Lakers guard Austin Reaves is optimistic about his ability to suit up for Game 5 of the team’s first-round series against Houston on Wednesday night, reports Shams Charania of ESPN (Twitter link).
Reaves, the Lakers’ second-leading scorer during the regular season, has been out for nearly four weeks after suffering an oblique strain on April 2. Initial reporting indicated that he was expected to remain on the shelf for approximately four-to-six weeks, so if he’s able to return to action on Wednesday, he’d be narrowly beating that timeline.
Reaves was listed as questionable for Games 3 and 4 before being eventually downgraded to out. It’s not out of the question that could happen again, with Charania noting that Reaves’ status will be a game-time decision for a third consecutive contest. However, it sounds like his return is imminent.
In 51 regular season outings, Reaves averaged a career-high 23.3 points on .490/.360/.871 shooting while also chipping in 5.5 assists, 4.7 rebounds, and 1.1 steals per game.
The Lakers hold a 3-1 lead over the Rockets, which means they’re guaranteed at least three more games this spring, so it’s a pretty safe bet we’ll see Reaves sooner or later, even if it doesn’t happen on Wednesday. It remains to be seen whether the same is true of his backcourt mate Luka Doncic, who has also been sidelined since April 2 due to a hamstring strain. Lakers head coach JJ Redick said on Sunday that Doncic has been able to do a little on-court work, but still isn’t moving around much.
Honestly feels like the NBA helped the Lakers with the schedule. They have the most days off in-between. Had 3 day in-between every game. Other teams are playing every other day. Should wrap this series up next game although 1 game might help them get Luka back for okc
The last games were every other and going forward they will be as well. They just got “lucky” with how the nba scheduled their breaks. Other teams will have their 3 day breaks now to stagger the schedule. It also helped the Rockets with Durant
Game 1 Saturday
Game 2 Tuesday
Game 3 Friday
Game 4 Sunday
Game 5 Wednesday
They got an average of 2 days in between each game and 3 days from game 1 to game 2. It just is what it is but prolonging the series actually helps La get Luca back for the next round. If they would have won on Sunday they would be playing game one on Saturday against OKC. It’s pretty much fact you can look it up. They got the most amount of time in between games except for game 6 and game 7.