Lakers' Cam Reddish Day-to-Day After Aggravating Groin Injury; MRI 'Clean'

The Los Angeles Lakers will be without a key member of their rotation for a bit, but they avoided a worst-case scenario.

Lakers head coach Darvin Ham told reporters prior to Wednesday's game against the Dallas Mavericks that swingman Cam Reddish is day-to-day after his MRI came back "clean" and the groin injury he reaggravated was "not as severe" as the team initially thought. Max Christie will start in Reddish's place on Wednesday.

Reddish aggravated the injury in Tuesday's in-season tournament matchup against the Utah Jazz. He played just five minutes before exiting the game, which the Lakers won in blowout fashion 131-99.

A fifth-year forward out of Duke, Reddish signed a two-year deal with the Lakers in July. He had a slow start to the season before being inserted into the starting lineup at the beginning of this month. He scored over 10 points four times and became an integral part of the team's defense, averaging 2.2 steals in November.

The 10th pick in the 2019 NBA Draft by the Atlanta Hawks, Reddish had struggled to find consistency at the beginning of his career. He has never averaged 12 or more points in a season. The Hawks traded him to the New York Knicks in 2022, and he was shipped to the Portland Trail Blazers a year later.

Despite the slow start to his career, it appears that Reddish has found a home in Los Angeles.

"I already knew what Cam was capable of. Cam I think just needed someone to believe in him," Lakers star LeBron James said earlier this month. "A locker room to believe in him, guys that continue to stay on him and let him know how impressive he is, how special he is not only as a player but as a person as well. The talent is there, has always been there, sometimes guys just need a little helping hand, a little push."

Without Reddish in the lineup, players like Christie and Taurean Prince will see more action for the Lakers on the wing.