The Lakers‘ season took an unfortunate turn last Thursday as Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves were injured during a 134-96 loss to Oklahoma City. Speaking with reporters before Sunday’s game at Dallas, head coach JJ Redick explained his decision to use both players in the second half with the team trailing by a wide margin, per Dan Woike of The Athletic.
Doncic was diagnosed on Friday with a Grade 2 left hamstring strain that could sideline him for a month or more. He plans to seek treatment in Europe in hopes of making a faster recovery. On Saturday, the Lakers learned that Reaves will miss four-to-six weeks with a Grade 2 left oblique muscle injury.
Redick said internal medical data didn’t show any signs that Doncic was being overused heading into Thursday. He grabbed at his left hamstring at one point in the first half, but received medical clearance to go back into the game. He suffered the injury early in the third quarter after planting his left leg and again reached for his hamstring.
Reaves experienced a tweak in his left side during the first half of Thursday’s game and went to the locker room to have it checked. He returned in the third quarter and appeared to aggravate the initial injury.
“As a coach, you go on the information you have,” Redick said. “He was medically cleared. When Austin came back, I asked directly. I thought he was hurt. (I was told), ‘No, he’s medically cleared.’ The group wanted to go for it in the second half. Talked about it at halftime. And I think, for both those guys, the nature of playing heavy minutes, that’s certainly a part of, like any equation when you’re trying to manage workloads. We also rely on the tracking data, and we’re looking at that after every game. You know, acceleration, jumps, workload, all of those things.
“And there have been a few times this year where it’s gone, away from the standard deviation of whatever their baseline is, and we make the proper adjustments. There was nothing leading into that game that would suggest either those guys were ‘running hot,’ as we call it.”
Redick also talked about the need to “extend the season” so Doncic and Reaves can return at some point in the playoffs. L.A. is currently tied with Denver at 50-28 and holds the tie-breaker for the No. 3 seed in the West, but a challenging schedule lies ahead with games this week against Oklahoma City, Golden State, Phoenix and Utah.
The Lakers got their first look at what life is going to be like in the meantime in Sunday’s loss to the Mavericks, per Dave McMenamin and Shams Charania of ESPN. L.A. gave up 41 points in the first quarter and trailed by 22 at one point before rallying to make the game close.
They used a starting lineup of LeBron James, Luke Kennard, Deandre Ayton, Rui Hachimura and Jake LaRavia that had never played together before Sunday. McMenamin and Charania note that the group that started the second quarter – James, Jarred Vanderbilt, Jaxson Hayes, Maxi Kleber and Kobe Bufkin – was also playing together for the first time.
James talked about the shock of finding out about Reaves’ absence in the wake of Doncic’s injury.
“I took my nap after practice, and I woke up with that news, it was like another shot to the [head],” James said. “It was a shot to the heart, obviously, and to the chest and to the mainframe with Luka. … But we kind of got that news kind of quick, and AR … we knew he was going to get an MRI, but I woke up from my nap yesterday and then saw that news, and I was like, ‘S–t.’ That was literally my tone.”
James took on a larger role with the other two stars sidelined, but the Lakers are going to be careful not to overuse him for the rest of the regular season, according to Khobi Price of The California Post. He finished with 30 points, nine rebounds and 15 assists in 39 minutes – marking just his sixth 30-point game of the season, along with his highest assist total of 2025/26.
“We did enough intentionally to get him sort of out of actions and not have him involved in every single play when he was out there,” Redick said. “And then there were times when he would get an outlet pass or get the ball and just kind of manipulated the half-court set for us and we got some good stuff.”
JJ needs to learn from his mistakes and not do it again. He knows he blew it.
Learn from his mistakes, he is not a good coach and has no business being an NBA coach. Is basically the bronnie James of coaching. Never coached a day in his life and because you talk X’s and o’s on a pod cast you get a head coaching job. Just like being an NBA player being an NBA coach you work yourself up to by learning how to coach. But when you’re handing things you didn’t earn or qualified for, you’ll never succeed.
