Austin Reaves is optimistic about returning to the Lakers for Game 5 against the Rockets after missing the last nine games due to a Grade 2 oblique strain. He has progressed to larger group scrimmages without setbacks.
Austin Reaves is “optimistic” that he’ll be able to return to the Los Angeles Lakers’ lineup for Game 5 of their first-round series in the 2026 NBA playoffs against the Houston Rockets on Wednesday, according to ESPN’s Shams Charania.
The 27-year-old Reaves was one of L.A.’s leading offensive lights during the regular season, averaging a career-high 23.3 points, 5.5 assists and 4.7 rebounds per game on 49/36/87 shooting splits — one of just 10 players in the NBA this season to average 20 and 5 on .600 true shooting. He missed the Lakers’ final five regular-season games, and has missed the first four games of their opening-round matchup with Houston, after suffering a Grade 2 oblique strain during an April 2 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Reaves resumed on-court work last week, and was listed as questionable ahead of both Game 3 and Game 4 before being ruled out of both. He’s advanced from 1-on-1 work to larger group scrimmages “with no setbacks,” according to Charania — a progression that has sparked hope that he’ll be able to take the floor once again in Game 5.
Austin Reaves is expected to return for Game 5 of the Lakers' playoff series against the Rockets on Wednesday.
Austin Reaves suffered a Grade 2 oblique strain during a game against the Oklahoma City Thunder on April 2.
Before his injury, Austin Reaves averaged a career-high 23.3 points, 5.5 assists, and 4.7 rebounds per game.
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After missing the Lakers' last nine games, Austin Reaves is reportedly nearing his return. (Cooper Neill/Getty Images)
(Cooper Neill via Getty Images)
A Wednesday night comeback would mean that Reaves got back in the fold one day shy of four weeks after his injury — beating the optimistic outlook on an expected four-to-six-week recovery window that the Lakers offered when he first went down.
“I think it’s fair to consider everything. Austin and I had a conversation [the day before Game 4] for a long time, and I think ultimately the athlete has to feel confidence,” Lakers head coach JJ Redick told reporters. “And that’s always the final hurdle coming back from an injury, is the psychological component of it.”
If Reaves feels mentally and physically ready to come back, his return would provide a boost to a Lakers offense that has scored just 110.1 points per 100 possessions through four games — 11th of the 16 teams in the postseason field, and a rate that would’ve ranked 29th in the league during the regular season.
The Lakers have been able to overcome their offensive shortcomings in the absence of both Reaves and leading scorer/MVP candidate Luka Dončić by relying on a steady diet of LeBron James post-ups, knockdown shooting from the trio of Luke Kennard, Marcus Smart and Rui Hachimura, and an excellent defensive game plan from Redick that has repeatedly flustered the Rockets — who’ve been without their top offensive star, Kevin Durant, in three of the four games in this series — into mistakes and stagnation. That combination has a Lakers team that entered the series as the underdog up 3-1 and on the verge of advancing; getting Reaves back would certainly profile as a boon to that effort.
Game 5 tips off at 10 p.m. ET at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles.