CHARLOTTE, N.C. — After being sidelined for over a week, Austin Reaves could make his return to the floor in Monday’s road game against the Charlotte Hornets.
The Lakers upgraded Reaves’ status to questionable on the team’s Sunday evening injury report because of a right groin strain.
The star guard sat out of the Lakers’ three previous games with the injury, which he suffered during the first quarter of the Nov. 2 home win over the Miami Heat.
Reaves averaged 31.1 points (48.9% shooting), 9.3 assists and 5.1 rebounds in the Lakers’ first seven games.
Coach JJ Redick confirmed on Saturday that Reaves received an MRI that revealed a “mild” groin strain after he was previously listed on the injury report with right groin soreness.
He added that Reaves’ pain is “really low” and expected him to make his return at some point during the Lakers’ ongoing five-game road trip.
The Lakers are looking to bounce back from Saturday’s 122-102 trip-starting loss to a short-handed Atlanta Hawks squad that was missing four of its top scorers on the second night of a back-to-back set.
The Hawks were without Trae Young, Jalen Johnson, Kristaps Porzingis, Nickeil Alexander-Walker and Luke Kennard.
“You just got to learn from it and move on,” Jake LaRavia said. “You got to understand that this isn’t the identity of this team. This game was an outlier of the first 10 games that we’ve played. We’re just going to come right back in the next game and be ready to play.”
Redick said the team would review the film from the loss to the Hawks.
And when they do, they’ll likely notice their off-ball defense not being crisp, leading to Atlanta’s cut to the basket or easier scoring opportunities from beyond the 3-point arc.
Or the lack of hustle to get back on defense, which was a pregame emphasis, that was only made worse by the Lakers’ 20 giveaways and the Hawks’ strong perimeter shooting.
“Probably underestimated [those guys], not keeping those guys to account, forgetting this is the NBA, and those are NBA players,” Deandre Ayton said. “It [was] one of those nights where we just have to lock in and dial in, and I feel like we were just behind the ball a little bit.
“They killed us in transition, and they played amazing defensively. We weren’t ready for it. JJ got on this about it.”
Even with Saturday’s defeat being just the Lakers’ third loss of the season, dropping them to 7-3, the disappointment from the performance was palpable – especially from Redick.
But as fiery and competitive as he can be, Redick seemed to be more measured with how he handled the blowout loss compared to how he did during his first season as a coach with the Lakers last year.
“A lot calmer,” Dalton Knecht responded when asked about the comparison. “He knows that we got punched in the mouth. We punched them back, but they just kept going. At the end of the day, just like he said, you just got to watch it and be ready to take criticism and then build on it for the next game.”
The Hornets will be without star guard LaMelo Ball for the fourth consecutive game on Monday due to a right ankle impingement.
LAKERS AT HORNETS
When: Monday, 4 p.m. PT
Where: Spectrum Center, Charlotte, N.C.
TV/Radio: Spectrum SportsNet/710 AM