Los Angeles Lakers guard Austin Reaves sat out Wednesday night’s 118-116 victory over the San Antonio Spurs with right groin soreness. It was the second consecutive game Reaves missed after skipping the 123-115 win over the Portland Trail Blazers on Monday, also with the same injury.
It appears that Reaves could miss even more time. After the Lakers improved to 7-2, head coach JJ Redick made it clear that the team won’t rush Reaves back, citing his own troubles with soft-tissue injuries in his career.
“He’s got some soreness in that right groin,” Redick said of Reaves, via Broderick Turner of the LA Times.
“Those injuries, or a further injury on that, is hard. I’ve had ’em. I’ve had surgery. We’re just trying to be safe with him. And, hopefully, that is Friday, but we’re not going to put him at risk.”
Redick’s words suggest that Reaves — who is listed as OUT internally rather than day-to-day — may not be ready to return to the court just yet.
Lakers Off to Triumphant Start
The Lakers, who have risen to the No. 2 seed in the Western Conference, have the luxury of sitting out Reaves for more games, given Luka Doncic’s dominance. Redick’s team has repeatedly shown the ability to eke out wins despite being underhanded, as they did in Portland, when Reaves, Doncic and LeBron James were all out.
Redick has continued to run the same plays and instill the same philosophies regardless of the personnel on the floor, something that has helped the likes of Nick Smith Jr.
The Athletic’s Dan Woike wrote earlier this week that the Lakers have “something special going on” even when their Big 3 are not on the floor.
“You can’t win in the NBA without stepping on the floor and expecting to win,” Redick said of his team-first approach. “And I thought our guys had that from the start.”
Austin Reaves Playing Like An All-Star
“I’ve told the team this a number of times throughout the preseason and early in this season: The best teams are always gonna be player-led.
And so those guys holding each other to that,” Redick added.
Reaves was off to a terrific start to his fifth season as a Laker before his groin injury. The 27-year-old averaged 31.1 points, 9.3 assists, 5.1 rebounds and 1.4 steals through seven games, making a strong case to qualify for his first All-Star team.
Despite missing the last two games, Reaves still leads the Purple & Gold in total points (218), assists (65), three-pointers made (21) and remains second in plus/minus (+46), trailing only Marcus Smart. Furthermore, he’s shooting a career-high 48.9% from the field.
The Lakers are also dealing with injuries to LeBron James (sciatica), Gabe Vincent (ankle), Maxi Kleber (oblique) and rookie Adou Thiero (knee). Once they are whole, they could pose a serious threat to the Oklahoma City Thunder’s reign over the West.
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