Los Angeles Lakers Get Their Stars Back After the All-Star Break
The Los Angeles Lakers team hopes to be completely healthy for the first time in a long time after the All-Star break, a piece of news that excites fans and the coaching staff. Luka Doncic, NBA’s leading scorer, confirmed on Thursday that he will “probably” return to the court after missing the last four Lakers games before the break due to a slight hamstring strain. Austin Reaves will also no longer have minute restrictions after a five-week absence due to a calf injury, according to coach JJ Redick, following practice at the Lakers’ facility. LeBron James, who reached the stoppage by becoming the oldest player to record a triple-double, is also expected to be available when the Lakers host the Clippers. This means that the Lakers’ top three players could play together for only the eleventh time in 55 games this season.The Lakers do not have consecutive days off between the All-Star break and March 28-29, so Redick hopes his team will take advantage of the opportunity presented by full health after the break to accumulate some wins in the competitive Western Conference. Los Angeles (33-21) entered the break in fifth place in the West despite the long absences of Reaves and James, who has missed 18 games this season. Starting center Deandre Ayton is also expected to return for the Lakers after a right knee soreness kept him out before the break. Doncic hasn’t played for the Lakers since February 5th. He played for the World team in the NBA All-Star Game on Sunday, but only played the first five minutes of the first mini-game before sitting out the rest of the afternoon.“It’s funny, we were talking before the season about building continuity with those three players, and we’ve had them available together for 10 games,” Redick said. “That’s the situation we’re in. We’re not the only team that has had a lot of health problems throughout the season and has had to deal with that, but my message to the players this morning was that this is going to be a sprint for these last 28 games.”
JJ Redick
Reaves’ return to full form could be a big boost for the Lakers, who haven’t had their third option in full form since he injured his calf at Christmas. He was the ninth-highest scorer in the NBA with 27.8 points per game before his injury. Reaves said the fully fit Lakers have the potential “to win a lot of games. You can see throughout the season, even with the unfortunate injuries, we’ve done a good job of keeping ourselves in it. We’re on track to have a good record, and being healthy is going to help. It’s going to be fun to see what that’s like.”“I was on a minute restriction,” he said with a smile. “It was definitely good to go up and down a little bit [in practice] after having a week off.”
Luka Doncic
