Lakers' Austin Reaves suffers Grade 2 oblique strain, out for remainder of season, at least
This comes 24 hours after the news of Luka Doncic's Grade 2 hamstring strain. Both very likely miss the start of the playoffs.
At halftime of the Lakers' loss to the Thunder on Thursday, both Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves were checked out by the Lakers' medical staff. Doncic appeared to tweak his hamstring in the first half, Reaves had been grabbing his back and left side, clearly bothered by something. Both were cleared to play and return.
Less than six minutes into the second half, Doncic suffered a Grade 2 hamstring strain and is out not only for the start of the regular season but also very likely for the start of the playoffs. Now comes this: Austin Reaves has suffered a Grade 2 oblique strain and is out for the remainder of the regular season, the Lakers announced Saturday. Like Doncic, Reaves will likely be out for the start of the playoffs — Reaves is expected to be out 4-6 weeks, reports Shams Charania of ESPN , which would have him out not only for the first round of the playoffs but potentially the second round as well.
Oblique strains are more common in the MLB where the avg time lost is ~46 days. In the NBA, the avg time lost for nondescript oblique strains is ~16. 7 days.
High grade oblique tears have an avg time lost ~9 weeks. Look for Reaves' possible return to fall somewhere in-between. — Jeff Stotts (@InStreetClothes) April 4, 2026 Reaves is the Lakers' second-leading scorer and a key shot creator for the team, averaging 23.