Injured Los Angeles Lakers guard Austin Reaves won’t suit up for Saturday’s Game 1 against the Houston Rockets in the first round of the NBA playoffs.
On a positive note, Reaves could return in the latter half of the series if the Lakers can stay afloat against Kevin Durant and Co.
Per The Athletic’s Dan Woike, Reaves (oblique injury) has been undergoing round-the-clock treatment and is eager to return at the earliest.
“Reaves has been with the team in Los Angeles and been undergoing a variety of treatments in both the Lakers and Los Angeles Dodgers facilities, per a team source,” Woike reported on Friday.
Austin Reaves Return Timeline
The 27-year-old was projected to miss 4-to-6 weeks of action after being diagnosed with a grade 2 oblique strain on April 3. Based on that timeline, Reaves could potentially be ready for Game 4 of the Lakers vs. Rockets series on April 26 or Game 5 on April 29.
Sports doctor David Chao fully expects Reaves to come back sooner rather than later, citing the fact that an oblique injury doesn’t carry long-term risk.
“I think Austin Reaves will come back with the oblique,” Chao said this week.
Chao believes that Luka Doncic, sidelined by a grade 2 hamstring strain, faces a tougher path back to the court because of the tricky nature of his injury.
“The setback for a hamstring is more of a risk than the setback for an oblique,” he said of Doncic’s injury. “I think Reaves has a chance to come back in the first round.”
Austin Reaves Injury Update
ESPN’s Brian Windhorst also reported earlier this week that rival teams in the West were prepared for Reaves to return during the Lakers vs. Rockets series.
“There are potential Laker playoff opponents who felt that there was a better chance — based on their analysis of the situation — that Austin Reaves could play sooner rather than later,” Windhorst told the “Hoop Collective” podcast.
“And that, as this team was preparing to potentially see the Lakers, that they were preparing for Austin Reaves potentially to play in that first-round series at some point.”
Even if Reaves is unable to rejoin his Lakers teammates for the playoff run, he is widely expected to receive a big payday from the franchise as a free agent this summer.
“Reaves, who according to league sources intends to decline the final year of his contract with the Lakers and become an unrestricted free agent, is expected to have top-of-market interest from multiple teams, both those with cap space and those that would need to create it to sign him. Reaves said that he hopes to remain with the Lakers and has strong advocates in Doncic and James,” Dan Woike reported on Friday.
Game 1 of the Lakers vs. Rockets series tips off at 5:30 p.m. on Saturday. The Lakers will enjoy two-day breaks before Games 2 and 3, which will allow the aging LeBron James to recover and carry the team in the absence of Reaves and Doncic.
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