Lakers Not Expecting Luka Doncic or Austin Reaves to Return During Rockets Series

No surprise.

Apr 9, 2025; Dallas, Texas, USA; Los Angeles Lakers guard Luka Doncic (77) and guard Austin Reaves (15) during the game between the Dallas Mavericks and the Los Angeles Lakers at American Airlines Center. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-Imagn Images | Jerome Miron-Imagn Images

The Houston Rockets' opening round postseason matchup against the Los Angeles Lakers brings back memories of a rivalry. Well, maybe rivalry isn't the best term, but the two teams have had some fairly epic battles.

Especially going back into time, throughout the last several decades. The Rockets' first trip to the NBA Finals came during the 1980-81 season, in which they beat the Lakers 2-1 in the first round, despite being the sixth seed, while the Lakers held the third seed.

The Rockets' second trip to the Finals came just five seasons later, during the 1985-86 season, albeit this time in the Western Conference Finals. Houston won within five games, in a "gentleman's sweep" as the Lakers were able to win one game.

The two teams faced off again in the opening round of the 1989-90 season, and the Lakers won this time, within four games. The spar would continue in the following year, with the Lakers emerging victorious once again, in an actual sweep in the opening round of the playoffs.

The two teams saw each other again in the 1996 postseason and the Rockets won 3-1 in the opening round. The matchup continued during the lockout-shortened 1998-99 season, with the Lakers nabbing the series victory in the opening round.

Ditto for the 2003-04 season. The 2008-09 postseason matchup between the two teams was a highly contested battle.

The two teams faced off in the Western Conference Semifinals and the series stood the test, going a full seven games, despite the Rockets being without Tracy McGrady. 

The next time we'd see the matchup was during the 2020 postseason, held in the bubble, due to the worldwide COVID pandemic. Houston stole the first game but ultimately lost within five games, as the small ball unit couldn't handle the size of the Lakers.

This time around, the matchup will be different. Neither team will be at full strength.

Injuries will Determine the Outcome, but Should Favor Rockets

For the Rockets, Fred VanVleet and Steven Adams will both be out for the entirety of the postseason. For the Lakers, Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves enter the top of the round sidelined, but there's been questions regarding whether either player will make a return. Lakers coach JJ Redick stated that both players were out indefinitely and that he wasn't expecting to have any further updates at least this week.

However, on Thursday, a new update came, by way of ESPN's Dave McMenamin. 

"Sources told ESPN they have no expectation of having either Doncic or Reaves back at any point in the first round. But they also have not completely ruled out the possibility of one or both of them becoming available the longer the series lasts."

This isn't much of a surprise. Both players suffered Grade 2 injuries just two weeks ago. It was always unlikely that we'd see either player, even in spite of Doncic's trip to Spain.

However, it's the playoffs and players are usually willing to push their bodies and risk it, so it shouldn't be a surprise that the Lakers don't want to officially rule out either player as well.