The Los Angeles Lakers announced that Austin Reaves has been diagnosed with a left hamstring strain and Lonnie Walker IV has been diagnosed with left knee tendinitis. Both will be reevaluated in approximately two weeks.
The timing is unfortunate considering the Lakers are already without Anthony Davis and have been playing better lately in his absence, winning their last three games.
Those wins also came without Walker, who has missed the last three games first with a tailbone contusion and then with the knee tendinitis. Darvin Ham spoke on Walker’s status before Wednesday night’s game, saying the Lakers will be cautious in order to get him fully healthy.
“In terms of Lonnie, it’s just something that he discovered, he started having a little bit of problems, and it’s normal for a kid that plays the way he does athletically above the rim. Just running up and down the court, you’re gonna have a little bit of tendinitis, especially in the knee that you rely on heavily. So we’re just managing that and trying to bring him along slow in terms of him not causing any ripple effects from suffering from that issue.”
It’s unclear when Reaves injured his hamstring considering he played 32 minutes on Wednesday against the Heat and finished the game.
The Lakers will now be without two of their best guards for the next couple of weeks though, so others will have to step up in their absence. The good news is that LeBron James is expected to return to action on Friday night against the Atlanta Hawks after missing one game with a non-COVID illness.
Lakers expected to bring in Sterling Brown on 10-day contract
The good news is that teams can now begin signing players to 10-day contract since the calendar has flipped to January. With their glut of injuries, the Lakers are expected to bring in wing Sterling Brown, who is familiar with Ham having played for the Milwaukke Bucks.
It’s unclear when Brown will join the Lakers but they need all the help they can get as soon as possible.
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