Lakers’ Luka Doncic, Austin Reaves dealt conflicting injury return updates for Rockets series

The Los Angeles Lakers are currently gearing up for Game 2 of their Western Conference first round series against the Houston Rockets. The Lakers went up 1-0 in surprisingly easy fashion over the weekend, putting 107 points on the board despite playing without both Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves.

Now, Los Angeles has gotten a key update on both players’ statuses moving forward.

“The sense around the Lakers is that Austin Reaves is actually the one that’s further along than Luka Doncic in their respective rehab processes. I am told Austin Reaves has started on one on, on-court work. The next step for him is to continue to go through the progressions of three on three, five on five,” said Shams Charania of ESPN on NBA Today, per his account on X, formerly Twitter.

“…The Lakers are not expecting Luka Doncic to be back in this series. He is out indefinitely, but Austin Reaves is making some progress on the court,” he added.

Initially, it was thought by most that Reaves, not Doncic, had the longer term injury of the two, but evidently, that is not the way things are materializing up to this point.

In the meantime, the Lakers will be hoping to replicate the performances put on by LeBron James and Luke Kennard in Game 1, with the latter blowing away expectations by putting 27 points on the board against Houston’s strong defense.

It remains to be seen if Rockets star Kevin Durant will be back in the lineup after missing Game 1 with a knee injury sustained in practice earlier this week.

In any case, Game 2 of the Rockets vs Lakers series is set to tip off at 10:30 pm ET from the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles.

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