Lakers NEW Starting Lineup with BIG Game 5 RETURN Update!? | Austin Reaves BACK, Durant OUT + Trade?

Welcome back everyone. Today's show is

brought to you by Prospects and all

right we have another update on Austin

Reeves and Kevin Durant for game five of

Rockets vers Lakers. So beginning with

Austin according to Sham Shana the

Lakers are quote unquote optimistic that

he will be back for game five. But for

Kevin Durant, he is in the opposite

direction as he will likely be out for

game five. Again, according to Cham Sha.

So with Kevin Durant, he may have played

his final game in this series and maybe

his final game as a Houston Rocket with

other reports saying that they may look

to move on from him. And per usual, with

a star being linked to a different team

or possibly being linked to being

traded, the Lakers have been linked to

him even though they're still playing

him. We'll talk about that in a bit, but

here's quick view what Shams had to say

about both Austin Reeves and Kevin

Durant for game five is sitting next to

me. Shams, what do we have?

>> Greeny, this just in. Multiple sources

are telling me right now that Austin

Reeves and the Lakers are optimistic

that he'll make his return to the lineup

on Wednesday night in game five against

the Houston Rockets. He is about four

weeks removed from a grade 2 oblique

strain, but Austin Reese has been making

great progress over the last 1 to two

weeks, progressing from one-on- ons to

larger group scrimmages with no setback.

So, barring any type of an issue over

the next 24 hours. Austin Reeves is

going into practice today in Los Angeles

with significant hope that he can get

back into the lineup. This is someone

that of course a massive role as a

co-star with Luca Notic on this team.

He's turned into a max contract caliber

player. And so Austin Reeves on his way

back to the Lakers this week. It's a

massive boost to this team.

>> Be looking to close out a Rockets team

that has barely had Kevin Durant in this

series. What is the expectation with

regard to him,

>> Greeny? The expectation is the Rockets

will be without Kevin Durant for game

five. He's dealing with a bone bruise on

that left ankle sprain. So he missed

game one with a bruise to his patellar

tendon in his right knee and then

sprains his left ankle in game two when

he returned. And so he's missed the last

couple of games and so don't know

exactly how much longer he'll need, but

the expectation is he'll be out um here

at game five he's dealing with.

>> So Austin Reeves may finally be back.

We've heard about it for over a week now

at this point. He quickly went through

his return to play progression getting

through it in roughly a week then being

a game time decision for both game three

and game four, but ultimately being

ruled out for both. So might it be time

that he finally is back? Will he be

fully cleared to play? Will there be a

tight minute restriction with them? And

if he is back, should he be returning

back to their starting lineup? After

all, their current one might seem to be

doing well with them currently up 3 to

one. But according to the numbers, it

actually hasn't been that good with a

five-man combination of LeBron, Marcus

Smart, Luke Canard, DeAndre, and Rua

posting a negative 25.5 net rating in 33

minutes so far, which is a little bit

off, but roughly 33 to 40 minutes in

total. Again, it might seem to have done

pretty well, and I don't think it's as

bad as net rating might kind of hint at

or show, but overall here, it's maybe

not their best starting lineup. And much

of this coming from game four, but

obviously it could be better. It could

be a better combination and it's not

working quite as well as what they had

before Luca and Austin Reeves got hurt.

So again, with Austin seemingly coming

back for game five, should they

immediately put him back in the starting

lineup? Well, if he were fully healthy

and wouldn't be on a minute restriction,

I would probably say yes. But with him

very likely and should be on a minute

restriction, I'm going to say no. In my

opinion, he shouldn't play more than 20

to 25 minutes in game five if he does in

fact play. I think that would be a bit

too risky for him. Not only that, but

he's been off the court for literally a

month at this point. I'm not going to

say that he's out of shape, but

definitely he's not in the shape that he

was before getting hurt. You again don't

want to push it with him. So simply use

him sporadically, which at that point

you probably don't want him to start

because if you do start him, then you

would have less playing time for him

during the second half, which is

obviously more important. So in my

opinion, bring him off the bench during

the late first to early second quarter.

Let him get a rhythm, then play him more

during the second half. At that point,

he'd be on the court more for when you

need him. He'd be able to give LeBron,

Luke Canard, and Marcus Smart more of a

break so they can have more energy

during the fourth quarter, the late

fourth quarter. Just my opinion, but

that would be the route that I would go

in Austin's first game back and

hopefully his only game that he will

have to play this series.

However, if they would start him and if

he doesn't really have a minute

restriction, which I think would kind of

be a risky plan and probably not the

right way to go. But if that would be

the case here, who should he start over?

Should it be Marcus Smart? Should it be

Luke Canard? Should it be Rua? Which one

of them three? Well, in my opinion,

obviously not Marcus Smart. He's the

best defender and the guy that would

take on the toughest matchup. Even

though against the Rockets, there might

not be a difficult one-on-one matchup.

Apart from Alpran Shenon, which he

obviously doesn't and won't match up

with, I'd still keep Marcus Smart in

there. So, at that point, you're picking

between Luke Canard and Rua Chimra. And

I'd probably go with Luke Canard just

because he does seem to wear down in a

big role for their team. I mean, it's

definitely not helped that he's played

nearly 160 minutes this series already

in only four games, nearly 40 minutes

per game for him. I think that he

probably is best suited to more to a

more limited role. Maybe not coming off

the bench, but again, if I'd have to

pick between Austin or Luke Canard

starting and Austin has to start, then I

would go with Austin. But regardless, my

personal route and what I kind of hope

they do for his first game back is to

bring him off the bench. But real quick,

before we talk about that, let me tell

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my second pick, I got CJ McCullum having

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But now getting back to our topic,

obviously no disrespect to Austin here.

He is coming off an injury and miss over

a month at this point. They probably

want to bring him back fairly slow. And

for his sake, he probably should want

that, too. Yes, he does happen to be in

a contract year, and maybe he wouldn't

like coming off the bench. I don't think

he really cares, but who knows, I guess.