Austin Reaves might not be back in action again until close to the All-Star break.
The Los Angeles Lakers star Reaves has been diagnosed with a grade 2 left gastrocnemius strain, Shams Charania of ESPN reported on Friday. As a result of the injury, Reaves is now set to be re-evaluated in four weeks.
Reaves, 27, had been enjoying a career year for the 19-10 Lakers. He was making an extremely strong case for an All-Star selection with averages of 26.6 points, 5.2 rebounds and 6.3 assists per game this season.
But Reaves left the Lakers’ Christmas Day loss to the Houston Rockets due to left calf soreness. Now we know exactly the nature of Reaves’ calf injury and that it will keep him out of action until late January at the earliest (with the potential for even more missed time due to reconditioning).
The Lakers have now lost three games in a row to drop down to fourth in a competitive Western Conference. Head coach JJ Redick also had some harsh words for his team after the uncompetitive Christmas defeat to the Rockets.
Now the Lakers will have to make it work with Luka Doncic and an aging LeBron James as their only two reliable offensive creators. It is also very possible now that the Lakers could make a trade for another ball-handler ahead of the Feb. 5 trade deadline, such as for this once-rumored target of theirs.