{"id":695915,"date":"2026-04-03T14:15:17","date_gmt":"2026-04-03T14:15:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/695915\/"},"modified":"2026-04-03T14:15:17","modified_gmt":"2026-04-03T14:15:17","slug":"austin-reaves-provides-injury-update-after-scare-in-lakers-loss-to-thunder","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/695915\/","title":{"rendered":"Austin Reaves Provides Injury Update After Scare in Lakers’ Loss to Thunder"},"content":{"rendered":"

Los Angeles Lakers<\/a> guard Austin Reaves dealt with an injury scare in his team’s 139-96 blowout loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder<\/a> on Thursday.<\/p>\n

Reaves missed 19 games earlier this season with a severe calf injury. He returned in early February and has been a vital cog ever since.<\/p>\n

When healthy, Reaves completes the Lakers’ three-headed monster alongside multi-time All-Stars LeBron James<\/a> and Luka Doncic<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Los Angeles currently sits third in the Western Conference at 50-27. Reaves is averaging 23.3 points, 5.5 assists and 4.7 rebounds per game.<\/p>\n

Fans held their breath<\/a> when he exited early in the first quarter on Thursday at Paycom Center.<\/p>\n

\"Los<\/p>\n

Los Angeles Lakers guard Austin Reaves (15)Jesse Johnson-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

(Jesse Johnson-Imagn Images)<\/p>\n

The Lakers suffered their worst loss of the season against the defending champions, who handed them a 43-point drubbing.<\/p>\n

Reigning NBA<\/a> MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander<\/a> led the way with 28 points, seven rebounds and seven assists on 12-of-25 shooting. Isaiah Joe added 20 points and hit six triples. Oklahoma City shot a blistering 53.9% from the field.<\/p>\n

The night turned problematic for Los Angeles from the opening quarter. Reaves drained a three-pointer and immediately grabbed his back upon landing. Coach JJ Redick pulled him from the game.<\/p>\n

Reaves headed to the locker room for evaluation but returned in the second quarter and finished the night. He paced the visiting Lakers with 15 points on 5-of-9 shooting and 2-of-3 from three, adding four rebounds.<\/p>\n

After the game, Reaves addressed the scare in the locker room.<\/p>\n

“I went back to get a rebound, overextended a little bit, and I felt something. But I feel decent right now, so we’ll see,” said Reaves in a clip shared by Lakers reporter Khobi Price on X.<\/p>\n

Redick, meanwhile, remains optimistic that his star guard will be available.<\/p>\n

“He was in a weird position stretching for a basketball, a loose ball, and just felt something intercostal, something in his back in between the ribs,\u201d the Lakers head coach said via Lakers Nation on X<\/a>. \u201cHe was able to play through it and battled back. We’ll see how he feels tomorrow.”<\/p>\n

The injury concern<\/a> compounds an already difficult evening for Los Angeles. Luka Doncic exited with a left hamstring injury in the third quarter and did not return. He will undergo an MRI on Friday.<\/p>\n

With roughly two weeks left in the regular season, the Lakers cannot afford to lose key pieces.<\/p>\n

Los Angeles visits the Dallas Mavericks<\/a> on Sunday, giving the wounded squad time to recover before the playoffs.<\/p>\n

Related: Lakers’ JJ Redick Had No Words for LeBron James on Monday<\/a><\/p>\n

This story was originally published by Athlon Sports<\/a> on Apr 3, 2026, where it first appeared in the NBA<\/a> section. Add Athlon Sports as a Preferred Source by clicking here.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Los Angeles Lakers guard Austin Reaves dealt with an injury scare in his team’s 139-96 blowout loss to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":695916,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3783],"tags":[1013,7,686,149,1624,1661,251,150,368,6,310,475,179,3966,3965,209,312],"class_list":{"0":"post-695915","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-oklahoma-city-thunder","8":"tag-austin-reaves","9":"tag-basketball","10":"tag-dallas","11":"tag-dallas-mavericks","12":"tag-isaiah-joe","13":"tag-jj-redick","14":"tag-los-angeles","15":"tag-los-angeles-lakers","16":"tag-luka-doncic","17":"tag-nba","18":"tag-oklahoma","19":"tag-oklahoma-city","20":"tag-oklahoma-city-thunder","21":"tag-oklahomacity","22":"tag-oklahomacitythunder","23":"tag-shai-gilgeous-alexander","24":"tag-thunder"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116341200716049918","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/695915","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=695915"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/695915\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/695916"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=695915"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=695915"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=695915"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}