Luka Doncic Reveals Lakers' Mindset After Austin Reaves' Injury

The Los Angeles Lakers finished a 3-0 road trip on Wednesday night with a 123-112 win over the Milwaukee Bucks, but the talk afterward was about a player who never finished the game.

Shooting guard Austin Reaves landed awkwardly after a missed fast-break dunk with 8:21 left in the third quarter and left with a left heel injury that kept him out the rest of the night.

Before he went out, he had 18 points on 6-of-10 shooting, five assists and three steals in 25 minutes.

X-rays at the arena came back negative, and head coach JJ Redick said there would be no update on Reaves until he has imaging on Thursday.

Point guard Luka Doncic knows what the Lakers could be missing, but he pointed the roster toward who steps in next.

"I think we just got to have next-man-up mentality. Obviously, we lose a very, very good player," Doncic said after the game.

Doncic scored 32 points on 10-of-25 shooting with five rebounds and five assists, and he gave the Lakers a scare of his own when he turned his right ankle with 4:25 left in the fourth quarter after landing on forward Kyle Kuzma's foot.

He said afterward that the ankle hurt a little and that he would be fine.

Center Sandro Mamukelashvili scored 23 points off the bench, and center Walker Kessler added 10 points and 11 rebounds as the Lakers built a 94-73 lead through three quarters before the Bucks scored 39 in the fourth.

Shooting guard Collin Sexton also left late after bumping heads with guard Ryan Rollins and needed stitches, while shooting guard Quentin Grimes sat out with a finger sprain.

Even with all those bodies going down, the Lakers won their seventh straight game and moved to 11-2, which is the best record in the NBA and half a game ahead of the San Antonio Spurs for first place in the West.

I believe Doncic when he talks about next man up, because this group has already pulled it off once.

When Doncic sat out in Detroit, Reaves took over with a 43-point night and Grimes stepped into the starting lineup, and the Lakers still won.

Losing Reaves for any real stretch would still hurt, since he came into Wednesday averaging 25.3 points per game and his strong start to the season is a big reason this team sits on top of the conference.

Doncic, who entered the night leading the NBA at 39.3 points per game, would carry even more of the scoring, with Sexton taking on extra work in the bench role that has worked for him.

At least the schedule is kind to them, since the Lakers do not play again until Sunday at Phoenix, which gives Reaves, Doncic and Sexton three days to heal, and the Suns are 4-6.

After that, Los Angeles hosts the Charlotte Hornets on Tuesday and the Utah Jazz on Wednesday, and Utah has started 1-11.

My guess is the Lakers handle a week or two without Reaves just fine, but a long absence would be a different story, which makes Thursday's imaging the biggest news for this team.