Lakers Austin Reaves Opens Up About His Return After Oblique Injury

After nearly four weeks out, Austin Reaves spoke about his comeback, put up 22 points, and has his eyes set on Game 6.

Austin Reaves | Gary A. Vasquez-Imagn Images

Austin Reaves is back. The Los Angeles Lakers guard missed nearly four weeks with a Grade 2 oblique strain, and while his return in Game 5 against the Houston Rockets was a big moment, the Lakers still lost 99-93 and now head to Houston for Game 6.

In a postgame press conference after Game 5, Reaves opened up about what it felt like to finally be back on the floor after sitting out nine straight games.

"Yeah, it felt good. It's good to be back out there. But overall felt really good."

But that was just the surface of it.

"Yeah, just to go back, three weeks and I think six days, I think tomorrow will be four weeks. It's been a grind. I've been running around Los Angeles doing everything I could possibly do to get back to this moment, and we've done it and it feels good. I love playing basketball. It's my happy place. It was nice to get back out there. Obviously wish I played a little better. Wish I made a couple more shots, but at the end of the day I had fun out there and it was good to compete."

Austin Reaves on what it felt like to be back: "Just to go back, three weeks and I think six days, I think tomorrow will be four weeks. It's been a grind. I've been running around Los Angeles doing everything I could possibly do to get back to this moment, and we've done it and…

— Ryan Ward (@RyanWardLA) April 30, 2026

Austin Reaves on Shooting Struggles and What the Lakers Need to Fix

Reaves finished with 22 points, six assists, and four rebounds in 34 minutes, but shot just 4-of-14 from the field and 2-of-8 from three. The shooting was a problem across the team.

On the shooting, Reaves was direct.

"I missed a lot of easy looks. We didn't shoot great as a team. We'll watch film tomorrow and get better and we play Friday. So go try to win a game Friday."

He also pointed to LeBron having a tough shooting night as part of the bigger picture.

"I don't know, it helps when shots go in. I know Bron (LeBron James) had probably three or four in the first half that went in and out, missed two easy layups, two or three good looks from three, one little mid-range. But he made shots, missed shots, and like I said, we move on to Friday and go try to get a win in Houston."

LeBron James ended up with 25 points and seven rebounds, but the Lakers shot just 42.1% from the field and 25.9% from three as a team, and turned the ball over 15 times.

The series now stands at 3-2 in favor of Los Angeles, with Game 6 set for Houston.

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