Neither Luka Doncic nor Austin Reaves is close to returning to action for the Lakers, according to head coach JJ Redick, who told reporters on Tuesday not to expect a formal update on either player before Game 1 of the team’s first-round series on Saturday.
“They’re out indefinitely,” Redick said of his injured guards (Twitter video link via ESPN’s Dave McMenamin). “I’m not going to have an update for you this week. They’re out indefinitely.”
The news doesn’t come as a real surprise. Doncic suffered a Grade 2 hamstring strain on April 2, while Reaves sustained a Grade 2 oblique strain in the same game, and both injuries typically require a recovery period of at least four weeks or so.
Given the fact that the Lakers’ first-round series may already be over by that four-week mark, both players are doing their best to make it back as quickly as possible, and news that Doncic will return stateside later this week after undergoing treatment in Spain for his injury generated some buzz. But it was never realistic to expect him or Reaves to be available for the start of the playoffs.
Without Doncic or Reaves, the Lakers have leaned more heavily on LeBron James and Luke Kennard for ball-handling and play-making. James averaged 11.0 assists per game in his last four outings of the season, while Kennard averaged 6.4 APG in five appearances after Doncic and Reaves went down.
Marcus Smart, who returned on Friday following a nine-game absence due to a right ankle injury, also figures to play a key role in Los Angeles’ backcourt in the first round against Houston.
Definitely not the outcome the nba had in mind when they traded him to LA last year
ss, I’m not gonna go heavily one way or the other (cuz none of us definitively know for sure), but I’ll slightly lean on the side of it indeed being suspicious events that transpired leading up to the Doncic/AD trade and all the way up to Dallas winning the top pick that turned into Flagg becoming a Maverick. It’s been contemplated and debated: Why do you NOT make ‘Luka-on-the-block’ public so that you then get to choose from a BOATLOAD of trade proposals? As good as AD was before his latest string of injuries, it’s hard to believe that a GM and owner would be so tunnel-visioned and dislike their superstar cash cow THAT MUCH to conduct business as such. I’m still skeptical of Harrison being this incompetent.
It’d also be interesting to see a list of, say, the last 15-20 star-level to super-level players traded (mid season or offseason) and how many of them were sent to an in-conference team versus those sent to an out-of-conference team. Would be really cool if someone could pull that up.
2019: AD from NOP to LAL (but we all remember Klutch Sports’ questionable role in getting him moved, testing the limits of ethical/legal business practices during the ‘18-‘19 season).
^ I support all of this logic. The Warriors would have offered 5 firsts for Luka. He is legitimately, real-world top 5 no matter what anyone thinks. He IS “The Franchise”. If you aren’t already a 55+ win team and don’t want to mess with the top, that’s fine, but literally every other team would and should trade their future for Luka. To only get what they got for him is tantamount to trading age 25 Michael Jordan for age 31 Chris Mullin aka completely insane.
Davey I agree but even the best teams should have considered Luka had he been publicly put on the block.
Like you said, prime MJ, prime curry, prime LeBron too. All comparable and all would draw insane trade proposals. Luka would have been no different.
I don’t want the Celtics to trade their pieces but if they had gotten Luka for JB and some picks? Well LFG then! Lol
All that hard work piggy backing the Fakers this season and pulling strings behind the scenes prior undone in one night. SMH.
Moving on to the ping pong balls. That could be interesting.
If this were actually the case Nico would just say so now that he’s no longer an NBA employee.
The amount of damage that would be done to the league would be incalculable (far beyond any Luka Laker windfall), which is why they wouldn’t meddle in the affairs of teams.
They probably made him sign stuff before they fired him so he can’t talk.
Oh, so the league created a paper trail to indict itself?
Conspiracy theory artists just throw **** at the wall without giving two seconds of thought. This would blow the Ballmer / Aspiration stuff out of the water.
Which is why an entity that brings in 10 Billion+ per year wouldn’t engage in these acts for again, the mere pittance of whatever the league is making for Luka being in LA instead of another top market like Dallas.
Giannis wouldn’t still be in MILWAUKEE if the league actually acted like this.
No I’m saying that the Mavs probably made Nico sign a non disclosure. Not the league.
