As the Los Angeles Lakers look to close out a scrappy Houston Rockets team, Slovenian star Luka Doncic is working to get himself back to full strength.
While he continues to make progress toward a return, Doncic is still a ways off from gaining full clearance. In fact, according to Brett Siegel of ClutchPoints, he has yet to resume basketball activities since injuring his hamstring on April 2nd. In the latest timeline, Luka isn’t due back until at least midway through the second round, meaning the best we can hope for is that he returns in Game 3 against OKC at the Crypto.com Arena (if the Lakers make it that far).
“He went over to Europe to get treatment on [the hamstring], and then he came back over, but it didn’t really change his timeline at all,” said Brett Siegel on Clutch Scoops. “It’s still 4-6 weeks, and that 4-week mark, he’s in it now. We’re in that 4-6 week range of when he could possibly return, but he has not resumed normal practicing; he’s just been doing individual work.”
The Lakers have taken a cautious approach to injuries all season, prioritizing player health and durability over maximizing wins. Despite the challenges and frequent instability, the team held its own, surpassing all expectations to finish fourth in the West (53-29). Then, in the first few weeks of playoff action, they even managed to take a 3-0 series lead over the Rockets without Doncic or Reaves.
But even with Reaves back in the lineup, Luka remains on track for a multi-week absence that could bring his missed time up to six weeks. It has all but eliminated hope that he might be good to go for the start of the Semifinals, which would leave the Lakers especially vulnerable against a Thunder team that’s gone 4-0 against them this year.
“He’s going to be missing the start of that OKC series,” Siegel added. “We’ve been told the earliest he could possibly return to the court is if they return home for Games 3 and 4. As far as Luka goes, there’s no chance of him returning in this series, and he’s going to miss the start of the Western Conference Semifinals if they get there. I don’t think that he would be back before Game 4 or 5. He’s still about 12-14 days before being reintegrated into actual practices, and he’ll be re-evaluated next week by the Lakers’ medical staff to kind of see where he’s at.”
As well as the Lakers have played through the injuries, they can only get so far without their leading voice and offensive scorer. While Doncic’s tactics may be controversial, his game is undeniable with averages of 33.5 points, 7.7 rebounds, 8.3 assists, 1.6 steals, and 0.5 blocks per game on 47.6% shooting and 36.6% shooting from three.
Without Doncic for the foreseeable future, the Lakers cannot count on his return to save their playoff hopes. Fortunately, with LeBron James, Austin Reaves, Marcus Smart, Deandre Ayton, and Rui Hachimura, they still have enough to make things competitive and advance to the Semifinals.
Against the Thunder, however, their chances were always slim, even with Doncic on the floor. The Lakers have yet to figure out a way to contain their scoring, and specifically, the impact of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. Now, without Luka, they can’t even out-shoot the Thunder, which was probably their only path to victory. In short, it would take a miracle for the Lakers to extend the next series beyond five or six games, but they have bigger problems to worry about, given that they’ve just dropped two straight against their current playoff opponents.
