The Los Angeles Lakers have been plagued by injuries for a majority of the 2022-23 season, although it finally seems like reinforcements are on the way.
It was recently reported that Anthony Davis is expected to return on Wednesday night against the San Antonio Spurs. He will be on a minutes restriction but it’s obviously great news to see the big man back in action after missing six weeks with a foot injury.
Davis isn’t the only key Lakers player that is close to returning though as Lonnie Walker IV and Austin Reaves are also close to being back with the latter potentially ahead in his rehab, via Dan Woike of the L.A. Times:
Austin Reaves cleared an important hurdle earlier by having a full-speed workout, and fellow guard Lonnie Walker IV is considered to be even closer to returning.
Reaves also spoke with Jovan Buha of The Athletic about where he is at and the progress he is making:
Reaves said his hamstring is progressing well. He sprinted for the first time on Monday, a solid step toward his impending return.
“We’re going forward, moving forward,” Reaves said of his injury. “Progress. Feeling good.”
Reaves was in the midst of a breakout season with the Lakers before going down with a hamstring issue that has forced him to miss the last 11 games. In 36 games (12 starts), he has averaged 10.8 points, 3.1 rebounds and 2.2 assists while shooting 36% from 3-point range.
Walker has missed the last 13 games with left knee tendinitis after being one of the Lakers’ main scoring threats in their starting lineup for the first portion of the season.
In 32 games this season, Walker has averaged 14.7 points, 2.3 rebounds and 1.4 assists while shooting 45.5 percent from the field and 38.4 percent from 3-point range.
The Lakers have started to figure some things out after these guys went down, going 8-5 in the 13 games with three of those losses coming after controversial calls by the officials at the end of the game. The hope is that the train will be able to keep rolling once some of these injured players return and the Lakers can make their run to get back in postseason contention.
At 22-26, the Lakers currently rank 13th in the Western Conference although they are just 2.5 games out of the sixth seed, which would avoid the Play-In Tournament altogether.
Walker and Reaves have both started at times this season although guys like Dennis Schroder and Troy Brown Jr. have performed well in their absence, making for some interesting decisions by Darvin Ham when Walker is able to return.
Reaves excited to see Lakers at full strength
With Davis, Reaves and Walker on the verge of returning and the recent acquisition of Rui Hachimura, the Lakers are close to being at full strength for the first time all year. Reaves is excited about the potential of this team with everyone healthy:
“It’ll be nice,” Reaves said of the Lakers being at full strength soon. “For the first time all year, we’ll have hopefully everybody available. It just gives a different outlook in games and situations in games where we can switch things up if everybody is healthy. And, obviously, getting AD back is gonna help a lot.”
The Lakers have more than 30 games left to figure things out, although that isn’t a lot of time so hopefully everyone can stay healthy and there are no setbacks for Reaves and Walker.
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