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Dave McMenaminApr 5, 2026, 06:10 AM<\/p>\n
Close<\/a>Lakers and NBA reporter for ESPN. Multiple Authors<\/p>\n DALLAS — With the team already reeling from the Luka Doncic<\/a> left hamstring strain diagnosis that will sideline him indefinitely, the Los Angeles Lakers<\/a> announced on Saturday that Austin Reaves<\/a> has been diagnosed with a Grade 2 left oblique muscle injury and will be out for the remainder of the regular season.<\/p>\n While the team gave no timetable for his return, sources told ESPN’s Shams Charania that Reaves is expected to miss four to six weeks with the injury.<\/p>\n Reaves underwent an MRI on his oblique\/rib area Saturday. He was originally listed as questionable to play against the Dallas Mavericks<\/a> on Sunday.<\/p>\n Editor’s Picks<\/p>\n 2 Related<\/p>\n Marcus Smart<\/a> was ruled out vs. the Mavs on Saturday — his seventh consecutive game missed — while Jarred Vanderbilt<\/a> was added to the injury report as questionable with right calf soreness.<\/p>\n Despite the team being undermanned, coach JJ Redick said earlier on Saturday the Lakers’ resolve is strong.<\/p>\n “Our mission, it hasn’t changed,” Redick said. “The rest of these guys and my staff, we’re going after the 3-seed and we’re going to try to win a playoff series. And we’ll see what happens with Luka.”<\/p>\n L.A. (50-27) has a one-game lead on the No. 4 Denver Nuggets<\/a>, a two-game lead on the No. 5 Houston Rockets<\/a> and a three-game lead on the No. 6 Minnesota Timberwolves<\/a> with five games remaining. The Lakers also hold the tiebreaker against all three of those teams, having already won the season series against each of the others.<\/p>\n The team announced Friday that Doncic has a Grade 2 left hamstring strain, an injury that typically involves a monthlong recovery. The Lakers have not provided a timetable for Doncic’s return beyond missing the rest of the regular season. The first round of the NBA playoffs begins in two weeks.<\/p>\n Reaves tweaked his left side in the first half of the Lakers’ 139-96 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder<\/a> on Thursday. He went back to the locker room for evaluation, but he returned to the game and finished with a team-high 15 points in 27 minutes.<\/p>\n “I went back to get a rebound, overextended a little bit, and I felt something,” Reaves explained after the game. “But I feel decent right now, so we’ll see.”<\/p>\n Reaves required two MRI exams on the injury after the first one scanned the wrong area of his body.<\/p>\n “I don’t know where the chain of command lies with Dallas imaging, but they scanned the wrong area,” Redick said. “Not on our end.”<\/p>\n With Doncic out and Reaves’ status unknown, Redick said L.A. would divide the offensive burden between a handful of players, rattling off the names of LeBron James<\/a>, Luke Kennard<\/a>, Rui Hachimura<\/a> and Deandre Ayton<\/a>.<\/p>\n “I mean, it’s a challenge for us,” James said after practice. “It’s always got to be a next-man-up [mentality]. But there’s no way you can replace that type of impact. So, it’s going to be a collective group. We all have to figure out a way to do a little bit more. … But now you got to be even more tightened up on the things that we do. When you lose a special player like that, you can’t have as many mistakes. So we got to figure that out.”<\/p>\n James had shifted into the Lakers’ third option during their recent hot streak, with Doncic and Reaves shouldering the most playmaking duties. In his last seven games, James averaged 15.6 points on 46.3% (25.0% from 3), 7.3 rebounds and 7.3 assists. He averaged only 11.7 field goal attempts in that stretch, well below his 18.6 per game career average.<\/p>\n “You got to flip the mindset a little bit when your role changes, whatever the case may be, or what’s needed out of [you for] the team,” James said when asked how he will mentally prepare for the challenge ahead. “So, the mindset changes a little bit, for sure.”<\/p>\n Redick said he planned to expand the rotation in the interim, going from nine players to possibly 11 and mentioned that Kobe Bufkin<\/a>, Nick Smith Jr<\/a>. and Dalton Knecht<\/a> would all join the team in Dallas after playing for the South Bay Lakers in the G League playoffs.<\/p>\n “All hands on deck,” Redick added.<\/p>\n After playing the Mavs on Sunday, the Lakers have three straight games against teams that will factor into the Western Conference postseason picture — Oklahoma City on Tuesday, the Golden State Warriors<\/a> on Thursday, the Phoenix Suns<\/a> on Friday — before the season finale next Sunday at home against the Utah Jazz<\/a>.<\/p>\n “This team plays really extremely hard … ,” James said of Dallas. “They just had a dogfight versus Orlando. We know we got OKC. We got Golden State, who is still fighting. We got Phoenix, who is still fighting. So, it’s going to still be a little tough on us. So, we got to be ready for that.”<\/p>\n Upon news of Reaves’ injury, DraftKings lengthened Los Angeles to 120-1 to win the NBA Finals and 80-1 to win the Western Conference. Before Friday, the Lakers had been 30-1 for the title and 15-1 for the conference, but the announcement of Doncic’s injury plummeted them to 100-1 and 60-1, respectively.<\/p>\n ESPN’s Doug Greenberg contributed to this report.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Dave McMenaminApr 5, 2026, 06:10 AM CloseLakers and NBA reporter for ESPN. 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\nCovered the Lakers and NBA for ESPNLosAngeles.com from 2009-14, the Cavaliers from 2014-18 for ESPN.com and the NBA for NBA.com from 2005-09.<\/p>\n