PHOENIX \u2014 After being sidelined for the past couple of weeks because of a calf injury, Lakers guard Austin Reaves made his return to the court in Tuesday night\u2019s game against the Phoenix Suns.
\nReaves had missed the Lakers\u2019 previous three games because of a minor left calf strain.
\n\u201cIt\u2019s a type of injury where the player has to feel comfortable to play,\u201d Coach JJ Redick said. \u201cGiven the nature of the injury, everybody around the league is sensitive to the calf stuff right now. He progressed throughout the week, did a stay-ready on Sunday. Was modified [in Monday\u2019s practice], got another individual workout in [Tuesday] morning and I think that was ultimately what gave him the confidence to give it a go.\u201d
\nReaves came off the bench for the first time since December 2023 as the team looked to manage his minutes.<\/p>\n
Nick Smith Jr., who is signed to a two-way contract, started alongside Marcus Smart, Jake LaRavia, LeBron James and Deandre Ayton.
\nStar guard Luka Doncic (lower left leg contusion), forward Rui Hachimura (right groin soreness) and reserve guard Gabe Vincent (lumbar back strain) were sidelined against the Suns.
\nRedick reiterated that Doncic and Hachimura are considered day to day, while Vincent will be reevaluated on Thursday \u2013 the same day as the team\u2019s Christmas Day matchup against the Houston Rockets.
\nThe 27-year-old Reaves didn\u2019t have a definitive minutes restriction, according to Redick.
\n\u201cWe\u2019ll monitor it,\u201d Redick said. \u201cBut typically in these situations, if it\u2019s a longer injury, it\u2019s 75% of the minutes. And because it was a shorter injury, it\u2019ll probably be something we\u2019ll just kind of read in real time.\u201d
\nReaves subbed in for LeBron James at the 5:23 mark of the first quarter for his first game action since the NBA Cup quarterfinal loss to the San Antonio Spurs on Dec. 10.
\nHe entered Tuesday with averages of 27.8 points, 6.7 assists and 5.6 rebounds in 21 games played.
\nIn light of their injuries, Redick used a nine-man first-half rotation against the Suns, with Jarred Vanderbilt, Jaxson Hayes and Dalton Knecht also playing off the bench in the opening two quarters.<\/p>\n
The Lakers were the league\u2019s worst team in terms of ball retention during the season\u2019s first month, but they have turned a corner over the last several weeks.
\nThe team\u2019s 16.9% turnover rate from the start of the season until Nov. 18 was the league\u2019s worst mark, with Redick at the time pleading for the team to reduce its careless giveaways.
\nThe Lakers have cleaned up their turnover woes since then.
\nOver their previous 13 games, the Lakers had a turnover rate of 13.4%, which ranked No. 11 in the league.
\nTheir worst turnover games during that stretch came in their Dec. 1 and Dec. 14 matchups against the Suns, who entered Tuesday ranked No. 2 in defensive turnover rate.
\n\u201cSome of that could be opponent-based,\u201d Redick said of the Lakers\u2019 improvement. \u201cWe played Utah a couple times in that stretch, and they\u2019re not necessarily a high-pressure team. I do think that we\u2019ve gotten better with our careless turnovers. We\u2019ve gotten better of taking care of the ball in transition.\u201d<\/p>\n
The return of Austin Reaves from his calf injury is a significant boost to the Lakers, especially considering the team’s current injury woes. With Reaves back on the court, the Lakers will look to continue their improvement in ball retention and make a push for better standings.<\/p>\n
Introduction to Austin Reaves’ Return PHOENIX \u2014 After being sidelined for the past couple of weeks because of a calf injury, Lakers guard Austin Reaves made his return to the court in Tuesday night\u2019s game against the Phoenix Suns. Reaves had missed the Lakers\u2019 previous three games because of a minor left calf strain. \u201cIt\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":26234,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rank_math_lock_modified_date":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-26232","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dailynews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/AP25358118588045-1.jpg?w=1400px&strip=all&w=1400&resize=1400,933&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/los-angeles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26232"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/los-angeles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/los-angeles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/los-angeles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/los-angeles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26232"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/los-angeles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26232\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26235,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/los-angeles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26232\/revisions\/26235"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/los-angeles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26234"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/los-angeles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26232"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/los-angeles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26232"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/los-angeles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26232"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}