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Austin Reaves’ Girlfriend Jenna Barber Embraces Lakers Star Amid Injury Return

Jenna Barber, the girlfriend of Austin Reaves, shared a wholesome moment with the Lakers star before he returned from his injury on April 29.
Grant Young|
Los Angeles Lakers guard Austin Reaves (15)
Los Angeles Lakers guard Austin Reaves (15) | Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images

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Los Angeles LakersOklahoma City ThunderHouston Rockets

The No. 4-seeded Los Angeles Lakers are looking to knock the No. 5-seeded Houston Rockets out of the NBA Playoffs on April 29, as the Lakers have a 3-1 lead and are hosting Houston at Crypto Arena.

If LeBron James is going to win another championship ring before he retires, he'll likely need the Lakers' two other stars healthy and playing alongside him. These two stars are Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves, both of whom haven't been able to compete for the first four games of this series.

Los Angeles Lakers guard Luka Doncic (77) and guard Austin Reaves (15)
Los Angeles Lakers guard Luka Doncic (77) and guard Austin Reaves (15) | Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images

Doncic has been sidelined since early April with a hamstring injury, and the hope is that he'll be ready for the start of the second round if the Lakers advance.

Reaves had been out for the past four weeks with an oblique injury. There was some optimism that he'd be ready for the start of this Houston series, but the Lakers decided to exercise caution.

And that decision appears to have paid off, as Reaves has returned to the Lakers' lineup on Wednesday night.

Los Angeles Lakers guard Austin Reaves (15)
Los Angeles Lakers guard Austin Reaves (15) | Alonzo Adams-Imagn Images

Austin Reaves' Girlfriend Jenna Barber Celebrates Injury Return With Courtside Embrace

While every Lakers fan is happy to see Reaves back in action, none are more so than his girlfriend, Jenna Barber.

Reaves and Barber are high school sweethearts, as they've been together since 2014 and still seem to be in a great spot.

Barber made her excitement about Reaves' return known on social media on Wednesday night. Initially, she reposted the Lakers' post about Reaves making his return to her Instagram story. The post was captioned, "REAVES RETURNS", and Barber added, "LETS GOOO 😍😍❤️‍🔥".

Then she followed this up with a video of her and Reaves hugging courtside shortly before Wednesday's game began.

Barber can be seen wearing light blue jeans and what looks to be a black wool sweater with purple and gold horizontal stripes, which is the perfect look for the Lakers. While it was a fleeting hug, it's clear that this was an emotional moment for the two, given that Barber has seen Reaves go through the entire process to return.

Barber also added the, "🤍" as a caption to the post.

It remains to be seen whether the addition of Reaves will be enough to propel LeBron and the Lakers past the Rockets on Wednesday. But they appear to be in good position at advance and face the denending champion Oklahoma City Thunder in the next round.

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Grant Young
GRANT YOUNG

Grant Young covers the Athlete Lifestyle, Women’s Basketball, the New York Mets, the Baltimore Orioles, the Chicago Cubs, and boxing for Sports Illustrated’s ‘On SI’ sites. He holds an MFA degree in creative writing from the University of San Francisco (USF), where he also graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Marketing and played on USF’s Division I baseball team for five years.

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