Lakers anticipate availability of healthy Doncic, Reaves, Ayton for Friday’s matchup against Clippers.
EL SEGUNDO, Calif. — The Los Angeles Lakers anticipate being completely healthy for the first time in a long while as they come back from the All-Star break.
NBA scoring leader Luka Doncic mentioned Thursday that he will “probably” be back on the court after missing the Lakers’ last four games prior to the break due to a mild hamstring strain.
Austin Reaves will also be free from his minutes restriction following a five-week absence due to a calf injury, coach JJ Redick stated after practice at the Lakers’ training facility.
LeBron James, who entered the break as the oldest player to achieve a triple-double, is also expected to be in uniform when the Lakers face the Clippers. This means that the Lakers’ three top players should all be on the court together for only the 11th time in 55 games this season.
“It’s interesting, we were discussing before the season about establishing continuity with those three players, and we’ve had them available together for 10 games,” Redick remarked. “It’s just the situation we’re in. We’re not the only team that has faced numerous health challenges throughout the season and had to navigate that, but my message to the players this morning was that this is going to be a sprint for these final 28 games.”
The Lakers will not have consecutive days off between the All-Star break and March 28-29, so Redick hopes his team will take advantage of the opportunity presented by full health after the break to accumulate some victories in the competitive Western Conference. Los Angeles (33-21) entered the break in fifth place in the West despite the extended absences of Reaves and James, who has missed 18 games this season.
Starting center Deandre Ayton is also expected to return for the Lakers after being sidelined before the break due to a sore right knee.
Doncic has not played for the Lakers since February 5. He participated for the World team at the NBA All-Star Game on Sunday but only played the first five minutes of the initial mini-game before sitting out the remainder of the day.
“I was on minutes restriction,” he said with a smile. “It was definitely nice to get up and down a little bit (at practice) after having a week off.”
Reaves’ return to full fitness could provide a significant advantage for the Lakers, who have not had their No. 3 option at full capacity since he strained his calf on Christmas. He was the NBA’s ninth-leading scorer at 27.8 points per game prior to his injury.
Reaves stated that the fully healthy Lakers have the potential “to win a lot of games. You can see throughout the season, even with the unfortunate injuries, we’ve done a good job maintaining it. We’re on track for a good record, and getting healthy is going to assist that. It’ll be exciting to see what that looks like.”
