Austin Reaves had a postseason to forget as the Minnesota Timberwolves beat the Los Angeles Lakers 4-1 in the first round of the playoffs. Reaves played terribly against the Timberwolves, and it turns out an injury might have played a part in that. Lakers analyst Trevor Lane reports that Reaves had suffered a left big toe sprain in the series.
“Can confirm that Austin Reaves was dealing with a left big toe sprain during the Playoffs. Was considered to be a 2-4 week injury but he gutted it out. I’m told Reaves was not walking on it on off days to try to get through the playoffs.”
Los Angeles Times’ Dan Woike reported that Reaves played through the toe injury in the last two games, and that it would have normally kept him out for multiple weeks.
“Between James’ knee injury, Luka Doncic’s back injury and an unreported multi-week toe injury Austin Reaves was playing through in the final two games of the series, the Lakers would’ve been pretty banged up if they had forced a Game 6.”
The Lakers certainly would not have been in good shape had they managed to extend this series. There would have been no LeBron James in a potential Game 6, as he suffered a Grade 2 MCL sprain in Game 5 after colliding with Donte DiVincenzo.
Luka Doncic, meanwhile, had an awkward fall in Game 5 that left him with a back injury. So, you certainly wouldn’t have loved the Lakers’ chances of winning this series even if they’d somehow managed to avoid defeat in Game 5.
Getting back to Reaves, he struggled before suffering this toe injury, too. The 26-year-old averaged 17.3 points on just 42.2% shooting from the field in the first three games. That’s not great, and he would end the series with averages of 16.2 points, 5.4 rebounds, 3.6 assists, 0.2 steals, and 0.6 blocks per game while shooting 41.1% from the field and 31.9% from beyond the arc.
Reaves could have brought up the injury as an excuse for his poor play after the series, but he didn’t. He took responsibility and vowed to do better in the future.
“I didn’t have the series that I wanted to have,” Reaves said. “You can point the finger at me. I wasn’t good enough to help us be successful. I wish I coulda done more. I didn’t. I struggled. You live and you learn, and I guarantee that I’ll get back to work this offseason and be better.”
This was a disappointing end to what had been the best season of Reaves’ career. He averaged 20.2 points, 4.5 rebounds, 5.8 assists, 1.1 steals, and 0.3 blocks per game during the regular season.
Reaves was being hailed as the best third option in the NBA at one point, but that chatter has died down after this series. He’ll now have to wait for a while to make amends for his play against the Timberwolves.
Reaves will be hard at work this offseason, and so will the Lakers’ front office. It will be interesting to see all the changes they make in order to get closer to winning a championship.
