EL SEGUNDO, Calif. — The Los Angeles Lakers expect to be fully healthy for the first time in recent memory when they return from the All-Star break.
NBA scoring leader Luka Doncic said Thursday that he will “probably” return to the court after missing the Lakers’ final four games before the break with a mild hamstring strain.
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Austin Reaves also will no longer be on his minutes restriction stemming from a five-week absence with a calf injury, coach JJ Redick said after practice at the Lakers’ training complex.
LeBron James, who went into the break by becoming the oldest player to record a triple-double, is also expected to be uniform when the Lakers host the Clippers. That means the Lakers’ three best players should all suit up together for only the 11th time in 55 games this season.
“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,” Redick said. “It’s just the situation we’re in. We’re not the only team that has had a bunch of health issues throughout the season and had to manage that, but my message to the players this morning was that this is going to be a sprint for these last 28 games.”
The Lakers have no consecutive days off between the All-Star break and March 28-29, so Redick hopes his team will seize the opportunity presented by full health out of the break to stack some wins in the competitive Western Conference. Los Angeles (33-21) entered the break in fifth place in the West despite the lengthy absences of Reaves and James, who has missed 18 games this season.
Starting center Deandre Ayton also is expected to be back for the Lakers after a sore right knee kept him out before the break
Doncic hasn’t played for the Lakers since Feb. 5. He suited up for the World team at the NBA All-Star Game on Sunday but played only the first five minutes of the first mini-game before sitting out the rest of the afternoon.
“I was on minutes restriction,” he said with a grin. “It was definitely good to get up and down a little bit [at practice] after having a week off.”
Reaves’ return to full strength could be an enormous boost to the Lakers, who haven’t had their No. 3 option at full strength since he strained his calf on Christmas. He was the NBA’s ninth-leading scorer at 27.8 points per game before his injury.
Reaves said the full-strength Lakers have the potential “to win a lot of games. You can tell throughout the season, even with the unfortunate injuries, we’ve done a good job maintaining it. We’re on pace for a good record, and getting healthy is going to help that. It’ll be fun to see what that looks like.”
