Lakers’ Austin Reaves Won’t Return Against Clippers After Suffering Injury

The Los Angeles Lakers will be without their star guard, Austin Reaves, for the remainder of Friday's contest against the Clippers due to a calf injury.

Reaves left the game in the first quarter due to right calf soreness.

The Athletic's Jovan Buha shared via X.

Austin Reaves (right calf soreness) will not return to tonight’s game, per the Lakers.
— Jovan Buha (@jovanbuha) March 1, 2025

ESPN's Dave McMenamin shared that Reaves will undergo an MRI on his calf on Saturday.

Reaves will undergo an MRI on his calf on Saturday, sources tell ESPN https://t.co/ddiz4WFje0
— Dave McMenamin (@mcten) March 1, 2025

Reaves played just nine minutes. The star guard leaves the game with six points on 2-for-4 shooting from the field. All his attempts came from the three-point arc.

Reaves went to the locker room after playing nine minutes in the first quarter.

Due to Reaves' injury, Gabe Vincent, Jordan Goodwin, and Dalton Knecht will likely see a significant boost in playing time for the rest of Friday's game.

The 26-year-old has been stellar for the Lakers this entire season. In his fourth season, he is averaging career highs across the board, tallying 19.2 points per game, 4.3 rebounds, 4.2 assists, and 1.1 steals in 51 games and 34.7 minutes of action.

The Arkansas native has played like the Lakers' best player at times. Head coach JJ Redick has given him the freedom to play how he wants, and he's thrived thus far.

Reaves has been relatively healthy throughout his career. However, he did suffer a pelvic issue at the beginning of the season when he fell hard against the Oklahoma City Thunder.

He missed five games due to that injury.

It's unclear how severe this injury could be. The Lakers are already without their starting forward, Rui Hachiimura, due to a left knee injury. He suffered the injury during Thursday's game against the Minnesota Timberwolves after going up for a dunk in the third quarter.

If Reaves were to miss time and with no timetable for Hachimura, the Lakers would be down two key players in their rotation moving forward.

March will be tough for L.A. as they have three sets of back-to-back games in the span of a week.

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