Austin Reaves did “everything” he could to give himself a chance to return to the Lakers during the NBA playoffs after suffering a Grade 2 oblique strain one week before the regular season ended.
And his mission was successful: Reaves returned in Game 5 of their eventual first-round playoff series victory over the Rockets and played in six postseason games before the Lakers were swept in the second round by the Thunder.
While Reaves didn’t share what “everything” entailed, he took advantage of the Lakers’ connection to another iconic sports franchise in the local market.
In addition to rehabbing at the Lakers’ practice facility in El Segundo, Reaves also underwent treatment at the Dodgers’ facility.
A story from Yahoo Sports, which cited two anonymous sources, stated that Reaves’ rehabbing at the Dodgers’ facility was a suggestion by the Lakers.
“There were days I left my house at 7:30 [a.m.] and I didn’t get back until 7:30 [p.m.] or later at night,” Reaves said of his rehab process. “Just going through every possible thing I could do to help myself get better. And we did it as a collective. We huddled up when it first happened and it was basically attacked every single day after.”
Reaves’ rehab process is another example of the connection between the Lakers and Dodgers since Mark Walter became the majority owner of the Lakers last October. Walter had already been the controlling owner of the Dodgers since 2012.
Since Walter bought the franchise, the Lakers have made several changes to their business-side front office, including Lon Rosen as the president of business operations (replacing Tim Harris), Michael Spetner as the new chief strategy and growth officer (new position) and Ryan Kantor as the vice president of global partnerships (new role).
Dodgers executives Farhan Zaidi and Andrew Friedman joined the Lakers in advisory roles in November.
Lakers president of basketball operations/general manager Rob Pelinka mentioned after the season ended that the franchise will collaborate with the Dodgers to upgrade the medical/performance resources within the Lakers’ practice facility.
With the Lakers’ G League team relocating to Coachella Valley, the Lakers will have more space to utilize.
“We’re bringing in a biomechanics lab, new movement labs, a recovery lab; those things are super expensive to do and super thoughtful, but we’re doing the planning with Lon and his team around that, and that construction is going to happen this offseason,” Pelinka said. “They’re going to be redoing aspects of the court as well. It’s a full rebuild and retool, and it’s adding to the great things that are already here, which have led to success, but elevating it and bringing it to the next level. So an ongoing process that we’ll be doing throughout the offseason. Probably, hopefully, culminating in and around the summer league in Vegas.”