Los Angeles Lakers head coach JJ Redick has earned a lot of praise this season, but he is now coming under fire. The Lakers have lost both Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves to injuries that have ruled them out for the rest of the regular season, and Redick has been blamed for them.
Doncic and Reaves played in the second half of the Lakers’ brutal 139-96 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder on Thursday, despite being in some discomfort in the first. Redick has been criticized for having the two stars out there in what was a blowout, and he explained his decision in his press conference before Sunday’s game against the Dallas Mavericks.
“As a coach, you go on the information you have,” Redick said, via Benjamin Royer. “[Doncic] was medically cleared. Then, when Austin came back, I asked directly, ‘I thought he was hurt.’ [I was told], ‘No, he’s medically cleared.’ The group wanted to go for it in the second half, talked about it at halftime.
“I think for both those guys, like the nature of playing heavy minutes, that’s certainly a part of any equation when you’re trying to manage workloads,” Redick continued. “We also rely on the tracking data, and we’re looking at that after every game, acceleration and jumps, workload, all of those things.
“There have been a few times this year where it’s gone away from the standard deviation of whatever their baseline is, and we’d make the proper adjustments,” Redick added. “There was nothing leading into that game that would suggest either those guys were running hot, as we call it.”
The Lakers were trailing 82-51 at the break, but the players didn’t want to wave the white flag just yet. They wanted to try to make a comeback, and so, Redick decided to have all five starters on the court to start the second half. It proved to be a mistake.
The argument here would be that while Doncic and Reaves had been medically cleared, erring on the side of caution might have been the way to go in that situation. Taking the slightest of risks this late in the regular season can backfire tremendously, which is what has happened here.
Then again, though, if the medical staff tells the coach all is well, they will listen to the experts and send the players out on the court. So, you can see both sides here. It’s just unfortunate that the worst-case scenario came true.
Doncic here had suffered a hamstring issue late in the first half and was receiving treatment at halftime. The Slovenian then aggravated the issue on a drive to the basket in the third quarter, and that was the end of his night. A distraught Doncic limped to the locker room with 7:39 left in the third. It was clear it wasn’t a minor issue, and that proved to be the case.
Doncic was diagnosed with a Grade 2 left hamstring strain. The general recovery time is four to six weeks, which is devastating for him and the Lakers, with the playoffs around the corner. Doncic is now seeking specialized medical treatment in Europe as he looks to expedite his return, and it will be interesting to see if he returns far sooner than expected.
It doesn’t look like there will be an early return when it comes to Reaves, though. He had gotten hurt in the first quarter against the Thunder when he stretched for a loose ball. Reaves did go to the locker room afterward, but managed to return to the game in the second quarter. He then started the second half and was on the court till the 4:37 mark in the third quarter.
It didn’t seem as if we were looking at a serious injury here, but Reaves was diagnosed with a Grade 2 left oblique injury. He is now out for four to six weeks, and it’s hard to see the Lakers winning a playoff series if he and Doncic are unavailable. The lowly Mavericks even managed to beat them 134-128 on Sunday to drop them to 50-28.
Redick’s first season as head coach ended with a first-round defeat at the hands of the Minnesota Timberwolves in the 2025 playoffs, and a repeat is looking extremely likely in 2026.