This is why I say the Lakers are not contenders since the preseason. Lake of coaching, no roles for players. LeBron makes too much money. The wired control dynamic of clutch sports and the new Lakers owner taken away from their control. It’s too much drama from the top all the way down to the bottom. You can’t win a chip this way
Ok, now we get it. That explains why the Lakers are at worst the 5th seed in the West and have only won 50 games despite their three best players missing significant parts of the season.
It’s because of their bad coach that’s never coached a day in his life. All his fault.
You can be 1 seed and not a contender how many times do we have to say this. Regular season means nothing against the top 4 teams the Lakers have zero chance. No defense but LeBron or Luka in the p&r and it a bucket everythime. The Lakers are the best of the rest.
This is not the first team that’s a top 5 team that’s not a contender. Remember the ATL hawks. 1 st over all seed. Nobody actually thought they win a chip. But they had the best record. Good regular season team. And guess what they got sweeped. You get sweeped your not a contender. Again laker fan being delusional. Now next year get rid of the 54 million on LeBron and the 5 million on bronny. Add defenders and shooters, with a legit lob threat and you guys can have the talk
So you think this Lakers team is a contender if they replace JJ Redick with an elite coach? Seems crazy. Redick’s done really well with a roster that doesn’t really fit well together.
But playing Luka and AR in a blowout they’d already been injured in is obviously a mistake.
Replacing Reddick remains letting LeBron go. I don’t think Reddick can win an NBA championship no
But he’s LeBron’s coach. Once LeBron is gone they will find another coach use LeBron’s money to add defense and the team will be a completely different team with adjustments. The Lakers were not going to win whether Luka was healthy or not. With AR out And Luca out. This gives LeBron a chance to have his team and go out playing the way and doing whatever he wants to. But the new owners will make sure that LeBron is not on the team next year and they use his money accordingly to build around Luca. I doubt JJ is on the team as well. He would have not been picked coach if it wasn’t for LeBron and those are facts. I could go over the thousand things that JJ does wrong. He actually really doesn’t have any schemes And the Lakers were fool’s Gold down the stretch. The whole NBA schedule had all the Western conference teams playing Eastern conference teams and majority of those teams were tanking teams. A lot of games versus Sacramento’s Brooklyn’s Indiana bunch of teams that were pretty much out of the running and you guys built and beat those teams. As soon as you play OKC Houston San Antonio, it’s pretty much a loss every single time
That lets me know that you’re not really competing for a championship. But hey we’ve seen it already LeBron Luca and AR cannot play on the floor at the same time. They are defensive liability and you can score at will against all three of them
“You can be 1 seed and not a contender”
“DERP”
The 60-win Hawks were definitely a contender. Getting swept by peak Lebron’ Cavs was partially due to Sefolosha’s broken leg, Korver’s being injured in game 2 putting him out for the rest of the series, and Carroll’s knee sprain in game 1.
Missing 3 key players would affect any contender.
Lakers don’t scare anyone. They aren’t getting out the first round. Luka can stay in Europe. Only going back in 2 wks.
Thank you somebody said it. But I honestly said the samething about the Knicks. Only reason why Knicks have a better chance Is because they’re in the East. But there are way too many holes and Kat just don’t fit the team. The difference between Knicks fans and Laker fan is they been arguing since the beginning of the year they were contenders. Al be honest I have been saying the samething over and over just like you said . The top 4 teams are not afraid of the Lakers. You can win all the regular season games you want, but we’ve seen every single time you bring a team that will scheme game plan against the Lakers the top four teams. They blow them out every single time. Score on Luka score on LeBron score on AR. JJ Reddick will play his starter 5000000 minutes and make no adjustments with the bench by the 4th quarter it’s a lay up drill. First round exit.
Lakers are not built for playoffs. Bron is too old to lead. And Luka is all about heroball. They hace redo this team around Luka. Imo Reaves isn’t a good fit either. As far as Knicks lol. They aren’t like Lakers. They are built on team depth. And more for playoffs.
