Los Angeles Lakers guard Austin Reaves suffered a left calf injury in the first half of his team’s 119-96 loss to the Houston Rockets on Thursday. The star was quickly ruled out at halftime and is expected to miss several games moving forward.
“Austin clearly felt something,” Lakers coach JJ Redick said after the game. “We did our normal halftime and then as we were walking out of the locker room, Dr. [LeRoy] Sims told me he was out.”
Calf injuries aren’t uncommon in the NBA, however the troubling part with regards to Reaves is that he recently missed 3 games with a “mild left calf strain”, and was playing on a minutes restriction against Houston. Evidently something during the game re-aggravated the injury, forcing him out.
Teammate Luka Doncic reportedly was vocal about not rushing Reaves back into the lineup, having dealt with a myriad of calf related issues himself in the past. “I know how it is to go through a calf injury,” Doncic said. “It’s not fun at all. [I will] just be there to support him. Take your time. Calves are dangerous, so take your time.”
While Los Angeles has yet to issue any kind of formal timetable for Reaves to return to action, sources indicate that the team is bracing for “weeks” without him. If that’s the case, then the Lakers could be in for a rough stretch entering the new year.
Despite having a top 10 offence, Los Angeles has one of the worst defensive units across the entire league. Despite being 19-10, and occupying the 4th spot in the Western Conference, the team features a bottom 5 defence when at full health, and a -0.5 net rating overall.
Many inside the organization knew that their offence would need to carry the team if they were to find success in 2025-26. However subtracting Reaves’ 26.6 points per night will be a significant blow to a team that has depth issues to begin with.
When LA deploys a lineup featuring Doncic and LeBron James, but no Reaves, the team has a ghastly -8.3 net rating, and a 129.6 defensive rating overall. While few will confuse the 27 year old for an All-NBA level defender, unless something drastically changes, the Lakers will need to win their upcoming stretch of games in track-meet like fashion on the offensive side of the ball.
The team will continue their 5 game home stand heading into the new year with contests against the Kings, Pistons, and back to back match ups with the Grizzlies. It’s unlikely that the team will see Reaves back in action until late January at the earliest, and potentially even longer if MRI scans show additional damage.
Photo: Erik Drost. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.