Los Angeles Lakers guard Austin Reaves is expected to miss four-to-six weeks after being diagnosed with a Grade 2 left oblique injury, sources told ESPN's Shams Charania.
The ailment will sideline Reaves for the beginning of the playoffs, which start April 18.
Reaves suffered the injury in the first half of Thursday's blowout loss against the Oklahoma City Thunder and underwent an MRI earlier Saturday.
Reaves' extended absence is the latest blow to the Lakers, who also lost Luka Doncic for at least the remainder of the regular season with a Grade 2 hamstring strain.
Los Angeles will be without its top two scorers as it attempts to hold off the Denver Nuggets for the Western Conference's third seed.
"Our mission, it hasn't changed," Lakers head coach JJ Redick told reporters Saturday, including ESPN's Dave McMenamin. "The rest of these guys and my staff, we're going after the 3-seed, and we're going to try to win a playoff series. And we'll see what happens with Luka."
Reaves is averaging a career-high 23.3 points, 5.5 assists, 4.7 rebounds, and 1.1 steals across 51 appearances this season. He's converted 75% of his attempts at the rim, which ranks in the 100th percentile among combo guards, per Cleaning the Glass.
The Lakers are scoring 2.5 more points per 100 possessions with Reaves on the floor.
