Guard Austin Reaves suffered a recurrence of his calf injury during the Los Angeles Lakers‘ Christmas Day matchup with the Houston Rockets, left the game and could miss more time moving forward.
Reaves sustained the calf issue, the severity of which the team has yet to determine, during the first half of the contest. He did not return for either the third or fourth quarters.
Dave McMenamin of ESPN reported on Thursday, December 25 that Reaves will undergo an MRI on Friday to determine the precise nature of the calf injury.
Luka Doncic, Reaves’ backcourt teammate since a blockbuster trade between the Lakers and Dallas Mavericks back in February, spoke with media members after the game and shared his opinion on Reaves’ injury and the approach to it that he should take moving forward.
“I know how it is to go through a calf injury. It’s not fun at all,” Doncic said during the postgame press conference. “[I’ll] just be there to support him.”
As to his advice for Reaves, Doncic said he should worry about getting back to full health rather than pushing too fast to help a struggling Lakers team that has lost its last three games by an average of nearly 21 points per outing. Los Angeles fell to Houston by 23 points on Christmas.
“Take your time,” Doncic continued. “Calves are dangerous, so take your time.”
Austin Reaves Having All-Star Season for Lakers During Contract Year
GettyAustin Reaves of the Los Angeles Lakers.
Reaves has played in 23 of the Lakers’ 30 regular season games to this point in the season, helping the team to a record of 19-10.
He missed three contests against the Phoenix Suns, Utah Jazz and Los Angeles Clippers during a recent road trip. Los Angeles went 2-1 over that span. But Reaves carried the team early in the year, leading the Lakers to wins absent LeBron James and Doncic on multiple occasions.
Head coach JJ Redick said on Thursday night that Reaves is having an All-Star season during what can also become a contract year should he decide to opt out of his current deal this summer.
“I obviously absolutely think he should be an All-Star this year,” Redick said, per McMenamin.
Reaves, 27, came into the contest against the Rockets averaging 27.3 points, 6.5 assists, 5.4 rebounds and 1.0 steals.
Calf Injury Cost Luka Doncic Much of 2024-25 NBA Season
GettyLuka Doncic of the Los Angeles Lakers.
Doncic dealt with a calf injury last year, which struck before the Mavericks traded him to the Lakers and lingered well after Dallas and L.A. reached a deal.
He ended up missing 32 regular season games in 2024-25, which was by far the most in his career up to that point. Doncic was something of a shell of himself down the stretch and into the playoffs, where the Minnesota Timberwolves bounced the Lakers in Round 1 after just five games.
Following a full offseason to recover, during which Doncic changed his diet and lost a significant amount of weight, the MVP candidate bounced back and is having a monster campaign through 22 games played in 2025-26.
Doncic entered the contest against Houston on Thursday averaging a league-leading 34.1 points per game to go along with 8.8 assists, 8.6 rebounds and 1.6 steals.
Calf injuries can be harbingers of Achilles tendon tears to come if they are not treated properly and have knocked out some of the biggest names in the sport for this season, including Jayson Tatum of the Boston Celtics and Tyrese Haliburton of the Indiana Pacers.
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