endurance training Gunnar Peterson are among the remaining members of the staff.