The Los Angeles Lakers may have lost more than just one game in the setback against the San Antonio Spurs on Dec. 10.
Austin Reaves left the court hobbling at the end of the game, and he’s been diagnosed with a mild calf strain. While he’s expected to miss just one week, calf injuries can often lead to major ailments. That’s why head coach JJ Redick made it pretty clear that they intend to be extremely cautious with the 27-year-old’s status going forward.
Lakers will be cautious with Austin Reaves’ calf injury
“For him, it’s hard to pinpoint an exact time during the game,” Redick told the media, per Khobi Price of Spectrum SportsNet. “It had started to tighten up the day before even though he did very light work intentionally. Just one of those things and we’re obviously gonna be cautious with it.”
Calf injuries have been tied to Achilles injuries lately. So, even though Reaves will potentially only miss two games and the injury doesn’t appear to be serious, the team will continue to keep a close eye on him.
“I would venture to say every player is a little different, but players now are becoming more cautious, to use that word again. More cautious when they get those diagnoses with the calf. But everything looks clean, it’s not in the deep part. It should be a week,” Redick added.
Reaves has been the Lakers’ second-best player this season, averaging 27.8 points, 5.6 rebounds and 6.7 assists while shooting 50.3 percent from the field and 36.9 percent from beyond the arc. The Lakers should be just fine with Luka Doncic leading the way and LeBron James ramping things up, but they can’t afford to be without the former undrafted free agent for long.
