While Austin Reaves has certainly made it easier to stomach his absence over the past week, Luka Dončić’s absence is still a big loss for the Lakers for obvious reasons.
After starting the year red-hot
himself, only a Herculean effort from Reaves has made the loss of Luka sting a little less in recent games. Dončić sprained his finger against the Wolves while dropping nearly 50 points on them, but the injury forced him out of the lineup at least for this week of games.
Before Wednesday’s game, head coach JJ Redick provided the latest update on Luka as well as LeBron James.
Based largely on this tweet, it seems one of the biggest things that will determine Luka’s availability is simply the swelling going down in his finger. It’s not that simple as he was also diagnosed with a leg contusion, so that will also factor into whether he plays or not.
Luka not being on the road trip obviously rules him out for Friday’s game, but the team plays back home on Sunday, which feels like the first game he could possibly be back on the court.
Also in the pair of tweets was a quasi-update on LeBron James. After being ruled out for a number of weeks with sciatica, there hasn’t been much news on him since. Redick’s comments on a potential return date align with the reported timeline that has him back in mid-November.
LeBron also hasn’t been on road trips so far this season. Airplane seats are already uncomfortable, so I can only imagine the pain with sciatica.
In their absence, Reaves has more than held things down. But the Lakers can certainly use the added firepower of their other two superstars as soon as possible.
You can follow Jacob on Twitter at @JacobRude or on BlueSky at @jacobrude.bsky.social.
