After initially being listed as questionable for Monday’s contest in Charlotte, Lakers guard Austin Reaves was subsequently upgraded to probable and then available, as Khobi Price of The Southern California News Group tweets.
Reaves had missed the past three games with a right groin injury. The 27-year-old, who is expected to become a free agent next summer, was back in the starting lineup on Monday alongside Luka Doncic, Marcus Smart, Rui Hachimura and Deandre Ayton.
Here’s more on the Lakers:
- Superstar forward LeBron James is expected to practice with the G League’s South Bay Lakers later this week, according to Price (Twitter link). James was recently cleared for contact work and is ramping up to make his season debut after dealing with sciatica on his right side. The 40-year-old was selected to his record-extending 20th All-NBA team in 2024/25.
- While Adou Thiero is out again Monday, head coach JJ Redick is optimistic that the rookie forward could make his NBA debut during the team’s current road trip, tweets Law Murray of The Athletic. The Lakers have three more road games this week (at Oklahoma City, New Orleans and Milwaukee) before returning home to Los Angeles. Thiero, 21, was selected 36th overall in the 2025 draft. He has been sidelined with a knee injury he sustained in college at Arkansas.
- Although the Lakers were shorthanded in Saturday’s loss in Atlanta, so were the Hawks, who were down six players, including Trae Young, Kristaps Porzingis, Jalen Johnson and Nickeil Alexander-Walker. The lopsided defeat snapped a five-game winning streak for the Lakers. “This isn’t the identity of this team,” forward Jake LaRavia said, per Thuc Nhi Nguyen of The Los Angeles Times. “This game was an outlier of the first 10 games that we played. [We have to] just not let it break us and be ready to play the next game.”
Lebron playing with g league and Bronny playing on the Lakers is definitely a timeline.
Serious question … should LeBron come off bench when he’s back ? Obv he won’t but just a thought ..
Better trade Lebron. Lakers are doing fine with Luka. Once he comes back… He will ruin the chemistry. Luka and Reeves are just doing fine now.
Prefer Rui’s scoring off the bench tbh
They severely lack that currently , if you put 2 shooters in Rui/La Ravia with the bench unit I think it massively helps from what it is currently (DK)
. Shouldn’t ever have a facilitation problem as one of Reaves or Luka should always be in
Bron is 100% not coming off the bench. He has said during the offseason that he was practicing his catch and shoot 3 pointers, and playing off ball. He doesn’t want the high usage rate any more.
The Lakers should start Smart and being Rui off the bench. Rui is a stud scorer and his numbers will go up playing with just Luka or Reaves, not both at the same time. He will get a lot more touches and can continue being aggressive, like he has been this year (he is a contract year too)
Him running the bench unit would make a lot of sense. Plus he could get more mins with his son. Definitely doesn’t need to come off the bench but maybe stagger him with Luka and reeves.
Lewho? Lols.
If Thiero plays hard defense, which he is known for, he can replace Vando next year while Thiero develops his shot. That will free up $12.5M next year for the Lakers, giving them $47M under the cap, AFTER keeping Ayton for $20M, Smart for $13M and with Reaves’ cap hold of $21M.