Austin Reaves hits game-winner as Lakers hang on to defeat Timberwolves

MINNEAPOLIS — At some point, the Lakers will get stars Luka Doncic and LeBron James back in the fold. But exactly when they will return to play from their injuries is still unknown.

James has been out all season with right sciatica irritation, and Doncic has been out since last Sunday with a left finger sprain and a lower left leg contusion.

Before the short-handed Lakers stood tall behind Austin Reaves’ game-winning floater in a 116-115 win over the Minnesota Timberwolves on Wednesday night at the Target Center, coach JJ Redick was asked about the return of Doncic and James.

“With Luka, again this is probably with the contusion, it’s a day-to-day thing,” Redick said. “I think the swelling’s gone down a little bit. His finger, it looks like he has one-and-a-half fingers now and not two. So, he’s progressing and we’re hopeful at some point in the next little bit, the next couple games, we’ll have an opportunity to have him back in the lineup.”

The Lakers delivered the news about James’ injury on Oct. 9, saying he would be reevaluated in approximately three to four weeks. Three weeks would be the NBA Cup game at Memphis on Friday night and four weeks would be the game at Atlanta on Nov. 8.

It sounds as if the latter is more in line for James to come back.

“No change for LeBron. I think we’re probably somewhere right around that timeline to hopefully get him back in the lineup,” Redick said. “But obviously this thing has to continue to progress with all his return-to-play protocols. So, we don’t have a target date. It’s just somewhere in that general timeline. We hope that he’s kind of checked all the boxes and he’s going to be back sometime in that second or third week in November.”

The Lakers did get a piece back to help their cause when backup center Jaxson Hayes returned after missing the last three games with left patellar tendinopathy. But guard Marcus Smart (right quad contusion) was downgraded to out for the game.

“We’re up to eight guys, eight roster players ready to go,” Redick said.

And, again, that put more pressure on Reaves because he’s the Lakers’ primary ballhandler. The Timberwolves were fully aware of this and put their best defender, Jayden McDaniels, on Reaves.

Reaves still was outstanding in the first half, scoring 18 points and handing out nine assists in helping the Lakers open a 62-58 halftime lead.

ETC…

The Timberwolves didn’t have guard Anthony Edwards, who was out with a right hamstring strain.

The Lakers said rookie forward Adou Thiero (left knee recovery) has been cleared for live on-court contact work and his next step for his returning to play is participating in five-on-five activities. Thiero has been assigned to the South Bay Lakers, their G-League team, and he will also practice with the Lakers over the next week.