The Los Angeles Lakers look for their fourth win in five games when they take on the Los Angeles Clippers at the Intuit Dome on Saturday. This will be the second meeting of the season between the two rivals, and the injury report reveals the Lakers could be without as many as four key players for it.
Deandre Ayton (left elbow soreness), Austin Reaves (left calf strain), Gabe Vincent (low back soreness), and Bronny James (G League) have all been listed as out. Rui Hachimura (right groin soreness), meanwhile, is questionable.
Ayton missed Thursday’s 143-135 win over the Utah Jazz for the 19-7 Lakers due to this same issue, and it’s unclear when he will be back. This will be the fourth game the 27-year-old has missed this season, with one of the previous ones being the 135-118 win over the Clippers on Nov. 25.
The Lakers managed to cope with the absence of Ayton, who is averaging 15.3 points, 9.0 rebounds, 0.9 assists, 0.8 steals, and 1.0 blocks per game in 2025-26, that night, but he was the only notable player missing back then. There are a few more on the treatment table this time around.
Reaves will be missing a third straight game here with this calf injury. Lakers head coach JJ Redick had stated that the guard would be out for a week on Dec. 13, but made it clear they’ll be cautious with him.
Reaves has shone for the Lakers this season, averaging 27.8 points, 5.6 rebounds, 6.7 assists, 1.0 steals, and 0.2 blocks per game. Given how we have seen calf injuries lead to more serious ailments, erring on the side of caution is the correct approach.
Next, we get to Vincent, who also didn’t feature against the Jazz due to this back issue. The Lakers had announced on Thursday that the 29-year-old would be reevaluated in a week.
Vincent, who is averaging 4.7 points, 0.9 rebounds, 1.4 assists, 0.5 steals, and 0.1 blocks per game in 2025-26, had previously missed 11 games due to an ankle sprain. That injury bug isn’t staying away.
While Ayton, Reaves, and Vincent appearing on the injury report wasn’t a surprise, Hachimura’s inclusion was. It is unclear when he suffered this groin injury that has put his status for this Clippers game in doubt.
Hachimura is averaging 13.3 points, 3.8 rebounds, 0.8 assists, 0.5 steals, and 0.2 blocks per game in 2025-26. The Japanese forward has been the Lakers’ best outside shooter this season (45.6% from three), and they’ll miss the spacing his presence provides if he cannot go.
As for the Clippers, they are without Bradley Beal (left hip fracture), Derrick Jones Jr. (right knee sprain), Yanic Konan Niederhauser (left knee soreness), and Chris Paul (Not With Team), while Cam Christie (right foot soreness) is questionable. They enter this contest having lost five in a row, and that poor run has seen them drop to 6-21 on the season.
