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LOS ANGELES — The Mavericks disputed Lakers coach JJ Redick’s claim that their medical team examined the wrong part of Austin Reaves‘ body when the guard received an MRI by Dallas’ staff over the weekend.
“Our medical team followed standard imaging protocols based on the information provided at the time,” the Mavericks said in a statement first issued to DLLS Sports on Tuesday and later provided to ESPN. “There was no error in the scan performed.”
Redick, following the Lakers’ practice on SMU’s campus Saturday in Dallas, said Reaves required two MRIs to diagnose a Grade 2 left oblique strain and faulted the Mavericks for their execution of the initial scan.
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“I don’t know where the chain of command lies with Dallas imaging, but they scanned the wrong area,” Redick said. “So [the mistake was] not on our end. We made it explicit what was supposed to be scanned, but they scanned the wrong area.”
A Lakers spokesperson declined to comment Tuesday when asked by ESPN about the chain of events surrounding the MRI.
Redick changed his tone when asked to explain the reasoning for his accusation before the Lakers’ 123-87 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder on Tuesday.
“In the end, we got the image we needed,” Redick said. “And obviously very appreciative, because it’s happened throughout the season whenever the home team is accommodating to us, just like we would be for them. And we’re going to move on.”
Reaves suffered the injury in the first half of the Lakers’ 139-96 loss to the Thunder on Thursday and returned to the game, finishing with a team-high 15 points in 27 minutes.
Though the Lakers announced no timetable for Reaves’ return other than ruling the fifth-year veteran out for the remainder of the regular season, sources told ESPN’s Shams Charania that Reaves is expected to miss four to six weeks.
Los Angeles (50-29) is No. 4 in the Western Conference with four games remaining. The Lakers trail the No. 3 Nuggets by one game but hold the tiebreaker over Denver by winning the season series.
The Lakers play a back-to-back on the road against the Golden State Warriors on Thursday and at home against the Phoenix Suns on Friday before closing out the regular season at home against the Utah Jazz on Sunday.
