The Los Angeles Lakers have been without Austin Reaves since Christmas Day, when he re-aggravated his calf strain and was ruled out indefinitely. His first re-evaluation is expected to come later this month, but head coach JJ Redick has had to figure out a rotation without his star guard in the meantime.
Typically, when a player is injured for a significant amount of time, they might do most of their rehab work on their own time, not really focusing on the team’s efforts while they’re out. The main reason for this is so that the injured player can get into a repeatable routine that helps get him back on to the court faster.
However, Reaves has taken his rehab one step further and has remained fully engaged with the coaching staff. Redick praised Reaves for this, saying that he’s been helpful in tweaking game plans simply because of his love for basketball.
“He’s been great. He’s been great,” Redick said. “High level. He didn’t travel with us, so today was the first time I’ve seen him in a few days. During this stretch, and it kind of started with the first calf injury, we spent some time together before the game in my office in our locker room. It could be talking about golf, it could be talking about his recovery. A few times he’s come in there and gone over all the ATOs with me and [other coaches] and made some potential suggestions and tweaks. As much as he tries to do the ‘I’m a simple Southern kid who only likes golf,’ he’s a basketball nut job.”
Redick joked at the end that Reaves at his heart is a fanatic when it comes to basketball, and that’s exactly the type of mentality the Lakers want from one of their stars while he’s on the mend. It shows not only a love for the game and a commitment to his team, but also shows the type of person he is and is going to be when he’s not able to contribute on the court.
Reaves and L.A. are expected to agree to some form of long-term contract this offseason when the young star guard becomes an unrestricted free agent, and moments like these only solidify the two sides as a long-term pairing.
Lakers informed that Pelicans players are not available
While the Lakers love their star pairing of Luka Doncic and Reaves together long-term, they still need to make clear strides in other parts of the roster. Two players they felt could be massive helps were Trey Murphy III and Herb Jones of the New Orleans Pelicans.
However, the Pelicans let teams know that neither are available ahead of the Feb. 5 trade deadline.
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