On Tuesday night, the Los Angeles Lakers are paying a visit to the PHX Arena for a match against the Phoenix Suns. In their last time out on the court, the Lakers fell flat against their cross-town rivals, the Los Angeles Clippers, losing 88-103.
The loss came despite an impressive scoring display from LeBron James, finishing the match with 36 points on 35.3 percent shooting. One contributing reason to their loss was the early exit of James’ co-star Luka Doncic, who was ruled out for the second half of the matchup against the Clippers due to a calf contusion in his left leg.
This injury brought an end to the Slovenian’s 12-point and five-rebound performance through 20 minutes in the first half.
While Doncic’s calf contusion has been reported to be on a day-to-day basis, he won’t make his return to the court on Tuesday night, as the Lakers’ injury report has him listed as out due to the lower leg injury.
It will be the Slovenian’s seventh missed game of the season so far, as he has had to deal with a finger injury in early November that kept him out of a few matches. Despite these setbacks, the 26-year-old is averaging a league-high 34.1 points per game, along with 8.8 assists and 8.6 rebounds.
In Doncic’s place, Lakers head coach JJ Reddick has Nick Smith Jr and Dalton Knecht to choose from, amongst others. These were his options against the Clippers when Doncic was ruled out, with Knecht finishing the match with two points, and Smith Jr wrapping things up with nine points to his name.
Elsewhere on Los Angeles’ injury report, Austin Reaves has been upgraded to questionable after he has missed three games due to a calf strain. Similar to his backcourt partner, Reaves’ injury comes during what has been a career year, as he is averaging 27.8 points per game on an efficient 50.3 percent shooting from the field.
The Lakers are set to take on the Suns on Tuesday night, with tip-off slated for 6:00 p.m. PST.
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