first-round playoff series<\/a> against the Houston Rockets, leaving Los Angeles without its top two scorers.<\/p>\n\u201cThey\u2019re out indefinitely,\u201d Lakers coach JJ Redick said after practice Tuesday at the Lakers\u2019 training complex. \u201cI\u2019m not going to have an update for you this week.\u201d<\/p>\n
Don\u010di\u0107 strained a hamstring\u00a0and\u00a0Reaves strained an oblique\u00a0during the Lakers\u2019 loss to the Thunder on April 2 in Oklahoma City, and neither returned during the regular season. The Lakers host\u00a0the Rockets\u00a0in Game 1 on Saturday night.<\/p>\n
Don\u010di\u0107 will return to Los Angeles on Friday after traveling to Spain last week for treatment on his hamstring, a person with knowledge of the decision told The Associated Press. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because Don\u010di\u0107 and the Lakers aren\u2019t revealing details about the NBA scoring champion\u2019s recovery.<\/p>\n
Reaves is in Los Angeles, and he shot free throws with several teammates after practice ended Tuesday. The reported severity of his oblique strain seems likely to keep him out of the entire first-round series, although the Lakers haven\u2019t put any timeline on either player\u2019s recovery from injuries that frequently require a full month of healing or more.<\/p>\n
Don\u010di\u0107 and Reaves combined to average 56.8 points, 13.8 assists and 12.4 rebounds per game when healthy this season, and their absences put a massive anchor on LA\u2019s hopes of playoff advancement. Yet the Lakers still went 3-2 in the stars\u2019 absence, earning home-court advantage in the first round, after LeBron James resumed his role as the focal point of the offense.<\/p>\n
Los Angeles also employed Luke Kennard as a ballhandler and initiator, and guard Marcus Smart is back after missing nearly three weeks with a right ankle injury. He is eager to play a role in countering the Rockets\u2019 defensive pressure.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re aggressive, and we\u2019re going to try to use it against them,\u201d Smart said. \u201cWe\u2019ve got some things put in, some different guys that are going to bring it up. They\u2019re going to come out firing, and we\u2019ve got to come out firing, too.\u201d<\/p>\n
Backup center Jaxson Hayes is also ready to return after missing the final four games of the regular season to rest a left foot injury.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was going to play no matter what,\u201d Hayes said. \u201cIf I was hurting, I\u2019d be playing.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Luka Don\u010di\u0107 and Austin Reaves remain out indefinitely as the Lakers\u2019 postseason run begins. EL SEGUNDO, Calif. (AP)…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":604681,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[434],"tags":[49,48,5407,228459,459,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-604680","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nba","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-lakers","11":"tag-luka-doncic-and-austin-reaves","12":"tag-nba","13":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/604680","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=604680"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/604680\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/604681"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=604680"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=604680"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=604680"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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<\/p>\n