Los Angeles Lakers star guard Austin Reaves will miss at least the next four weeks after being diagnosed with a grade 2 left gastrocnemius (calf) strain, ESPN reported on Friday. Reaves exited in the first half during the Lakers’ 119-96 loss to the Houston Rockets on Christmas Day and did not return.
“Austin clearly felt something,” Lakers coach JJ Redick said postgame. “We did our normal halftime, and then as we were walking out of the locker room, [Lakers director of player performance and health] Dr. [LeRoy] Sims told me he was out.”
Reaves finished the game by scoring 12 points on 5 of 8 shooting in 15 minutes of action. With Reaves out of the lineup for the second half against Houston, veteran Marcus Smart started in his place.
JJ Redick blasts Lakers after Christmas loss to Rockets: ‘We don’t care enough right now’
Brent Brookhouse
Reaves, 27, is in the midst of a career year with Los Angeles. The former undrafted free agent out of Oklahoma is averaging 26.6 points, 6.3 assists and 5.2 rebounds per game. Reaves scored a career-high 51 points earlier this season against the Sacramento Kings and nearly finished with a triple-double by adding 11 rebounds and nine assists.
Despite being the second-leading scorer on his own team — behind league-leading scorer Luka Dončić — Reaves has filled the void while other Lakers players have been out of the lineup. Notably, LeBron James missed the first few weeks of the season due to sciatica and didn’t make his season debut until Nov. 18 against the Utah Jazz.
Reaves injury comes amid the Lakers’ losing streak
With the loss to the Rockets on Christmas, the Lakers dropped to 19-10. Los Angeles has lost three consecutive games by double digits (Phoenix Suns, Los Angeles Clippers and Rockets). After the latest setback to Houston, Redick went on a long rant about the way his team has playing, saying that the Lakers “don’t care enough right now.”
“We don’t care enough right now,” Redick said. “And that’s the part that bothers you a lot. We don’t care enough to do the things that are necessary. We don’t care enough to be a professional.”
The Lakers began the 2025-26 campaign 15-4. Since that hot start, Los Angeles is 4-6 in its last 10 games. The Lakers trailed by double digits the entire second half against Houston.
JJ Redick torched Lakers’ players after Christmas loss, but the real blame lies with the GM who acquired them
Sam Quinn
“The two words of the day were effort and execution,” Redick said. “And I feel like when we’ve done both of those things at a high level, we’ve been a good basketball team. When we haven’t, we’re a terrible basketball team. And tonight we were a terrible basketball team. And that started legitimately right away.”
The four-week timeline for Reaves would likely result in him missing a majority of January. The Lakers face the Kings on Sunday and the Pistons on Tuesday before the calendar flips to 2026.