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MEMPHIS, TENNESSEE – MARCH 29: Austin Reaves #15 of the Los Angeles Lakers reacts during the second half against the Memphis Grizzlies at FedExForum on March 29, 2025 in Memphis, Tennessee. <\/p>\n
Austin Reaves<\/a>\u2019 imminent return to the Los Angeles Lakers\u2019 starting lineup is here. Just as the Lakers are slowly shifting their sights to the second round of the playoffs<\/p>\n The Lakers have completely jumped the Rockets<\/a>, pushing their lead to 3-0 after a miraculous win Friday night in Houston. The Rockets have one last chance before their season ends in humiliating fashion.<\/p>\n Especially if the Lakers get their second-best scorer back in the lineup, the Rockets are staring down a 0-4 sweep. That\u2019s not what you want \u2014 especially in front of the home fans.<\/p>\n Lakers fans, star help may finally be on the way after more news on Reaves surfaced today.<\/p>\n Austin Reaves Status for Game 4 to Be Decided Soon<\/p>\n As Game 4 approaches, the Lakers are ready to lock in one more win and punch their ticket to the West semifinals. If they get Reaves back for Sunday\u2019s game, the Lakers\u2019 chances of winning skyrocket.<\/p>\n Reaves, 27, incurred a Grade 2 oblique strain just 23 days ago. While the team didn\u2019t announce an estimated return timeline \u2014 head coach JJ Redick<\/a> said multiple times that Reaves and fellow injured star Luka Doncic<\/a> would be out \u201cindefinitely\u201d \u2014 several credible sources floated a 4-6 week window.\u00a0<\/p>\n Reaves is just at the start of the third week, so either the timeline those sources gave wasn\u2019t accurate or Reaves\u2019 injury wasn\u2019t as bad as everyone made it seem.\u00a0<\/p>\n GettyAustin Reaves speaks with Lakers coach JJ Redick during a game as his return status remains unclear.<\/p>\n The Lakers are up 3-0, so it\u2019s not like it is absolutely critical to get Reaves back in the lineup. L.A. could very well decide to sit him until round two when it plays a much tougher opponent.\u00a0<\/p>\n The Lakers could still use Reaves sooner than later to get some time to ease him back into the swing of things before a difficult second round series.\u00a0<\/p>\n According to NBA<\/a> insider Dave McMenamin, the Lakers have announced once again that Reaves is questionable for Game 4<\/a> (he was also listed as that entering Game 3, which he did not play).<\/p>\n \u201cAustin Reaves is once again questionable for Game 4, per the Lakers,\u201d McMenamin wrote in an X post.<\/p>\n Aiming to Close Out the Series in Commanding Fashion<\/p>\n If Reaves returns Sunday, the Lakers could cruise to a first round sweep. Considering how close Reaves was to playing in Friday\u2019s Game 3, it sure feels the 27-year-old Lakers guard will give it a go in Game 4. Let\u2019s just say it\u2019s more likely he plays.<\/p>\n Reaves began his return-to-play process earlier this week at Lakers practice. Videos showed him taking part in drills and working with trainers, offering the first real sign his return was nearing. Now, he could be back in action as soon as tomorrow.<\/p>\n The Lakers were fortunate to escape Game 3 with a win. The Rockets held a six-point advantage with roughly 30 seconds to play in regulation, but blunder upon blunder shot Houston in its own heart as the Lakers snatched the opportunity.\u00a0<\/p>\n It was bad enough that Rockets head coach Ime Udoka showed no restraint in criticizing his players after the game.<\/p>\n For Houston, it would be a brutal way to go out in a sweep against a Los Angeles team without Doncic and mostly (if not entirely) without Reaves.<\/p>\n No team in NBA history has overcome an 0-3 deficit. Only four teams have even forced a Game 7 after trailing by three games.\u00a0<\/p>\n The Rockets are still with the unknown when it comes to star forward Kevin Durant<\/a>, who was ruled out of Friday\u2019s Game 3.\u00a0<\/p>\n If Durant is sidelined again Sunday and Reaves returns for the Lakers, it could get ugly fast for the home team.<\/p>\n Game 4 is on tap. Tip off is set for 8:30 p.m. at Toyota Center.<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tAdel Ahmad<\/a> Adel is a writer with over five years of experience covering the NBA. His work has appeared on various media platforms, both national and local. More about Adel Ahmad<\/a>\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Getty MEMPHIS, TENNESSEE – MARCH 29: Austin Reaves #15 of the Los Angeles Lakers reacts during the second…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":717345,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[3790],"tags":[7,4034,1698,300,4044,251,150,4033,4043,6],"class_list":{"0":"post-718184","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles-lakers","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-la","10":"tag-la-lakers","11":"tag-lakers","12":"tag-lalakers","13":"tag-los-angeles","14":"tag-los-angeles-lakers","15":"tag-losangeles","16":"tag-losangeleslakers","17":"tag-nba"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116468531111282891","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/718184","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=718184"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/718184\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/717345"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=718184"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=718184"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=718184"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Austin](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1777072346_GettyImages-2193285834-e1776967553422.jpg\")
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