Lakers injury report, Stephen A Smith Lakers 'disgraceful' Lakers news, Los Angeles Lakers San Antonio Spurs game, Luka Doncic injury update, LeBron James injury update, Austin Reaves injury update, JJ Redick, Rob Pelinka, Bronny James, Victor Wembanyama
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The Los Angeles Lakers had LeBron James, Luka Doncic, and Austin Reaves on the injury report for their game against the San Antonio Spurs.
The Los Angeles Lakers suffered a blowout loss to the San Antonio Spurs on Tuesday night, with Luka Doncic, LeBron James, and Austin Reaves all listed on the injury report.
However, on Wednesday morning, Stephen A. Smith of ESPN’s First Take expressed his frustration with the Lakers, calling their move to sit out all three of their top stars ‘disgraceful.’ Smith added that fans paid a lot of money to attend the game between two teams near the top of the Western Conference.
“A star [Victor Wembanyama] came into the building, in Tinsel Town, and none of the stars for the Los Angeles Lakers purple and gold were in uniform ready to play,” Smith said. “It’s disgraceful.”
First Take
“If … LeBron James [is] off, make sure somebody else is playing. … Everybody? That’s disrespectful.”
—@stephenasmith on the Lakers sitting LeBron, Luka and Austin Reaves 😯
Smith made sure to mention that a the stars featured on the Lakers injury report in a game like Tuesday’s against Wembanyama and the Spurs is a key reason NBA fans are frustrated with the current state of the league.
Lakers Slammed For ‘Disgraceful’ Move Sitting LeBron, Luka, And Reaves
Along with James, Doncic, and Reaves all missing the San Antonio game, Los Angeles also had Marcus Smart and Deandre Ayton on the injury report in what on the surface looked like a ‘punt’ on the night, almost choosing to bow out of the contest before it even started.
While the merits of the injuries to their top stars can be debated, Smith had a massive problem with the Lakers sitting each of their top stars.
“If you got LeBron James off, make sure somebody else is playing…but damn, everybody?” he added. “That is disrespectful and insensitive and dismissive to the fans.”
The Lakers ended up losing 136-108, giving up their most point of the season so far. Bronny James scored a season-high 12 points, but according to Smith, that’s not what fans were paying to see. Wembanayma did have a career-high 25 points in the first quarter of the contest, but it was overshadowed by James, Doncic, and Reaves all on the bench.
“This is the kind of stuff that makes people, particularly old-schoolers and others who they ingratiate themselves with, resent the product,” he said. “This is what has the league going crazy. Because you’ve got to do all kinds of things from a creative or curating standpoint to come up with stuff just to make up for what shouldn’t be happening…You should show up to work.”
Again, the merits of the injuries to each of the stars could be up for debate, but as Smith said, the Lakers’ choosing not to play each of them against the Spurs underlines what has been one of the biggest issues in the NBA over the past few years, as it relates to ‘load management.’
Luka Doncic, LeBron James, Austin Reaves Injury Updates
For Doncic, he is likely the one player of the three who has the best reasonas to why he is out. The Slovenian star suffered what was described as a minor hamstring injury a few days ago against the Philadelphia 76ers, and isn’t expected to return until after the All-Star Break.
While Rob Pelinka and head coach JJ Redick have continued to downplay the full extent of the injury, the latter gave a recent update on Doncic after their loss to the Spurs.
“Luka continues to progress,” he said.
In the case of Reaves, he also has a decent excuse for missing the game, as he is slowly returning from a calf strain that kept him out for five straight weeks. He did return and drop 35 points in his second game back from injury, but the team officially kept him out for what was described as ‘left calf injury management.‘
As for James, his appearance on the Lakers injury report Tuesday night was perhaps the most surprising of the three.The league’s all-time leading scorer hasprobably had the mostunhealthy season of his career as he’s dealt with a number of injuries this year, highlighted by sciatica. He was officially on the injury report in what wassimply described as ‘left foot arthritis,’ and his missing the game put an end to his historic All-NBA streak, as he can now no longer hit the 65-game threshold for NBA end-of-season awards.
Tonight will be LeBron James’ 18th missed game, which will stop him from reaching the 65-game threshold to be eligible for season awards. His All-NBA streak will end at 21 seasons. https://t.co/0DudWfcZNO
— Dave McMenamin (@mcten) February 10, 2026
“Austin, he was coming back from a tissue injury, he was only going to play in one of these games,” Redicktold reporters. “LeBron, obviously, dealing with the history of injuries he’s had to start the year. It just depends on how he wakes up the next day as he goes through his treatment in the morning, but we ruled him out.”
As is likely the case with Doncic, as well as James and Reaves, the Lakers are trying to get into the All-Star break with their core three players healthy and ready to make a playoff push. NBA teams sitting stars around this time of the season is nothing new, but the fact that Los Angeles sat all three on the same night, as Smith said, is a reason for criticism.