Lakers’ Austin Reaves returns from calf injury, comes off bench against Suns
PHOENIX — After being sidelined for the past couple of weeks because of a calf injury, Lakers guard Austin Reaves made his return to the court in Tuesday night’s game against the Phoenix Suns.
Reaves had missed the Lakers’ previous three games because of a minor left calf strain.
“It’s a type of injury where the player has to feel comfortable to play,” Coach JJ Redick said. “Given the nature of the injury, everybody around the league is sensitive to the calf stuff right now. He progressed throughout the week, did a stay-ready on Sunday. Was modified [in Monday’s practice], got another individual workout in [Tuesday] morning and I think that was ultimately what gave him the confidence to give it a go.”
Reaves came off the bench for the first time since December 2023 as the team looked to manage his minutes.
Nick Smith Jr., who is signed to a two-way contract, started alongside Marcus Smart, Jake LaRavia, LeBron James and Deandre Ayton.
Star guard Luka Doncic (lower left leg contusion), forward Rui Hachimura (right groin soreness) and reserve guard Gabe Vincent (lumbar back strain) were sidelined against the Suns.
Redick reiterated that Doncic and Hachimura are considered day to day, while Vincent will be reevaluated on Thursday – the same day as the team’s Christmas Day matchup against the Houston Rockets.
The 27-year-old Reaves didn’t have a definitive minutes restriction, according to Redick.
“We’ll monitor it,” Redick said. “But typically in these situations, if it’s a longer injury, it’s 75% of the minutes. And because it was a shorter injury, it’ll probably be something we’ll just kind of read in real time.”
Reaves subbed in for LeBron James at the 5:23 mark of the first quarter for his first game action since the NBA Cup quarterfinal loss to the San Antonio Spurs on Dec. 10.
He entered Tuesday with averages of 27.8 points, 6.7 assists and 5.6 rebounds in 21 games played.
In light of their injuries, Redick used a nine-man first-half rotation against the Suns, with Jarred Vanderbilt, Jaxson Hayes and Dalton Knecht also playing off the bench in the opening two quarters.
BALL RETENTION
The Lakers were the league’s worst team in terms of ball retention during the season’s first month, but they have turned a corner over the last several weeks.
The team’s 16.9% turnover rate from the start of the season until Nov. 18 was the league’s worst mark, with Redick at the time pleading for the team to reduce its careless giveaways.
The Lakers have cleaned up their turnover woes since then.
Over their previous 13 games, the Lakers had a turnover rate of 13.4%, which ranked No. 11 in the league.
Their worst turnover games during that stretch came in their Dec. 1 and Dec. 14 matchups against the Suns, who entered Tuesday ranked No. 2 in defensive turnover rate.
“Some of that could be opponent-based,” Redick said of the Lakers’ improvement. “We played Utah a couple times in that stretch, and they’re not necessarily a high-pressure team. I do think that we’ve gotten better with our careless turnovers. We’ve gotten better of taking care of the ball in transition.”