![\"Austin](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/austin-reaves-luka-doncic-injury-decision-rockets-game-2.jpg\")
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Austin Reaves is also ruled out for Game 2 against the Houston Rockets with a left oblique muscle strain. <\/p>\n
Star guard Austin Reaves is reportedly \u201con pace\u201d to play Game 3 of the Los Angeles Lakers<\/a> vs. Houston Rockets first-round playoff series after being upgraded to questionable on Thursday.<\/p>\n According to Clutch Points\u2019 Brett Siegel<\/a>, Reaves will return to the Lakers lineup for the first time since the April 2 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder<\/a> \u2014 barring any setbacks.<\/p>\n \u201cReaves, who suffered a Grade 2 left oblique strain on April 2, was originally expected to have a 4-6 week recovery timeline,\u201d the insider wrote on X.<\/p>\n \u201cExactly three weeks from the injury, Reaves is now on pace to return tomorrow night against the Rockets, barring no setbacks in shootaround.\u201d<\/p>\n Siegel\u2019s report came soon after the Reaves was upgraded to questionable for Game 3.<\/p>\n Austin Reaves Injury Update<\/p>\n Earlier this week, Lakers head coach JJ Redick confirmed reports that Reaves had advanced to 1-on-1 workouts<\/a> for the first time since being diagnosed with a grade 2 oblique strain on April 2. At the time, it was widely believed that Reaves would need at least one more week to move from 1-on-1 to 3-on-3 and 5-on-5 \u2014 as is the norm for NBA<\/a> players. Many circled Game 5 on April 29 as an Austin Reaves return date.<\/p>\n \u201cAustin has progressed to 1-on-1 workouts coming off a grade 2 oblique strain.\u201d ESPN\u2019s Dave McMenamin reported on the \u201cHowdy Partners\u201d podcast<\/a>\u00a0on Wednesday.<\/p>\n \u201cWe originally reported a 4-to-6 week timeline. Game 5 would be one day short of four weeks, so you have to start to look at that as a theoretical possibility.\u201d<\/p>\n However, the Lakers shockingly upgraded Reaves to questionable on Thursday, suggesting that the fifth-year guard had progressed well.<\/p>\n Austin Reaves Return Date<\/p>\n Even Lakers head coach JJ Redick was seemingly surprised at Reaves\u2019 rapid progress. After Thursday\u2019s practice session, Redick was unsure when Reaves would progress from 1-on-1 and inch closer to a return.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s above my pay grade,\u201d Redick said<\/a> when asked about Reaves\u2019 progress.<\/p>\n \u201cAustin has, you know, started a return to play,\u201d he continued. \u201cBut we don\u2019t have any timeline update for anything. Luka, I think, is going to start some more work here soon. But again, no update on timeline for him.\u201d<\/p>\n Barely a few hours after Redick\u2019s comments, Reaves was upgraded to questionable.<\/p>\n The news of Reaves\u2019 return is obviously a huge boost to a Lakers team that seized a 2-0 series lead over the Rockets with back-to-back wins at home. It\u2019s unknown whether they could bring Austin Reaves off the bench or keep him under a minute restriction in his first game in nearly three weeks.<\/p>\n The Rockets enter Game 3 as massive 8.5-point favorites at home. Those odds could potentially shrink closer to the game if Reaves is cleared for a return.<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tSai Mohan<\/a> covers the NBA for Heavy.com. Based in Portugal, Sai is a seasoned sports writer with nearly two decades of publishing experience, including bylines at Yardbarker, FanSided’s Hoops Habit, International Business Times, Hindustan Times and more. More about Sai Mohan<\/a>\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tMore Heavy on Lakers\n\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\tLoading more stories\n\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Getty Austin Reaves is also ruled out for Game 2 against the Houston Rockets with a left oblique…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":717035,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3794],"tags":[7,292,194,4066,6,211],"class_list":{"0":"post-717034","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-houston-rockets","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-houston","10":"tag-houston-rockets","11":"tag-houstonrockets","12":"tag-nba","13":"tag-rockets"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116459094092908054","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/717034","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=717034"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/717034\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/717035"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=717034"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=717034"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=717034"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}