Austin Reaves Ruled Out Monday With Illness After Scorching Start

Austin Reaves has survived the Western Conference gauntlet, but he apparently could not beat the November sniffles. Underdog NBA reported that the Los Angeles Lakers guard has been officially ruled out for Monday's matchup with an illness.

If you were planning to fire up a Reaves points prop tonight, you are officially out of luck. The betting markets are going to have to do some serious math to adjust the Lakers' lines against the Atlanta Hawks, because removing Reaves from the equation right now is like taking the engine out of a Ferrari and replacing it with a lawnmower motor.

"Austin Reaves (illness) ruled out Monday. (via @UnderdogNBA)"

For context, Reaves has been on an absolute tear to start the season. Through seven games, he is averaging a ridiculous 31.1 points, 9.3 assists, and 5.1 rebounds while shooting nearly 49 percent from the floor. Those are not just good numbers, those are the kind of stats that make you double-check the box score to make sure there is not a glitch in the app.

The Lakers are currently sitting pretty at 9-2 and holding the top spot in the Western Conference standings. A massive chunk of that early-season dominance is directly tied to Reaves playing out of his mind and carrying the offensive load.

Without him on the floor in Atlanta, the Lakers have to completely rewire their half-court offense. This is the exact type of late-breaking injury news that sends fantasy managers scrambling to the waiver wire and forces oddsmakers to aggressively pull lines off the board before the sharps can pounce.

The Lakers will need someone else to step up and absorb those 30 points of missing production tonight. After Atlanta, Los Angeles heads to Milwaukee to play the Milwaukee Bucks on Wednesday, leaving Reaves about 48 hours to chug some fluids and get back on the court before the road trip gets any tougher.