Is Austin Reaves Playing Tonight vs the Houston Rockets?

The Los Angeles Lakers have been one of the surprise teams in the first round of the NBA playoffs. With Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves starting the series on the bench with injuries, most analysts felt that the Houston Rockets would make quick work of the undermanned Lakers.

Instead, Los Angeles takes a 2-0 lead heading to Texas tonight for the third game in the series. Better yet, they may just have reinforcements on the way.

Austin Reaves has been upgraded to questionable with the left oblique strain that has kept him out since April 2. The good news comes unexpectedly as head coach JJ Redick had been quite vague on both Reaves and Doncic's health when asked earlier in the week.

"No update on the timeline for either of those guys. Austin has started a return-to-play [plan], but we don't have any timeline update for him. And then Luka I think is gonna start some court work here soon. But again, no update on timeline."

The Lakers have given complete team efforts to overcome the absences of its top two scorers. It also helps to have a living legend like LeBron James turning the clock back and playing at a level worthy of a much younger star.

James had 28 points, 8 rebounds, and 7 assists during game 2 on Tuesday night. He got a lot of scoring help from Marcus Smart, who had 25 points, and Luke Kennard, who had 23 points.

The Rockets are struggling mightily to produce offense, even though they got Kevin Durant back on the floor for the last game after he missed game 1 of the series. Houston is still missing Fred VanVleet and Steven Adams from injuries that happened much earlier in the season.

The winner of the Los Angeles and Houston series will play the winner of the Oklahoma City and Phoenix series in the second round of the playoffs. The Thunder currently leads that series 2-0.

Game 4 in the series will take place on Sunday in Houston. The series will shift back to Los Angeles for a fifth game on Wednesday if the Rockets win at least one of the next two games.

This story was originally published by Men's Journal on Apr 24, 2026, where it first appeared in the News section. Add Men's Journal as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

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This story was originally published April 24, 2026 at 11:04 AM.