EL SEGUNDO, Calif. -- Los Angeles Lakers guard Derek Fisher will not play Monday in the team’s preseason opener against the Los Angeles Clippers.
“I’m going to hold him out,” coach Mike Brown said after the team’s morning shootaround Monday.
Fisher was also held out of the team’s intrasquad scrimmage last week at USC's Galen Center, but the 37-year-old guard said it was “just rest” and did not report any specific injury.
Brown said it is a preventative measure.
“I just want to make sure that I don’t rush him back into the mix of what we have going on and risk injury,” Brown said.
Fisher is the NBA’s active leader in consecutive games played with 495, but preseason games are not accounted for in that figure.
“Fish has had probably the toughest summer out of all the NBA players than anybody else,” Brown said. “He was on the phone. He was on his computer. He was flying from coast to coast. He was in meetings And he’s a guy that trains religiously and he had not had that opportunity.”
Brown said last week that he plans to start Fisher at point guard when the season starts on Christmas Day against the Chicago Bulls, but he is not rushing Fisher to get ready during the final week of training camp.
“In my opinion it’s too much too soon,” Brown said. “I think right now what he needs to do, is doing exactly what he’s doing. Getting with our strength and conditioning coach and running, going through certain drills with the guys, getting his body worked on in terms of maintenance and stuff like that and then when I feel like he’s ready to go and give it a go, then I’ll go ahead and put him out there.”
Fisher worked out with new Lakers strength and conditioning coach Tom DiFrancesco on the sidelines at the end of Sunday’s practice while the rest of the team played full court, but has been involved in the majority of the Lakers’ practice activities, according to Brown.
“Most of the stuff that we do, I allow him to participate,” Brown said. “There are certain things that I’ll make him sit out on. So tonight, he will sit.”
Dave McMenamin covers the Lakers for ESPNLosAngeles.com. Follow him on Twitter.