Lakers: Two LA Wings Clear Protocols... But Remain Out

Plus a health update on a third role player.

Mike Trudell of Spectrum SportsNet has supplied a health update on several Los Angeles Lakers wings this morning, ahead of the second game of a back-to-back. The 17-18 Lakers will need all hands on deck to defeat tonight's opponent at the Crypto.com Arena, the 21-14 Memphis Grizzlies.

Overall, it's good news, but in the short term, some of these updates are a little frustrating:

Kent Bazemore and Austin Reaves have both cleared health and safety protocols, but will be out tonight at Memphis, listed with “return to competition reconditioning.”

Wayne Ellington has also been upgraded to “available” tonight.

— Mike Trudell (@LakersReporter) December 29, 2021

6'5" rookie shooting guard Austin Reaves, who has carved out a meaningful role for himself as a bench swingman who can defend and nail a jumper, has finally cleared the NBA's COVID-19 health and safety protocols. 32-year-old veteran swingman Kent Bazemore, who had been expected to be a much more significant contributor than Reaves ahead of the actual games, has also cleared the league's coronavirus protocols. 

Neither player will be able to play, as Trudell notes, given that they will both need to gear up for NBA-level conditioning. Reaves, an undrafted 23-year-old out of Oklahoma, has been unavailable since nailing a game-winning triple in overtime to help the Lakers beat a Luka-less Dallas Mavericks club on the road, 107-104, on the 15th. Bazemore has been inactive since the Lakers' next game, a 110-92 loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves on the 17th. Reaves has proven to be positively Caruso-esque this year. He is averaging 5.8 points per game on 50% shooting from the floor, 39.0% shooting from deep (on 2.4 attempts), and 88.2% from the free-throw line. He's not the second coming of Eddie Jones or anything, but the kid is probably one of the Lakers' eight best players right now.

The 6'4" Bazemore, formerly a reliable 3-and-D wing, had more or less become a "break glass in case of emergency" piece for the Lakers since the middle of November. Of course, like virtually every NBA team, that emergency showed up in the middle of last month. Bazemore played 15:13 in the Mavericks victory, scoring zero points and registering a -19. He fared better in the Timberwolves loss, scoring 11 points and logging a mere -6 plus-minus. The Old Dominion alum is averaging 4.3 points (on shooting splits of .337/.340/.769) and 2.1 rebounds across 21 games, and has been a healthy scratch for nine other contests this season. He has fallen out of favor with Lakers head coaches and could easily see his guaranteed veteran's minimum contract get waived to make room for new Laker Stanley Johnson, who has been a dynamic multi-positional defender since signing a 10-day contract via hardship exception on Christmas Eve.

Trudell adds that another 6'4" veteran shooting guard, Wayne Ellington, will be able to suit up for Los Angeles tonight. Ellington sat out for yesterday's hard fought 122-115 victory over the Houston Rockets with a non-coronavirus illness.

Our fingers are crossed that Reaves and Bazemore will be ready to log minutes in time for the Lakers' New Year's Eve game, against the visiting Portland Trail Blazers. Los Angeles is still without the injured Anthony Davis and Kendrick Nunn, plus valuable forward Trevor Ariza and end-of-bench point guard Rajon Rondo.