Julius Randle's season-ending leg injury was terrible to watch, but both the Los Angeles Lakers and Randle can both come back strong from it. It was a terrible scene on opening night, but with an entire season ahead, it's time to look forward. Here are the silver linings for the Lakers following Randle's injury.  

•Randle will fully recover

Any injury that sets a player behind an entire season is bad, but in this case it could have been much worse for Julius Randle. The break in his leg was clean and there were no damaged nerves or ligaments after he went down in the first game of his NBA career. 

Randle is expected to fully recover from this injury and it should not affect him long-term. He'll be back on his feet before the start of the 2015-2016 season, and he should have an entire summer to get himself back in shape. There should be no residual, or structural, damage to the 19-year-old forward's right leg.

If this was an ACL tear, or an Achilles tear -- as TNT's Reggie Miller repeatedly speculated about during the broadcast -- this would be a much worse scenario. Instead, Randle should be as good as new once his leg is done healing. 

•He's been here before

One of the reasons Randle was still available for the Lakers with the seventh-overall pick was concern regarding his surgically-repaired right foot. Randle broke his foot during his senior year in high school and was forced to miss three months while he recovered. 

That was a big moment in Randle's basketball career, as his chance to showcase his all-around talents was diminished. Randle kept himself in as best shape as possible, however, and came back in time to lead his high school to a state title. 

It's not the same as having his dream sidelined for an entire year just 13 minutes into his career, but Randle has the mental makeup to get through this sort of exhausting process. He'll be fine both mentally, and physically, in due time. 

•Lakers can focus on the future

The Lakers are now without arguably the most important player of the season with Randle out for the season. They no longer have to concern themselves with developing Randle with a competitive team through the year, and can instead look ahead to next season. This means bottoming out and ending up with a top-five pick in the 2015 NBA Draft is a very real possibility. 

The Lakers traded their 2015 first-round pick to the Phoenix Suns as part of the sign-and-trade deal for Steve Nash. The draft pick is top-five protected, meaning the Lakers would keep the pick if it becomes one of the first five selections in the 2015 NBA Draft. 

If the Lakers do end up with another top-pick for the second straight year, that would give the organization another young, high-potential building block to add to their roster. It'd also give Randle a young teammate to grow with, which could be for the best of the organization in the long run. 

•Observing the rest of the roster

Julius Randle was coming off the bench behind veteran Carlos Boozer, but behind Randle in the depth chart was second-year player Ryan Kelly, and potential power forward minutes for Ed Davis. Without Randle to assign minutes to, Byron Scott will have to look elsewhere in the roster. This will allow the front office a better chance to examine both Kelly and Davis.

Kelly was the Lakers' 2013 second-round draft pick who had a great opportunity to prove himself last season. He can spread the floor and is surprisingly good at putting the ball on the floor if his defender closes out on him. He'll have more minutes to develop, giving the Lakers more time to learn whether he can be a long term role player for them.

Davis is a project player who has been bounced from the Toronto Raptors and Memphis Grizzlies, but has looked solid with the Lakers early in the year. He's arguably their best defender, and is on a cheap two-year deal with a player option for the second year worth approximately $2.1 million, per ShamSports.

Both players deserve their own opportunities to prove themselves, and can ultimately become important role players on the Lakers as they rebuild their roster. 

Julius Randle was one of the leading reasons to be excited about the Lakers' '14-15 season, and his injury was a big blow on what will be remembered as one of the worst opening nights in franchise history. Still, he'll recover and should go on to have a perfectly normal career once his leg heals. In the mean time, the Lakers have the chance to capitalize on finding their way back to the first-round draft pick they gave up in return for Steve Nash. One year without Randle hurts, but the first year with Randle was never going to be enough to turn the ship around anyway. What matters is he'll be healthy once his leg heals, and he'll likely be even more determined to prove himself after missing an entire year.