{"id":700760,"date":"2026-04-06T03:57:17","date_gmt":"2026-04-06T03:57:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/700760\/"},"modified":"2026-04-06T03:57:17","modified_gmt":"2026-04-06T03:57:17","slug":"lakers-and-lebron-face-uncertainty-without-injured-doncic-and-reaves","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/700760\/","title":{"rendered":"Lakers and LeBron face uncertainty without injured Doncic and Reaves"},"content":{"rendered":"

DALLAS (AP) \u2014 The bleak timeline for Luka Doncic\u2019s return from injury<\/a> was already out there when the Los Angeles Lakers got word that Austin Reaves also wouldn\u2019t play again in the regular season.<\/p>\n

LeBron James woke up from a nap to find out about the prognosis on Reaves\u2019 strained left oblique<\/a>. He had gone to sleep knowing the outlook on a strained left hamstring for Doncic, the NBA scoring leader.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a shot to the heart and to the chest and the main frame with Luka, and we got that news kind of quick,\u201d James said after the Lakers\u2019 134-128 loss to the Dallas Mavericks<\/a> on Sunday night. \u201cAnd (Reaves), he\u2019s kind of dealing with the pain, we\u2019re saying, \u2018OK, whatever the case may be.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cI woke up from my nap yesterday and then saw that news, I was like … (expletive),\u201d James said, pausing for several seconds before punctuating his thought.<\/p>\n

For now, the playoff-bound Lakers will lean on James as their primary scorer and floor leader, while keeping in mind the 41-year-old is wrapping up his record 23rd NBA season.<\/p>\n

Sure enough, James had 30 points and 15 assists against the Mavericks, but did struggle in the fourth quarter after sparking a rally in the second. He was 2 of 7 from the field in the final 12 minutes, and missed both free throws when the deficit was eight with 3:50 remaining.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we have to be mindful of that. I think that\u2019s a valid question,\u201d coach JJ Redick said before the game. \u201cFor all our guys, him included, we want to put them in positions to be successful. Certain guys are gonna be tasked with doing stuff they haven\u2019t done a lot of this year.\u201d<\/p>\n

Doncic and Reaves, LA\u2019s No. 2 scorer, both were injured in a blowout loss to Oklahoma City<\/a> on Thursday. <\/p>\n

Of course, Doncic is the centerpiece of that conversation as an MVP candidate who will finish the season one game short of the 65 required to be eligible for that and other postseason awards.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just know that he\u2019s gonna do everything he can to try to be back,\u201d Redick said. \u201cI talked to him Friday, I talked him again (Saturday), I talked with him again (Sunday) morning. He\u2019s gonna go through all the necessary things to be back at some point, and it\u2019s our job again to extend the season so that both those guys can get back.\u201d<\/p>\n

Redick spoke of point guard by committee, an approach made necessary by another absence in Marcus Smart, who has a right ankle injury. Redick included James\u2019 son, Bronny James, in that mix along with Luke Kennard, Nick Smith Jr. and the seldom-used Kobe Bufkin.<\/p>\n

Kennard had his first career triple-double with 15 points, a career-high 16 rebounds and 11 assists, but had a rough shooting nigh against the Mavericks, going 5 of 17. Among the others mentioned by Redick, only Bronny James played more than five minutes, scoring five points in nine minutes.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think simplicity wins,\u201d Redick said. \u201cIt\u2019s nothing too crazy. But it\u2019s just being really simple with the menu and hopefully over the next five games, we can really figure out what works for this group. And that\u2019s obviously trial and error.\u201d<\/p>\n

James had a triple-double with 21 points, 10 rebounds and 12 assists in a victory over Washington last week when Doncic was serving a one-game suspension for receiving his 16th technical foul this season.<\/p>\n

The loss to Dallas dropped the Lakers into a third-place tie with Denver in the Western Conference. Fifth-place Houston could end up chasing home-court advantage in the first round as well, particularly with the Lakers so wounded.<\/p>\n

Rui Hachimura scored 12 of his 21 points in the first quarter against the Mavericks, who built a 22-point lead before halftime and held on despite James\u2019 strong showing and 23 points from backup center Jaxson Hayes.<\/p>\n

The Lakers shot 52% with 36 assists, two off their season high, but let the Mavs match that 52%. Dallas, one of the NBA\u2019s worst teams from 3-point range, made 14 of 32 (44%).<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve got a week left of the regular season and then a week to prepare and we\u2019ve gotta have the commitment to do it on both ends,\u201d Redick said after the game. \u201cThat\u2019s the reason that we\u2019ve put ourselves in the position to be in the playoffs is because we became a really good offensive team and a really good defensive team. So it\u2019s gotta be the commitment to both ends.\u201d<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

AP NBA: https:\/\/apnews.com\/nba<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"DALLAS (AP) \u2014 The bleak timeline for Luka Doncic\u2019s return from injury was already out there when the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":700761,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3790],"tags":[2889,1013,7,1006,160,292,1331,32,2822,4034,1698,300,4044,185,251,150,4033,4043,368,1171,326,6,446,11,10673,1012,66,2098,582],"class_list":{"0":"post-700760","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles-lakers","8":"tag-athlete-injuries","9":"tag-austin-reaves","10":"tag-basketball","11":"tag-bronny-james","12":"tag-california","13":"tag-houston","14":"tag-j-j-redick","15":"tag-jaxson-hayes","16":"tag-kobe-bufkin","17":"tag-la","18":"tag-la-lakers","19":"tag-lakers","20":"tag-lalakers","21":"tag-lebron-james","22":"tag-los-angeles","23":"tag-los-angeles-lakers","24":"tag-losangeles","25":"tag-losangeleslakers","26":"tag-luka-doncic","27":"tag-luke-kennard","28":"tag-marcus-smart","29":"tag-nba","30":"tag-nba-basketball","31":"tag-nba-playoffs","32":"tag-nick-smith-jr","33":"tag-rui-hachimura","34":"tag-sports","35":"tag-texas","36":"tag-tx-state-wire"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116355756565654459","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/700760","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=700760"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/700760\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/700761"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=700760"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=700760"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=700760"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}