They need everyone to win. Towns is mentally weak. But is talented. He plays well. Then its easy. Its when he is all drama. And Jalen is having a bad day. That we are in trouble. Point is now. There is no time for lcritics.Its time to show and play. All about the next game. This is who we go to war with lol. This is who we root for. Watch Thurs gm.
Knicks 2-1 vs Spurs, 2-1 vs Celtics, 2-1 vs Cavs,
0-2 vs Thunder, 0-2 vs Pistons. Knicks play well and they are capable. Using 10-12 guys. We can beat anyone. Pistons without Cade are done. Not scared of anyine lol. One series at a time.
That’s quite enough from the peanut galley
Hey man, grown ups are talking. Sit back. Listen so you know how to talk basketball
Go buy Raynaud Jersey while its still cheap like you.
You wouldn’t know a good team if 2001-02 Kings were resurrected lmao. Do enjoy the lottery.
Raynaud says “Embrasse l’mon grand fessier”
I agree the Knicks have a better chance. However I don’t trust kat. If he disappears and choose jumpshots from the outside all game, it doesn’t matter how deep you go, you will not win. I agree the Knicks are better than the Pistons. I said that in the preseason. Not really sure what the Celtics have so I’ll reserve judgment for that match up in the playoffs. I just don’t trust the Knicks verse. OKC, I’m not really sure the Knicks matchup well versus Houston just because of the physical defense. That’s how you beat the Knicks. I don’t believe in the cavaliers at all. There are regular season team. So for me, it’s pretty much OKC San Antonio, Denver, Houston and the Knicks. I just don’t believe the Knicks have any chance of beating OKC if that’s who they match up in the finals. I think they take Kat out. And they’re deep enough where their subs can hang within Nick’s subs.
But I agree that Knicks are apples and oranges. I was saying if the Knicks were playing in the west they would be in a little bit more trouble to maybe not make the finals. And I feel like the Lakers fully healthy would be ever to get out of the East if they played everybody but the Celtics
First thing is to show up as a team. They all know what NY wants. It’s just about winning one series at a time . Don’t overthink it lol. Just play ball with your teammates. This team locks in. We can win the East. Not thinking about it. I just want the first rd. We will go from there.
@KnickAl
Knicks are 0-3 vs the Pistons.
Yeah but we took them out last yr. Knicks not worried about Pistons. They got their own issues. Playoffs are whole different thing. And Pistons haven’t won a playoff series since 2008 lol. We are not looking to Pistons. We are looking to first rd. Imo Pistons aren’t beating Cavs. Even Hornets or Sixers can beat them if Cade is not right.
The Pistons weren’t the 1 seed with the 3rd best record in the league last season.
How they’ve played without Cade convinced me that they’re legit.
“Score on Luka score on LeBron score on AR.”
Luka and AR won’t play in the 1st rd. So while you’re right about the 1st rd exit, it’s not going to be because of Luka and AR.
They’re a good team, but I do think that LeBron is holding them back. Even though he’s a good teammate and locker room guy, he does make too much money, and he’s part of the reason why they won’t be a contender this year. Sorry laker fans. But the bright side is, once they move on from Bron, then they’ll be better in the long run. But as of right now, they have no chance at winning the wcf..they would have to get past okc and the spurs and I’m sorry but I don’t see that happening this year.
JJ was given a good team but his stubbornness is what keeps him from winning the big one. Just like last year he plays his stars too many minutes. He doesn’t play his bench enough to improve. Making excuses instead of looking in the mirror makes it even worse.
He has too. He doesn’t know how to coach or get the most of of role players. That’s what happens when you don’t have coaching experience (Steve Nash)
Yeah buddy the guy with a winning percentage of 62% in the regular season as a head coach knows absolutely nothing about being a coach. You are such a doofus dude. Stop talking.
