When Austin Reaves and Luka Dončić went down with their injuries, head coach JJ Redick said it was the team’s responsibility to keep winning long enough for them to come back. Saturday’s victory in Game 1 against the Rockets was the first step in doing just that.
The good news is that one of those star players has since returned to the court. The bad news is that the other one likely won’t be returning at all this series.
On Tuesday, Shams Charania of ESPN provided significant updates on the recoveries
of the stars, noting that Austin is back on the court while Luka is not.
Here is the full transcript of Charania’s report:
“The sense around the Lakers is that Austin Reaves is actually the one that’s further along than Luka Doncic in their respective recovery processes. I am told Austin Reaves has started one-on-one, on-court work. The next step for him is to continue to go through his progressions of 3-on-3, 5-on-5. Remember, early April, he had a 4-6 week timetable so, theoretically, that puts him on track late in this series, potentially early in the next season. The Lakers are not expecting Luka Doncic to be back in this series. He is out indefinitely. But Austin Reaves making some progress on the court.”
Reaves’ return to the court
Obviously, the biggest positive from this is not only that Reaves is back on the court and going through drills. The biggest question will be how quickly he can progress through the drills and get back on the floor.
If you’re looking for a positive, he did play with this injury in the second half of the Thunder game and seemed in good spirits about it postgame. If this is an injury he can play through, it does create a scenario where Reaves may try to get back on the floor if it’s late in the series and he could possibly provide some help.
The question will be how much he and the Lakers are willing to risk things. While they typically err on the side of caution, if there is a time to risk things, it is the playoffs. The situation the Lakers are in could also dictate this as well.
If the Lakers are leading the series 3-2, for example, perhaps they’re comfortable holding him out just a bit longer. But if the Lakers are facing elimination late in the series, then maybe they put him back on the floor.
But winning on Saturday started to open up the possibility even more than he could get on the floor this series.
Luka unlikely to return against Rockets
The flip side to this is that it certainly sounds unlikely Luka is going to be back this series. This is not the first report that the Lakers have doubts about Luka returning this series.
While going to Spain for treatment may have opened the idea that he could get back this series, a hamstring injury is far trickier and riskier than Reaves’ oblique strain. Rushing back from a hamstring strain is much more difficult and can lead to more long-term consequences.
For now, it seems the Lakers are taking the more long-term approach with Luka of not rushing him back onto the court and, instead, making sure he gets healthy.
If they’re going to want Luka back on the floor, it’s seems it’s going to take at least three more wins for that to become a realistic scenario.
You can follow Jacob on Twitter at @JacobRude or on Bluesky at @jacobrude.bsky.social.
