The Los Angeles Lakers have been one of the hottest teams in the NBA as of late, having won seven consecutive games. With Luka Doncic finding his shot and his rhythm, the Lakers have shot up to the No. 2 seed in the Western Conference. The Lakers have another big game on Thursday against the New York Knicks, and their recent injury report included all three of LeBron James, Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves.
The Lakers listed LeBron James, Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves all as probable on their injury report for the team’s game against the New York Knicks on Thursday.
James and Doncic were not in any danger of not playing. James has been dealing with a foot injury all season while Doncic banged knees against the Los Angeles Clippers over the weekend. It forced Doncic to leave the game briefly, but he eventually returned to the court.
In Reaves’ case, however, he’s been sidelined for the past two games. Reaves suffered a calf injury against the Clippers last Friday, causing him to exit the game early. He has been day-to-day, and it caused him to miss the Lakers’ second win against the Clippers as well as their win against the New Orleans Pelicans on Tuesday.
Reaves’ return to the lineup gives the Lakers an additional playmaker and ball-handler, as well as another scoring threat. The fourth-year guard has been putting up career numbers this season.
Amid the foot discomfort that James had been playing through, he became the first player in NBA history to reach 50,000 career points. That total includes both regular season and playoff points.
James came into the Lakers’ game against the Pelicans needing only one point to reach the 50k point plateau. He got that out of the way early in the first quarter with his first shot of the game, a three-pointer.
Following the game, James spoke about what the moment felt like and what it meant to start his own exclusive list.
It’s a lot of points. . .to be honest, obviously, the first thing that comes to mind is where I’m from. Just picking up the game when I was a little kid and just having my love for the sport,” James said. “I was hoping that someday I would be able to play at the highest level. I’ve been able to do that and really enjoy my career. So it was definitely an honor It’s pretty cool to see that.”
Now in his 22nd season in the NBA and at the age of 40, James has appeared in 56 games at a little over 34 minutes per game. He’s been averaging 24.9 points, 8.0 rebounds and 8.5 assists with splits of 51.9 percent shooting from the field, 39.4 percent shooting from the three-point line and 77.6 percent shooting from the free-throw line.
David Yapkowitz is a basketball journalist for ClutchPoints, writing news on the NBA, WNBA, and NCAA Basketball for both men and women. The Los Angeles native has bylines with Basketball Insiders, SB Nation, and The Next Hoops
