Austin Reaves was ruled out of the Los Angeles Lakers’ game against the L.A. Clippers due to right calf soreness, the team announced.
Reaves played just nine minutes in the first quarter, scoring six points with a block on 2-of-4 shooting from deep. He was then forced to head back to the locker room before eventually being ruled out for the night.
The injury does not come at an ideal time considering another Lakers starer in Rui Hachimura also recently went down with a knee injury. If Reaves is forced to miss any time then the Lakers will be down two starters until he and Hachimura is able to return.
According to Dave McMenamin of ESPN, Reaves will get an MRI on Saturday to determine the severity of the injury:
Reaves will undergo an MRI on his calf on Saturday, sources tell ESPN https://t.co/ddiz4WFje0
— Dave McMenamin (@mcten) March 1, 2025
In the meantime, the Lakers were going for their fifth straight win when they hosted the Clippers on Friday night. Their next games will be on Sunday against the Clippers again at Crypto.com Arena.
In the absence of such a key piece like Reaves, it will be a group effort to pick up the slack on both ends of the floor with Gabe Vincent, Jordan Goodwin and Dalton Knecht all likely getting extended minutes at the guard position alongside Luka Doncic.
Luka Doncic excited to play with Austin Reaves more
It remains to be seen how much time Austin Reaves will miss with this calf injury, if any, but the Lakers were just starting to build some solid chemistry after the acquisition of Luka Doncic. The new Lakers star is enjoying playing with Reaves and is looking forward to sharing the court with him more.
“It doesn’t surprise me. I’ve been watching him a lot,” Doncic said of Reaves’ success. “When we played them, it was hard to guard him. He’s just a different guy. He’s one of those guys that just makes a difference from him being on the court. So I’m very excited to get some playing time with him.”
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