Lakers starter a late scratch for preseason matchup with the Bucks

The Los Angeles Lakers will have to do without one of their best scorers in the third game of the 2024/25 preseason.

It's shocking that Lakers shooting guard Austin Reaves will have to sit out Los Angeles' game against the Milwaukee Bucks on Thursday night.

According to Mike Trudell of Lakers.com, the 6-foot-2 player from Oklahoma is suffering from a sore ankle. Los Angeles first-year head coach JJ Redick indicated he will be rested for one game, an approach that suggests the illness may not be particularly concerning.

Redick announced that All-NBA superstars LeBron James and Anthony Davis will play for the second straight game after both sat out LA's season opener, a 124-107 loss Friday to the Minnesota Timberwolves in Palm Desert .

Trudell reports that Lakers guards Gabe Vincent and Max Christie will be at the limit, as will small forward Cam Reddish, Trudell adds.

The Lakers announced on their official will be transported. Christie will join typical starters D'Angelo Russell, James, Rui Hachimura and Davis as Los Angeles' front five.

Combo forward Jarred Vanderbilt, power forward/center Christian Wood and center Christian Koloko have already been announced as sidelined. Vanderbilt and Koloko hope to be healthy in time for the start of the Lakers' regular season, while Wood is expected to be ready in early November.

According to the Milwaukee Bucks official X account, the team will start with All-Star point guard Damian Lillard, shooting guard Gary Trent Jr. and former Los Angeles small forward Taurean Prince (instead of typical starter Khris Middleton, who is still on the road to recovery). (from offseason surgeries on both feet), All-NBA power forward Giannis Antetokounmpo and All-Defensive Team center Brook Lopez.

Reaves has clearly emerged as the Lakers' third-best player in the second season of a lucrative, four-year, $53.8 million contract he signed with the team as a restricted free agent last summer. The fourth-year swingman averaged a career-high 15.9 points on .486/.367/.853 shooting splits, 5.5 assists, 4.3 rebounds and 0.8 steals per night last year. The head coach at the time, Darvin Ham, repeatedly changed his lineups uncertainly throughout the season, so that Reaves often moved from the bench to the starting line-up and ended up only starting in 57 of his 82 games.

More Lakers: Several Los Angeles Big Men Out vs. Bucks