It didn’t come as much of a surprise on Friday when the Lakers announced that Austin Reaves had been diagnosed with a calf strain and would miss at least a week.
Reaves has carried a heavy load throughout the season with both Luka Dončić and LeBron James missing time. As a result, Reaves has been one of the consistent figures, but the signs were starting to show. In recent games, Reaves has struggled more than he’s flourished, including going 6-16 from the field against the Spurs with just 15 points.
How much that toll led to him suffering an injury will never be exactly known, but it likely didn’t help. At practice on Saturday, head coach JJ Redick noted that the injury first was noted before Wednesday’s game (h/t Khobi Price/OC Register).
“It’s hard to pinpoint the exact time during the game,” Redick said. “It started to tighten up the day before even though he did very light work intentionally. It’s just one of those things and we’re obviously going to be cautious with it.”
Fortunately, it does not appear Reaves will miss much time. Redick also noted while talking to the media that the current expectation is for him to be out just one week. It’s a convenient time in the schedule to have an injury as well with the NBA Cup semi-final and final creating a gap in the schedule for every other team.
The Lakers will play the Suns on Sunday, then will be off until they travel to Utah on Thursday. In theory, if Reaves is out exactly one week, those would be the only two games he’d miss. Even if the Lakers wanted to be extra cautious, they play the Clippers on Saturday, then are off again until the following Tuesday when they travel to Phoenix again.
That four-game “road trip” that includes a game in LA spans 10 days and will see the Lakers spend a lot of days in LA. On that front, it’s about the best-case scenario when it comes to an injury and potential games missed.
Reaves has been excellent this season and the Lakers are clearly a top team with him. Fortunately, it doesn’t appear they’ll be without him for very long.