{"id":651306,"date":"2026-05-06T10:05:09","date_gmt":"2026-05-06T10:05:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/651306\/"},"modified":"2026-05-06T10:05:09","modified_gmt":"2026-05-06T10:05:09","slug":"lakers-facing-backlash-for-austin-reaves-decision-amid-nba-playoffs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/651306\/","title":{"rendered":"Lakers Facing Backlash for Austin Reaves Decision Amid NBA Playoffs"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Los Angeles Lakers<\/a> dropped their second-round series opener against the Oklahoma City Thunder<\/a> on Tuesday night at Paycom Center. The loss came despite a genuinely encouraging effort from LeBron James<\/a>, who was everything he needed to be. James finished with 27 points, six assists and four rebounds.<\/p>\n

Even more impressive, the Lakers held Shai Gilgeous-Alexander<\/a> to 18 points and forced seven turnovers out of the reigning MVP.\u00a0 But it was a tough night for Austin Reaves<\/a>, who was supposed to be the second-best scorer on the floor for Los Angeles<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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Los Angeles Lakers guard Austin Reaves (15).Mark J&period; Rebilas-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

Reaves finished with eight points on 3-of-16 from the field, making just one field goal in the entire first half, and his shooting, which has been his most dangerous weapon all season long, deserted him entirely.<\/p>\n

Lakers fans were not impressed by Reaves\u2019 performance, with many questioning why head coach JJ Redick<\/a> reinstated him into the starting lineup after his recovery from an oblique injury.<\/p>\n

\u201cAustin Reaves coming back might\u2019ve ultimately made the Lakers worse lol he\u2019s been terrible,\u201d one fan wrote<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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\u201cAs expected austin reaves comes back and ruins the lakers. Bro is a bum don\u2019t know what anyone sees in him,\u201d another added<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think Reaves is still injured tbh and they needed bodies so they brought him back early,\u201d another fan remarked<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201caustin reaves is not himself. Obviously hurt,\u201d one fan said<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cReaves coming back killed Luke Kennard<\/a>\u2019s mojo!\u201d another fan reacted<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Since returning from injury, Reaves is averaging 15.0 points, 4.7 assists and 4.0 rebounds in the three games he has played so far this playoffs. His efficiency has also dipped significantly, shooting 30.4% from the field and 11.8% from three<\/p>\n

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He will have a chance to redeem himself in Game 2 on Thursday. Los Angeles remains without Luka Doncic<\/a>, who continues working toward a return from his Grade 2 left hamstring strain, and until he is back, the Lakers have no margin for another Reaves disappearing act.\u200b\u200b\u200b\u200b\u200b\u200b\u200b\u200b\u200b\u200b\u200b\u200b\u200b\u200b\u200b\u200b<\/p>\n

Related: Jarred Vanderbilt Injury Update: Lakers Make Announcement During Game 1<\/a><\/p>\n

This story was originally published by Athlon Sports<\/a> on May 6, 2026, where it first appeared in the NBA<\/a> section. Add Athlon Sports as a Preferred Source by clicking here.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Los Angeles Lakers dropped their second-round series opener against the Oklahoma City Thunder on Tuesday night at…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":651307,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[434],"tags":[45842,49,48,31706,2327,1522,8231,12887,82229,459,3555,6691,82],"class_list":["post-651306","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-austin-reaves","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-jj-redick","tag-lebron-james","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-lakers","tag-luka-doncic","tag-luke-kennard","tag-nba","tag-oklahoma-city-thunder","tag-shai-gilgeous-alexander","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/651306","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=651306"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/651306\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/651307"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=651306"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=651306"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=651306"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}