After missing the Los Angeles Lakers’ last four games due to a hamstring strain, superstar guard Luka Doncic is expected to suit up on Friday night against the Los Angeles Clippers, as head coach JJ Redick confirmed after practice on Thursday.
Additionally, Redick also revealed that guard Austin Reaves will be off his minutes restriction.
“Austin won’t have a minutes restriction, and as of 35-45 seconds ago, it looks like we’ll have everyone available tomorrow,” Redick said on Thursday.
The Doncic news shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise as it had previously been reported that he should be good to go after the All-Star break. His brief appearance in the All-Star Game itself only furthered that thinking and he said he felt good after playing five minutes on Sunday.
The Lakers were able to hold strong without their best player, going 2-2 in those games with only a blowout loss to the San Antonio Spurs in which Reaves, LeBron James, Deandre Ayton and Marcus Smart all sat out as well, being a sore point.
Doncic is enjoying one of the best seasons of his career in his first full year with the Lakers as he leads the NBA at 32.8 points per game and ranks third in assists at 8.6. Doncic, James and Reaves have all played at an All-Star level this season, but have rarely been able to share the court together. Thankfully, that looks set to change coming out of the All-Star break.
Reaves returned from his calf injury a few weeks ago but had been on a minutes restriction of around 25 minutes, coming off the bench the last five games. Now that the restriction has been lifted, however, he will likely be back in the starting lineup.
This is the healthiest the Lakers have been all season long and now head coach JJ Redick will be able to get a good feel on what this team is capable of and be able to find the right lineups and rotations to get the best out of this group.
Whether the Lakers are true championship contenders has been a question hanging over this team all season long. They have maintained one of the better records in the Western Conference despite so many injury issues, but their performances in many of their losses has been concerning. But with Doncic and Reaves healthy and ready to go, the Lakers are set to show the rest of the league that they can compete with anybody and that starts Friday night.
Lakers’ Rui Hachimura opens up on feeling of trade deadline passing
Something else that should help the Lakers lock in is the passing of the trade deadline as players no longer have to worry about whether they will still be on the team. Rui Hachimura recently spoke on dealing with the rumors as a member of the Lakers and feels this team is now ready for anything that comes at them.
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