If companies make me sign them, and I’m not making millions a year working for billionaires, I don’t see why they wouldn’t do it for him.
Not opening up the bidding for Luka is AT LEAST incredibly questionable. If the league is so honest as you presume, then where is the investigation???
“No I’m saying that the Mavs probably made Nico sign a non disclosure.”
Ah, right, Nico was the Mavs only employee LOL. You actually think this stuff wouldn’t leak? You’re also talking about the LEAGUE being involved. One man’s NDA is going to keep what would be the biggest scandal in league history from getting out?
“If the league is so honest as you presume, then where is the investigation???”
….Why would there be an investigation for a legitimate transaction?
“Legitimate” 😂you’re defending and extremely obvious shady deal.
Other people can sign NDAs too! Not JUST Nico. Idk why you can’t fathom that?
Plenty of bigger conspiracies have occurred successfully. But you probably think those are all BS too lol
Magic Johnson Utah Fakers trade.
They got 3 firsts though not just 1. That makes this Luka trade look even worse lol
They done.
Honestly they were not gonna beat Den, SA or OKC even if completely healthy.
Now build a roster around Doncic.
They could’ve beaten Denver if fully healthy imo. As for okc and the spurs, I agree that they would lose to them
Lakers goal is to split in LA and split in Houston. Buy as much time as possible
Houston in 5 or less.
Lakers definitely where never a threat to win the west but when they lose in four or five several will be disingenuous to confirm their priors like they where really a play in caliber team even when healthy which of course they are not
This Lakers roster is so absurdly lopsided this year, look at the VORPs, the falloff from their big 3…2 of whom are out for 2 months right now..big yikes, vs Playoffs KD (also, KD has had a really good year at age 37, he’s playing better than he has in a while.) I do not like “Washed Lebron putting a roster of mid on his back”s chances:
link to basketball-reference.com::26
This is also a massive W for Luka is MVP argument.
Look at the Thunder VORPs, Shai has all the help in the world, he isn’t even really that “valuable” because this is a #1 seed without Shai, replace him with Podz and they still are #1. Lu Dort maybe the most overrated player in the NBA but the rest of the roster is nasty:
link to basketball-reference.com::26
I think Shai’s got it, Davey J. Best record in basketball – after a lengthy postseason run and title the year before – and your #2 (J-Dub) missed how many games this season? A lot.
Here’s my top 5 MVP candidates, ranked……
1. Gilgeous-Alexander
2. JBrown
3. Wembanyama
4. Jokic
5. Doncic
My top 9:
1. Luka
2. Joker
3. Wemby
4. Kawhi
5. Cade
6. KD
7. Maxey
8. SGA
9. Jamal M
Still leaving Jaylen Brown off your list? Obvious hater. I expect better from you tbh.
That’s ridiculous. You can argue for Wemby and Jokìc and I could see that but to rank SGA 9th is blatant bias.
1. Luka
2. Joker
3. Wemby
4. Kawhi
5. Cade
6. KD
7. Maxey
8. SGA
9. Jamal M
10. Jaylen Brown
Boston have so much depth this year, White, Prichard, Queta, Houser, Garza all carried Brown at times too. White even has a better VORP than Brown this year, he has a bigger claim to MVP than Brown, but that’s part of my point: guys on stacked teams aren’t as valuable unless all his teammates are garbage, like Luka and his current Lakers link to basketball-reference.com::26
I agree with your overall point. Brown should be on your list even at 10. I accept now the list is valid haha
The Celtics are deep. Now is exciting and so is the future!
fyi I just passed up a primo opportunity to troll you, I wanted to put Steph at #10 and JBrown at #11 lol
Lmao 11 woulda been fine too and that would have been hilarious actually
I think the Celtics might sweep their way to the Finals this year too, seems pretty easy for them – east is still the weak conference, theres no real issues for Boston this year, everyone isn’t as good as they are with Brown+Tatum.
I don’t think it will be that easy for them. Knicks and Pistons are both good teams. The Celtics will run into a team that can win 2-3 games in a series eventually.
Lmfao
No Doncic or Reaves, its ok they still got Bronny!!
Freak the Lakers …. Bye
No sweat. Refs will double up on the Lakers free throws. Championship #18 is around the bend.