Rockets G Austin Rivers Out vs. Lakers With Sprained Thumb

Rockets guard Austin Rivers is listed as out for Houston's matchup against the Lakers on Saturday night. Rivers will miss the game due to a sprained right thumb.

Rivers has not missed a game since Dec. 11. He's appeared in 38 of the Rockets' 40 contests this season. The Duke product sports a plus-3.5 net rating in 2019-20, though he has struggled as a shooter. Rivers is averaging 7.7 points per game while shooting 40.2% from the field, his worst mark since 2012-13.

“[Rivers] said in the Memphis game he got some ligament damage or just strained it or whatever," Rockets head coach Mike D'Antoni told the media at the Toyota Center on Saturday. "He probably shouldn’t have played the next game, he'll be out this game. May be back Monday, but we'll see."

Austin Rivers is out for the #Rockets tonight with a sprained right thumb.

Mike D’Antoni: “[Rivers] said in the Memphis game he had some ligament damage. ...Probably shouldn’t have played the next game.”

Rivers’ status for Monday is TBD. pic.twitter.com/0UlNZytaBz
— Michael Shapiro (@mshap2) January 19, 2020

Rivers is Houston's only rotation player out of the lineup on Saturday. D'Antoni is expected to trot out his usual starting lineup of Russell Westbrook, James Harden, Ben McLemore, P.J. Tucker and Clint Capela. Eric Gordon will likely come off the bench for the fourth consecutive game.

Los Angeles may be without one of its two superstars on Saturday. Anthony Davis is listed as questionable with a gluteus maximus contusion, potentially missing his fifth straight game. The Lakers are 3–1 without Davis since Jan. 10, including wins over the Mavericks and Thunder.

The Rockets enter Saturday night on a two-game losing streak after losing to Memphis on Tuesday and Portland on Wednesday. Houston held a team meeting following its loss to the Blazers, with Westbrook imploring his teammates to show greater defensive effort.

Houston fell to 26–14 with Wednesday's loss. It sits fifth in the West, 6.5 games behind the 33–8 Lakers for the conference's best record.

Tip-off from the Toyota Center in Houston on Saturday is slated for 7:30 p.m. CT.