Lakers Injury Update: Austin Reaves' Return Imminent

The Los Angeles Lakers showed a lot of grit in pulling off a 110-93 win over the Toronto Raptors on Sunday in the second night of a back-to-back. In more positive news, Lakers head coach JJ Redick provided an Austin Reaves injury update after the game, hinting that his return is imminent. “We’re starting to get healthy, and hopefully we get AR back soon,” Redick said after the win, via LakersNation. The Lakers got Deandre Ayton (knee), Luka Doncic (groin) and Jaxson Hayes (hamstring) all back from injuries for Sunday’s game after the trio sat out Saturday’s loss to the Portland Trail Blazers. Reaves (calf strain) and rookie Austin Thiero (MCL) were the only Lakers on the injury report for the game, thus giving Redick reason to feel optimistic about his team getting healthy ahead of a tough stretch of road games. Austin Reaves Injury Update Reaves was diagnosed with a grade 2 left gastrocnemius strain after sustaining the injury during the Christmas Day clash against the Houston Rockets. At the time, the Lakers announced that the star guard would be reevaluated in four weeks. As such, Reaves is nearing the timeline when the Lakers determine his injury progress. When Reaves went down, injury expert Jeff Stotts predicted that Reaves could miss a minimum of 40 days of action while referencing the average time needed by NBA players to recover from the same injury. “Austin Reaves Injury News: The calf muscle complex is comprised of multiple muscles, including the two-headed gastrocnemius muscle and the soleus. The muscles share a conjoined tendon, the Achilles. The average time lost for all Grade 2 calf strains in the NBA is ~40.1 days,” Stotts wrote, predicting the Austin Reaves return timeline. If Stotts’ prediction holds up, Reaves may not be back until close to the All-Star break. However, Reddick’s comments on Sunday may suggest otherwise. Austin Reaves Has ‘Been Engaged’ The Lakers have been extremely pleased with Reaves’ engagement on the sidelines during his rehab process. Last week, Redick revealed Reaves has been local in offering suggestions to his coaching staff on ATO plays and tweaks to improve the offense. “He’s been great,” Redick said of the injured Reaves on Jan. 10, via LakersNation. “High level. He didn’t travel with us, so today was the first time I’ve seen him in a few days. During this stretch, and it kind of started with the first calf injury, we spent some time together before the game in my office in our locker room. It could be talking about golf, it could be talking about his recovery. “A few times he’s come in there and gone over all the ATOs with me and [other coaches] and made some potential suggestions and tweaks. As much as he tries to do the ‘I’m a simple Southern kid who only likes golf,’ he’s a basketball nut job.”