NBA Gives Amen Thompson Flagrant Foul on Reaves Play

The NBA handed Amen Thompson a flagrant foul on Saturday, May 2, retroactively for his fourth-quarter play against Austin Reaves in Game 6. The call turns a playoff collision into a formal discipline decision after the Lakers’ win in Houston.

Thompson, Reaves, and Game 6

Thompson yanked Reaves’ extended left arm and pulled him to the floor, the sequence that drew the league’s postgame review. The play came in the fourth quarter of the Lakers’ Game 6 victory, with Los Angeles closing out the Rockets and moving on from Round 1.

Reaves had already returned from nearly four weeks out after a grade 2 oblique strain suffered on April 2 against the Oklahoma City Thunder. He played 32.5 minutes over his two games back, averaging 18.5 points, four assists, 3.5 rebounds and two blocks per game while shooting 36.7 percent from the field and 16.7 percent from 3-point range on six attempts per contest.

Reaves’ Shoulder Check

Postgame, Reaves said his shoulder was OK, but the play was still described as unnecessary. That leaves the league ruling and his own report of the contact aligned on the central fact: the action was serious enough to merit a retroactive Flagrant 1, even as he stayed on track to keep playing after his recent return.

Los Angeles now turns to Oklahoma City in Round 2 after going 0-4 against the Thunder in the regular season and losing those games by nearly 30 points per contest. The Lakers reached this point with Luka Doncic sidelined by a hamstring strain and with James, at 41 years of age, having played the first four games of the series without Doncic and Reaves before the roster finally got back a key piece in time for the Rockets finish.