The last couple of weeks have shown how important Austin Reaves is to the success of the Los Angeles Lakers as they have struggled offensively without his shooting and playmaking. The guard is dealing with a left pelvic contusion after a hard fall in the team’s game against the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Reaves has missed five games now, but with the Lakers having a nice break in the schedule thanks to the Emirates NBA Cup, there is hope he will be back on the court soon. The team’s practice on Wednesday certainly brought some optimism as head coach JJ Redick noted that Reaves was able to participate in most of the session.
“I wouldn’t call Austin a full participant,” Redick said. “One thing he sat out that we suggested and Leroy agreed with us was probably not good for him just due to the nature of the drill, it was particularly a physical drill and just want to be mindful of his pain tolerance. But he was a full participant in all of the 5-on-5 and live stuff and all the breakdown drills.”
It is smart to not push Reaves too much in practice, but the fact that he still participated in the rest of the live drills would seem to indicate he is close to returning for the Lakers. Even still, Redick called both Reaves and LeBron James, who is away from the team for personal reasons, day-to-day.
“I think both of them are certainly day-to-day and just kind of see how it looks tomorrow and Friday,” Redick added.
Reaves has been steady and consistent weapon for the Lakers all season long. He has become the team’s primary ball-handler and creator while also being a reliable shooter. Him taking on that role also takes a lot of pressure off LeBron, which is extremely important and he also has often been tasked with defending the opposition’s best guard as well.
Getting him back will be a major boost for the Lakers and allow Redick to really settle in on the lineups and rotations they want to use going forward.
Lakers’ Austin Reaves offers shoes to bachelor party attendee wearing his jersey
Austin Reaves has become a fan favorite during his time with the Lakers and that was on full display recently. A video surfaced of a bachelor party in which all of the groomsmen were wearing his jersey during the festivities and it got back to Reaves himself.
In pure Reaves fashion, the Lakers guard wanted to reward the guys, posting to his Instagram story, “Shout out my guys! Somebody find their @ for me want to send them some AR2’s.”
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