Lakers guard Austin Reaves will miss at least the next two weeks due to a strained left hamstring, the team announced today, per Dave McMenamin of ESPN (Twitter link).
Reaves was ruled out of Wednesday’s game vs. Miami with what Vogel referred to as a “mild” day-to-day hamstring injury. However, it appears the issue is more significant than initially believed.
Reaves, 23, signed a two-way contract with the Lakers this summer after going undrafted out of Oklahoma. He made a strong early impression on the franchise, first earning a promotion to the 15-man roster, then carving out a rotation role early in the season. In his first 10 NBA games, the 6’5″ guard has put up 6.1 PPG and 2.0 RPG on .478/.321/1.000 shooting in 21.3 minutes per contest.
Of course, Reaves likely wouldn’t have seen much action at all if not for all the other injuries the Lakers have dealt with this fall. Trevor Ariza (ankle), Talen Horton-Tucker (thumb), and Kendrick Nunn (knee) have yet to play at all, and LeBron James (abdominal strain) has missed the last four games.
Reaves isn’t even the first Laker to battle a hamstring issue — Wayne Ellington‘s debut was delayed due to a hamstring strain, while a hamstring ailment sidelined Rajon Rondo for Wednesday’s game.
Russell Westbrook, Avery Bradley, and Malik Monk all saw big minutes on Wednesday in L.A.’s backcourt, with Ellington playing a role as well. In Reaves’ absence, the Lakers will likely continue to lean on those vets.
It’s ironic how injuries have affected their young players even more than the older vets. They need to be careful with AD while the other guys recover.
Yeah i was thinking the same.
I want the Lakers to win it all, but if they fail i want them to loose at least with their full roster. Its really sad when injuries take a big part of the final outcome of the season. (CP3 injuries, LBJ and AD last year, KD, etc. etc.)
It’s really sad when people can’t spell the word ‘lose’ correctly. This was a mistake I made back in ‘08 and I’ve corrected it ever since. It’s not that hard yet the majority of people online can’t figure it out.
I think at best this is a play in team this year.
That’s what they were last season. Everything worked out perfectly for the Lakers two seasons ago when they won it all in Orlando. Now, not so much.
Dont assume yet coz lakers has still a lot to improve. Compared with teams like GSW, Miami, which are the top teams right now!