{"id":602719,"date":"2026-04-24T01:46:08","date_gmt":"2026-04-24T01:46:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/602719\/"},"modified":"2026-04-24T01:46:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-24T01:46:08","slug":"austin-reaves-is-upgraded-to-questionable-for-lakers-in-first-round-game-3-against-rockets-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/602719\/","title":{"rendered":"Austin Reaves is upgraded to questionable for Lakers in first-round Game 3 against Rockets"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

Austin Reaves has been upgraded to questionable for Game 3 of the Lakers\u2019 first-round playoff series against the Rockets.<\/p>\n

EL SEGUNDO, Calif. (AP) \u2014 Austin Reaves has been upgraded to questionable for Game 3 of the Los Angeles Lakers\u2019 first-round playoff series<\/a> against the Houston Rockets.<\/p>\n

The Lakers made the designation on their high-scoring guard Thursday while the team flew to Houston.\u00a0Los Angeles has a surprising 2-0 series lead<\/a>\u00a0heading into Game 3 on Friday night despite playing without Luka Doncic and Reaves<\/a>, its top two scorers.<\/p>\n

Reaves hasn\u2019t played since he strained his oblique muscles<\/a> and Doncic strained his hamstring in a game at Oklahoma City on April 2, but Reaves returned to on-court basketball activities over the past few days. Before the Lakers\u2019 flight, coach JJ Redick said he had no update on the schedule for his injured starters\u2019 return to play.<\/p>\n

Reaves averaged 23.3 points, 5.5 assists and 4.7 rebounds during an impressive regular season for the Lakers, although he played in only 51 games due to two lengthy injury absences. In his fifth season with Los Angeles, the former undrafted free agent cemented his status as a prolific secondary scorer and dependable offensive facilitator while the Lakers won 53 games and the Pacific Division.<\/p>\n

But Reaves and NBA scoring champion Doncic were both injured during the Lakers\u2019 blowout loss to the Thunder three weeks ago.<\/p>\n

Doncic is still out for Game 3, but Redick said earlier this week that the Slovenian superstar is expected to begin initial on-court work soon. The Lakers haven\u2019t publicly speculated on the date of either guard\u2019s return.<\/p>\n

After losing three straight games following the injuries, the Lakers have regrouped and won five in a row. Los Angeles stunned the NBA by claiming the first two games of its first-round series at home over the Rockets, who were perceived as the strong favorites<\/a> in the series due to the Lakers\u2019 injury problems.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

The Lakers defeat the Rockets, 101-94, to take a 2-0 lead as the series heads to Houston.<\/p>\n

Although 41-year-old LeBron James is leading the way, Luke Kennard and Marcus Smart also have stepped up impressively in the absence of the Lakers\u2019 starting backcourt. Kennard scored 27 points in Game 1 and 23 in Game 2, and Smart scored 25 points with five 3-pointers in Game 2 while leading Los Angeles\u2019 impressive defensive effort against Kevin Durant, who managed only three points after halftime.<\/p>\n

Reaves will be eligible for a big new contract this summer if he declines his option for next season, as expected. Both Reaves and team officials have said they believe the guard will remain with the Lakers, his favorite team since childhood.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Austin Reaves has been upgraded to questionable for Game 3 of the Lakers\u2019 first-round playoff series against the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":602720,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[64],"tags":[262193,355,99],"class_list":{"0":"post-602719","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nba","8":"tag-austin-reaves-return","9":"tag-nba","10":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/602719","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=602719"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/602719\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/602720"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=602719"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=602719"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=602719"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}