Dr. Jesse Morse has been keeping close tabs on Luka Doncic’s injury recovery just like any other fan of the Lakers out there. So when Doncic finally spoke out about the treatment he is receiving, Dr. Morse was shocked to hear that the Slovenian superstar went all the way to Spain to receive a treatment that was available in the US as well.
Since money is not an issue for the superstar who earned $45,999,660 in 2025-26, Dr. Morse was quite astonished and seemingly frustrated that the Lakers’ superstar went for a significantly less potent alternative when he had even better options available.
Dr. Morse took to social media and gave a detailed explanation for why he thought Doncic made a big mistake heading all the way to Spain, and he could have been guided to make better decisions.
“Here are the different options for what he was dealing with. You can use PRP; it is a baby dose, it is mild, has about a 3/10 potency if you’re using a mediocra kit. Maybe a 3.5 if you use a strong kit, as I have here.”
“And the difference is you’re taking out about 50 to 100 CCs of blood and spinning it down to get the growth-factor-rich layer. Then, it is put directly into the hamstring tendon and into the hamstring muscle, either in the mid-body or the lower part of the hamstring tendon or in the back part of the knee. And to be honest, for a mild strain, that is fine.”
“The issue with PRP is that it’s very pro-inflammatory and very painful. So unfortunately, it creates a period of about 10 to 14 days of inflammation, pain, to signal to the body to use the growth factors that you just took out of the blood, to use that and create the cascading healing effect, which then starts healing the tissue.”
“Here’s the caveat: that only works for very mild to moderate injuries. Usually, we do it one to three times; Luka did it four times. You can do it every second day in the most-aggressive protocol. But the problem is, when you have a partial tear, a grade 2 severe strain, that you’re kind of playing with fire, and you need him back,” Dr. Morse said.
“If the normal timeframe is about eight weeks, you can maybe shorten it to six [with this treatment]. The problem is, you’re trying to solve a 7/10 problem with a 3/10 solution.”
“Now, money isn’t the obvious situation here. You could’ve easily done PRP in LA. You could’ve done a variant of PRP called Regenakind, which Kobe had years ago in Germany, in LA. There’s a place that does it in Oakland, there’s a place that does it in New York. Not the end of the world, and even then, PRP is not worth his time and energy. And we’re starting to see that, and that’s why I am frustrated,” Dr. Morse admitted.
“Because the main problem with this situation is that they went to a car dealership with all the money in the world, and they said, ‘ Hey, let’s buy a Toyota Corolla. A Ferrari is sitting right next to it, the best stem cells money can buy. But nope, I want to use the Toyota Corolla, and I want to return [to action] in a month.'”
“He’s at five weeks, and he’s not really running, and he’s not ready to return. This is the problem when you let a player choose a product, and you have people guiding him who are not using the best stuff money can buy.”
“He should have either used an amniotic tissue allograft, taken from an amniotic sac, which is what I use. Very hard to find, but it is the best stuff money can buy. It’s like a scaffold, and the body uses it like a tissue to build on top of it,” he suggested, like he previously did when he found out that Luka Doncic is headed to Spain.
“You can use something called Wharton’s Jelly, which comes from the umbilical cord. You can use MSCs, which are from the placenta or the umbilical cord, or you can use something called exosomes, which are the growth factors inside a stem cell.”
“I’m not a big fan of muse cells, so I would not have used those. But in general, these are the different options you could have used. He ideally should have injected them and used something like an amniotic tissue, which is a placental-based product, on which he would have used an exosome on top, which is both super potent and inflammatory. Probably about five times stronger if you look at the different growth factors.”
“The problem still is, he’s using a level three product, 3/10 I mean, for a 7-8 level injury. This is why he’s not getting better. This is a failure of epic proportions when the team needs him the most.”
“They got lucky that they got a good schedule and were able to hold down the fort and win in the first round. This is a different story; this is one of the best players in the world, and you let him get PRP.”
“Every player that I see will never do PRP again. Too inflammatory, too weak, the rate-limiting factor is only money. This guy earns more money than he knows what to do with. Why wouldn’t he take the good stuff?” Dr Morse concluded.
Luka Doncic made a MISTAKE going to Spain for only PRP
I discuss in detail what he should he had injected here ⬇️
This is the reason why he hasn’t returned yet pic.twitter.com/A0935neohx
— Jesse Morse, M.D. (@DrJesseMorse) May 6, 2026
Clearly, Dr. Jesse Morse disagrees with the treatment plan that Doncic or the Lakers’ medical staff chose. But he still feels that all hope is not lost if Doncic still pivots to a better medicine.
As LeBron James emphasized last night, the Lakers are missing a player on the floor who averaged 33.5 points, 8.3 assists, and 7.7 rebounds in the regular season while shooting 47.6% from the field and 36.6% from behind the three-point line.
So clearly, his absence leaves a big gap for other players to fill. After last night’s 90-108 loss for the Lakers, one cannot overemphasize how much the Lakers need Doncic back in action to have any hopes in this series.
As of now, per Dr. Morse’s estimates, Doncic’s best-case scenario is being out another week, which means he could be back for Game 4 or a bit later. The problem with that is the Lakers are going up against the defending champions, the Thunder, who may not let this series go beyond five games if Doncic does not return.
Therefore, if the Lakers lose Game 2 of this series tomorrow night, their medical staff would need to take the executive decision on using a potentially better choice of treatment before it is too late, or could be put in a position where they are answerable for their choices here. It will surely be interesting to see what happens with the Slovenian superstar and the Lakers from here.
