Is Austin Reaves Playing Tonight? (Injury Update, Betting Impact for Knicks vs. Lakers)

After missing the last two games for the Los Angeles Lakers with a calf injury, guard Austin Reaves appears to be set to return on Thursday night against the New York Knicks.

Officially, the Lakers have listed Reaves as probable for Thursday's matchup with a right calf strain. Reaves went down in last Friday's win over the Los Angeles Clippers and proceeded to miss Sunday's game against the Clips and Tuesday's win over the New Orleans Pelicans.

The Lakers are aiming to win their eighth straight game on Thursday, and with Reaves expected to return, oddsmakers at DraftKings Sportsbook have set the Lakers as 3.5-point favorites against the Knicks.

Reaves has been terrific for Los Angeles this season, averaging 19.1 points, 4.2 rebounds and 6.0 assists per game while shooting 44.7 percent from the field and 36.2 percent from 3.

With Rui Hachimura out for this game, Reaves may have an even bigger role than usual as the No. 3 option behind LeBron James and Luka Doncic in the Lakers' offense.

While Reaves may be a tough player to trust in the prop market since he's coming off an injury, there's no doubt that he raises the Lakers' ceiling especially on the offensive end. His expected return is one of the many reasons why I took the Lakers to cover tonight as one of my best bets in my NBA Best Bets column -- Peter's Points -- which you can read here.

Odds refresh periodically and are subject to change.

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Find Peter Dewey's NBA betting record here (futures included). You can also follow my daily plays on BetStamp here.

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