Los Angeles Lakers fans woke up to exciting news on Friday morning: Austin Reaves was listed as questionable for Game 3 against the Houston Rockets. ESPN's Tim Bontemps in speculating that "Austin Reaves is going to play Friday, barring some setback."
But that's when ESPN's Brian Windhorst threw a thorn into all of the good vibes for Lakers fans, at least for a moment. Windhorst wondered aloud whether Lakers head coach JJ Redick could mess up LA's offensive chemistry against the Rockets by removing the white-hot Luke Kennard from the starting lineup to make room for Reaves.
In essence, has Reaves' sooner-than-expected return suddenly created a difficult lineup decision for Redick that he might not get right?
JJ Redick suddenly has to pick between Austin Reaves and Luke Kennard
Bontemps pushed back immediately on Windhorst, suggesting that the decision in front of Redick isn't complicated: Start Reaves. "Luke Kennard will play plenty, but Austin Reaves will have the ball, and the Lakers will be better for it," Bontemps said.
Still, you have to wonder if Windhorst was onto something. Kennard is playing with stunning confidence at the moment, and he's got the shooting numbers that reflect it. Green Light Kennard is 16-of-27 from the field and 8-of-11 from 3 through the first two games of this series, with a 25 PPG average. Kennard is playing with endless swagger. He's playing the best basketball of his life. Will putting him back on the bench detract from this rhythm?
Lakers' Luke Kennard is trained to hit shots in any situation
Ultimately, Kennard should be just fine. He's spent his entire career thus far perfecting the craft of staying ready on the bench to immediately check in and splash down 3s without any established rhythm. There are also potential drawbacks to messing up Reaves' rhythm, as he's not as used to coming off the bench, at least not recently in his career. Redick certainly has a decision to make.
But let's face it: If this is a real problem at all in Redick's mind, it's definitely the best type of problem to have. At the outset of the series, the Lakers were fully resigned to Reaves missing all seven games, if things even got that far. This was LA's only psychological play. To assume Reaves would come back in the series would be to doubt themselves without him.
Meanwhile, the Rockets have been wondering if and when Reaves will re-emerge, and it must be impacting their game planning and overall psyche. Now that he's been upgraded to questionable on the morning of Game 3, Ime Udoka and his staff are making adjustments on the fly, and yet, they don't fully know if Reaves will be in the lineup, nor at what capacity. Advantage, Lakers.