Charania: Austin Reaves further along in rehab than Luka Doncic

While the Los Angeles Lakers look to take full control of their first-round playoff series against the Houston Rockets, Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves continue to rehab from their injuries. Both were able to take part in practice to a limited extent recently, but neither is close to returning to game action.

Doncic recently returned from Europe, where he underwent an injection procedure in Spain to try to speed up his recovery from a Grade 2 hamstring strain. Reaves, meanwhile, is recovering from an oblique strain. Both injuries were sustained during a blowout loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder on April 2.

According to Shams Charania of ESPN, the Lakers feel Reaves is further along in his recovery than Doncic is, and as a result, he could conceivably return late in the series versus Houston.

“The sense around the Lakers is that Austin Reaves is actually the one that’s further along than Luka Doncic in their respective rehab processes. I am told Austin Reaves has started one-on-one on-court work. The next step for him is to continue to go through the progressions of three-on-three, five-on-five. Remember, early April here, he had a four-to-six week timetable. So theoretically that puts him on track (to return) late in this series, potentially early in the next series. The Lakers are not expecting Luka Doncic to be back in this series, he is out indefinitely. But Austin Reaves (is) making some progress on the court.”

The schedule of this series may result in at least an outside chance of at least Reaves being able to return before it ends. Game 5 will be on April 29, which will be almost four full weeks since both injuries occurred. Game 6 and Game 7, if needed, will take place on May 1 and May 3, respectively.