DALLAS — Lakers star guard Austin Reaves will be sidelined for the remainder of the regular season because of an oblique injury, the team said on Saturday.
Reaves was diagnosed with a Grade 2 left oblique muscle injury after having an MRI over the weekend.
He suffered the injury during Thursday's blowout loss to the Thunder after he "overextended a little bit" for a rebound in the first quarter, Reaves said postgame.
Austin Reaves of the Los Angeles Lakers drives to the basket during the game against the Oklahoma City Thunder on April 2, 2026 at Paycom Center in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. (Photo by Adam Pantozzi/NBAE via Getty Images) NBAE via Getty Images
Reaves stayed in the game despite the discomfort, going back to the locker room after subbing out before returning in the second quarter.
He subbed out for the remainder of the game in the third, with the Lakers down by 38 at the time.
Reaves is expected to be sidelined for 4-6 weeks, joining fellow star guard Luka Doncic as Lakers who are out for the rest of the regular season after Doncic suffered a regular-season-ending Grade 2 left hamstring strain against the Thunder.
With Doncic (33.5 points) and Reaves (23.3) sidelined, the Lakers will be without their top-two scorers for the remainder of the regular season and the start of the playoffs.
Doncic's injury is expected to sideline him for a few weeks.
"From a strategic tactical standpoint, we obviously are gonna have to play a little bit differently," coach JJ Redick said after Saturday's practice before Reaves' injury was revealed. "There's enough that we have in that we can play through LeBron [James], play through Luke [ Kennard ], play through Rui [Hachimura], play through [ Deandre Ayton ]."
The Lakers entered Sunday with a 50-27 record for third place in the Western Conference standings, a ½ game ahead of the fourth-place Nuggets (50-28), two games ahead of the fifth-place Rockets (48-29) and four games ahead of the sixth-place Timberwolves (46-31).
"Our mission hasn't changed," Redick said. "We want to go get the 3-seed and we want to win a first round series."
In addition to his career-high scoring average, Reaves will finish the season with averages of 5.5 assists, 4.7 rebounds and 1.1 steals in a career-low 51 games after missing significant time in December and January because of a calf strain.
He has a $14.9 million player option for 2026-27 that he's expected to decline, making him an unrestricted free agent this offseason.
LeBron James, who's 41 and in his 23rd NBA season, is the Lakers' lone star player available for the stretch run of the season.
"You got to flip the mindset a little bit," James said. "When your role changes, whatever the case may be, or what's needed out of the team. So the mindset changes a little bit for sure."
Marcus Smart will also remain sidelined because of a right ankle contusion. He'll miss his seventh consecutive game because of the injury when the Lakers play the Mavericks on Sunday.
"The ball handling role, we'll obviously have to ask guys to do more," Redick said. " Kobe [ Bufkin ], Nick [Smith Jr.], Dalton [ Knecht ], those guys will be with us at some point for [on Sunday]. We'll probably have to play a 10- and 11-man rotation, all hands on deck."
There was a delay getting the results from Reaves' MRI.
Saturday was Reaves' second time getting imaging for his injury in Dallas after the first one didn't scan the right area.
"Again, I don't know where the chain of command lies with Dallas imaging, but they scanned the wrong area," coach JJ Redick said. "Not on our end. We made it explicit what was supposed to be scanned but they scanned the wrong area."