I don’t even respond to you anymore you never played basketball and a troll. What’s JJs playoffs record? I don’t care about the regular season. You have had 3 Hall of Famers. So keep making excuses
I never played NBA basketball so I don’t get to deliver very accessible facts to you? You’re off the deep end boss.
Keep moving the goal posts. Definitely makes you seem really smart!
Kind of hard to build a resume of playoff wins in two seasons and only one trip to the playoffs.
All things considered, it was still a successful Lakers season. I’d say they slightly exceeded expectations (I think I had them at 47 wins, and Cap N Crunch said just 42). Lakers 2025-26 were not great but good. You can’t really be considered much of a title contender when you can’t win at least twice as many games as you lose, especially when there are team with 3x – and one with nearly 4x – as many wins as losses. You can’t be considered much of a title contender with a point differential that really should be reserved for the play-in teams. And you can’t really be considered much of a title contender with a 41-year old playing as much as he does – no matter how many different designer steroid drugs he is taking to try remain relevant. This Lakers season was virtually a carbon copy of the 2024-25 Lakers: expend so much damn energy to merely get close to the top of the Western 2nd tier. And as I’ve stated before: the Luka Era in LA simply does NOT begin until every trace of the LeBron/Rich Paul tandem is swiftly removed from the halls of Crypto Arena.
Yeah, I forgot one more: you can’t really be considered much of a title contender when you don’t win AT LEAST half of your games against the top 10 (9 in the Lakers’ case since they are among the top 10 best records) of the NBA which, for some time, has remained the Pistons/Celtics/Knicks/Cavs of the East and the Thunder/Spurs/Nuggets/Rockets/Twolves of the West. Lakers were very close to checking off that requirement until the nightmare trip to OKC last week.
Maybe that should tell you something lol.
The Lakers need to face reality and not play Lebron almost 39 minutes and Kennard 41.
What’s the point of risking their health, given that their chances to actually get past the 1st rd are slim and none…
Kerr did pretty well with no experience. Reddick was given a weird roster, and the Luka trade was not something he had any control over. The team needs to be built around Luka Doncic. I like Reaves but he and Luka in the back court together is not good, actually bad, defensively.
Kerr was apart of coach pops system. He had plenty of coaching experience and was a student of the game. Different than Steve Nash and JJ. JJ even worse have never coached and was on a podcast. Talk trash about doc Rivers(who is not a great coach) but is even worse. If you think a healthy Lakers team is completing your not really watching the games
Kerr never coached before he took over the Warriors job. He was a broadcaster and general manager for the Suns before taking the job in Golden State.
AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
So Steve gets a pass because he was coached by Phil Jackson and Pop. But the 15 years of NBA ball JJ played could have never prepared him to be a coach. Podcast = bad. Sponsored segments on broadcast TV = good.
Sit this one out bench rider. Should be easy for you.
Kerr helped run the Suns. He has experience in building a team. Plus all the mins he sat on bench watching and learning. He is more schooled than JJ. Why do you argue just to argue. So unproductive lol.
That’s just troll behavior. Like trolling Raynaud. Your own F N player. Man up already
Then fire the medical staff. If that doesn’t happen this offseason then we know who to blame here.
And while I understand the point Redick is trying to make, the easy W would’ve been to sidestep the question and say “Ultimately the buck stops with me and as head coach I have to take responsibility”. These sorts of meh excuses look weak.
I don’t much like JJ, but here he’s correct. Obviously. Whether or not he’s a good coach is a different matter. A team hires both a medical staff and coaching staff, and pays both, for a reason. Its the medical staff’s job to determine the parameters of a players availability and to advise the coaching staff of them. The coach staff’s job is to make basketball decisions within those parameters. If I were the owner of a team, I wouldn’t want (or tolerate) my head coach making basketball decisions based on medical views that aren’t those of the medical staff, any more than I would want the head of the medical staff removing a player from the game because he doesn’t like the matchup.
No wonder Luka is going to Europe to get medical attention…
The Lakers need to raise the quality of the medical staff… Will be hard with most of the best talent headed overseas…
I take all my medical advice from a podcaster.