One of the Lakers’ top scorers will be out for at least the next few weeks.
According to multiple reports, Austin Reaves was diagnosed with a Grade 2 left gastrocnemius strain on Friday. He is expected to miss at least four weeks due to the calf injury and will then be re-evaluated.
Reaves left the Lakers’ 119-96 loss to the Rockets early on Christmas and was ruled out at halftime with what was initially reported as a sore left calf. He scored 12 points before being replaced by Marcus Smart.
“Austin definitely felt something,” Lakers coach JJ Redick told reporters after the loss. “We did our normal rest, and when we walked out of the locker room, [Lakers director of player performance and health] Dr. [LeRoy] Sims told me he was gone.
The 27-year-old missed time earlier this month with a Grade 1 strain in what the Lakers had called a “mild” injury.
Reaves is in the midst of what is his best season yet, averaging career highs in points (26.6), assists (6.3) and rebounds (5.2).
The Lakers play the Kings next Sunday and will look to turn things around after losing three games in a row.
After the loss to Houston on Thursday night, Redick took his team to task for being “terrible.”
“Yes, two words of the day were effort and execution. When we’ve done both of those things at a high level, we’ve been a good basketball team. If we haven’t, we’ve been a terrible basketball team,” Redick said when asked what went wrong Thursday.
“And tonight we were a terrible basketball team, and it started off legit right away.”
If they want to improve on their 19-10 record, they will have to make do without Reaves for now.
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