The Los Angeles Lakers released their injury report for Sunday night’s game against the L.A. Clippers and Austin Reaves (right calf strain) and Jordan Goodwin (right ankle sprain) have been ruled out.
Additionally, LeBron James (left foot injury management) and Luka Doncic (left calf injury management) are questionable while Rui Hachimura (left patella tendinopathy) and Maxi Kleber (right foot surgery recovery) remain out.
It looks like the Lakers will be shorthanded against the Clippers for the second straight game, although that didn’t impact their ability to get a win on Friday night. Despite being in the second night of a back-to-back, Hachimura not playing, and Reaves going down with the calf injury after just nine minutes, the Lakers leaned on their defense to pick up their fifth straight victory.
The Lakers’ second unit was key in the victory and that will need to continue being the case while starters like Hachimura and Reaves are out.
Lakers head coach JJ Redick didn’t sound concerned that Reaves will miss too much time, but the team will be without Hachimura for at least a week after being diagnosed with patella tendinopathy.
While Reaves will likely sit out on Sunday, reports have confirmed that he avoided serious injury, per Shams Charania of ESPN:
Lakers guard Austin Reaves will be day-to-day after MRI on his right calf revealed no serious injury, sources tell ESPN. His status is uncertain for Sunday against the Clippers, but great development overall after Reaves exited early in Friday's win.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) March 2, 2025
In their absence, players like Dorian Finney-Smith, Gabe Vincent, Jarred Vanderbilt and Dalton Knecht should all get more playing time. The Lakers have a tough month of March with 16 games and four sets of back-to-backs, so it will be all hands on deck to not only get through it, but continue winning at a high pace to get the best seed possible going into the playoffs.
Goodwin also got hurt in the Lakers’ win over the Clippers, but Redick didn’t sound concerned that he will miss significant time either.
LeBron James: Lakers hanging their hats on defense
The Lakers have the best defense in the league for the last month and a half, and LeBron James knows that has been a huge key to their success and will be moving forward.
“That’s just us.” James said. “I mean, it is who we are at this point. We hang our hat on our defense because you can’t always understand or know what’s going to happen offensively as far as your shooting or whatever the case may be.
“Obviously, we didn’t shoot the ball well tonight or as well as we would like to, but defensively is where we hang our hat. It’s going to give us a chance to win every night.”
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