Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves are sitting out with sprained right ankles when the Lakers host the Milwaukee Bucks on Thursday night in Los Angeles’ sixth game in eight days.
The Lakers announced the decision to rest Doncic and Reaves alongside fellow injured starters LeBron James and Rui Hachimura about six hours before tipoff against the Bucks.
The Lakers also declared key rotation players Dorian Finney-Smith (left ankle) and Jarred Vanderbilt (right groin strain) out against Milwaukee. That means Los Angeles will be without its top four scorers and five of the top six when the Bucks visit.
“The substitution matrix will be a lot of fun, but, you know, we feel like we have enough guys that can move and make shots and defend that we have a chance to win,” Lakers head coach JJ Redick said during his pregame news conference.
Doc Rivers’ Bucks are dealing with their own spate of injuries. Guard Damian Lillard was ruled out Thursday because of a calf injury.
“I don’t know if we’re going to be the more healthier team tonight, to be honest, but (the Lakers) not having Luka and LeBron, we’re probably the more healthier team,” Rivers said.
Los Angeles is in a brutal stretch of its schedule with 20 games in a five-week span. The Lakers have won three straight home games over the previous four days, but they also have six more games in the final 10 days of March after they host Milwaukee.
Doncic scored 31 points and Reaves had 22 in the Lakers’ victory over Denver on Wednesday night.
Los Angeles has won nine consecutive home games since Feb. 19 and 16 of 17 home games overall.
Doncic has played through his persistent ankle injury, but he also sat out last Friday in Denver to rest the problem. Reaves hadn’t missed a game since March 4 despite his own nagging ankle injury.
James will miss his seventh consecutive game with a groin injury, while Hachimura hasn’t played since Feb. 27 due to a knee injury. When asked if it was realistic either James or Hachimura could return against Chicago on Saturday, Redick said he is “hopeful” to get one or both back in the lineup.
Los Angeles’ already crowded schedule this month is even worse because the Lakers beat San Antonio on Monday in a game rescheduled from January because of the wildfires that devastated parts of Southern California. That rescheduling meant the Lakers are playing five home games in a seven-day span this week before starting a road trip in Orlando on Monday.
“I think everybody is day to day, including LeBron and Rui, but we knew post-All-Star break that this first three, four weeks was gonna be tough,” Redick said. “It’s not going to get any easier, but this has been a very difficult stretch just in terms of the schedule.”
