The Dallas Mavericks disputed Los Angeles Lakers coach JJ Redick's claim that their medical team examined the wrong part of Austin Reaves' body when the Lakers guard received an MRI by the Mavs' 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 Southern Methodist University's campus Saturday in Dallas, said Reaves required two MRIs to diagnose a Grade 2 left oblique strain and faulted the Mavs for their execution of the initial scan.
"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.
Reaves suffered the injury in the first half of the Lakers' 139-96 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder on Thursday and returned to the game, finishing with a team-high 15 points in 27 minutes.
While 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.
L.A. (50-28) is currently No. 4 in the Western Conference with four games remaining. They trail the No. 3 Denver Nuggets by a half game, but hold the tiebreaker over Denver by winning the season series.
The Lakers host the Thunder on Tuesday, then play a back-to-back on Thursday on the road against Golden State Warriors and Friday at home against the Phoenix Suns before closing out the regular season schedule at home against the Utah Jazz on Sunday.
