The Lakers had just completed practice Thursday with a full and healthy squad when Luka Doncic strolled over to speak with the media.
Doncic had played only five minutes Sunday for Team World in the All-Star Game because of a lingering left hamstring strain. He missed the previous four Lakers games.
With the Lakers’ season scheduled to restart against the Clippers on Friday night at Crypto.com Arena, Doncic was asked if he would be playing.
“Probably,” he said. “We’ll see. I got to talk to people.”
Since Doncic practiced, he was asked how he was doing and how his hamstring felt.
“I’m good,” he said. “Feeling good.”
It was pointed out to Doncic that he did play in the All-Star Game, even if it was limited.
“Five minutes. I was on minutes restriction,” Doncic joked.
Lakers coach JJ Redick was the first to speak to the media after practice, his time away from the game leaving him fresh and ready to go.
He was asked whether Austin Reaves, who had been on a restriction of about 25 minutes after returning from a 19-game absence because of a calf strain, would still be on a minutes restriction and whether Doncic would be available against the Clippers.
“Austin won’t have a minutes restriction,” Redick said, “and as of 35 to 45 seconds ago, we’ll have everybody available tomorrow.”
Injuries have been common for the Lakers this season.
It started at the beginning of the season, when LeBron James missed 14 games because of sciatica. Recently he dealt with arthritis in his left foot that kept him out of a game.
Center Deandre Ayton missed the last two games because of right knee soreness.
“As a coach, you have zero control in that. As a player, you know what you do to prepare, and what you do to recover can give you some level of control, but ultimately, the basketball gods in the game are going to dictate health,” Redick said. “It’s funny, we were talking before the season about building continuity with those three guys, and we’ve had them available together for 10 games. So it’s just the situation we’re in.
“Not the only team that has had a bunch of health issues throughout the season and had to manage that. But I think … my messaging this morning to the players was this is going to be a sprint, these last 28 games. It’s another segment of the season where, starting tomorrow, we won’t have more than a day between games until the end of March. So, we’ve got an opportunity to, I think, play our best basketball after the All-Star break. We’ve got a number of indicators on both sides of the ball that we’re doing some things that are trending in the right direction. And I think it’s coming at a good time, as we’re getting fully healthy.”
Doncic, James and Reaves have combined to average 80.2 points per game, led by Doncic’s NBA-best 32.8 points. Reaves is averaging 25.4 points and James 22.
Reaves said it is “very important” that the three get reps together.
“You have those games from last year, but obviously you still have a learning curve of how to play alongside one another and that’s with everybody else on the team as well,” Reaves said. “Continuing to build that continuity and confidence in every single position. We’re locked in with the five guys on the court. So, very excited.
“I think you can tell throughout the season, even with the unfortunate injuries and stuff, we’ve done a good job of maintaining it. We’re fifth in the West, on pace for a good record and just getting healthy is going to continue to help that. So it’ll be fun to see what that looks like and get to work.”
The Lakers (33-21) play four games next week, all against opponents with winning records that are jockeying for position in the playoff race: Sunday vs. Boston, Tuesday vs, Orlando, Thursday at Phoenix and Feb. 28 at Golden State.
So, Thursday’s practice was a good start for the Lakers to get back in gear.
“We only got one practice in so we’re not going to get a lot out of one practice,” Doncic said. “But we definitely like to get up and down a little bit after one week off. So, it was good.”
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