The one thing every team, player and fanbase fears during preseason games is injury. With the Lakers already juggling some early injuries, notably with LeBron James, seeing Austin Reaves exit Sunday’s game after a collision with Brandon Podziemski in the third quarter felt like a worst-case scenario.
Reaves took a knee to the side of his knee that caused him to hobble up and down the court a couple times before asking to be subbed out of the game. The early signs were positive as he remained on the bench
and was joking with teammates as he didn’t appear too bothered by the injury.
Postgame, both head coach JJ Redick and Reaves provided positive updates on the injury.
Reaves’ postgame interview in his locker room was his typical light-hearted nature, so it doesn’t seem like there’s anything to worry about with this one. That’s great news for the Lakers as an injury to Reaves paired with the injury to LeBron James would have the team in pretty dire straits.
It’ll be interesting to see how the team handles Reaves for the coming week. He already sat one game this preseason and it wouldn’t be a surprise to see him do it again. The Lakers have three games in four days starting on Tuesday, so the answer will come pretty soon.
The good news, though, is that the injury doesn’t appear to be a long-term one after a scary moment on Sunday.
You can follow Jacob on Twitter at @JacobRude or on BlueSky at @jacobrude.bsky.social.
