The Lakers are set to clash with the Thunder in Game 1 of the Western Conference semifinals tomorrow night at Oklahoma’s Paycom Center. Ahead of the highly anticipated matchup, both teams released their respective injury reports.
While both teams had a brief list of players missing the game, they will both be short of one key starter each in this game, who has been sidelined with the same injury.
The Lakers will not have Luka Doncic (left hamstring strain recovery) available to play, while the Thunder will not have Jalen Williams (left hamstring strain recovery). Doncic suffered his injury against the Thunder at the beginning of April in the regular season, while Williams went down during Game 2 of their first-round series against the Suns about three weeks later.
Thomas Sorber is the only other player listed on the injury report with these two players, who has missed this entire series due to recovery from a right ACL surgery.
Ideally, Doncic should be much further ahead in his road to recovery, since he’s had several more weeks to recover than Williams. However, according to several doctors’ estimates, both players are at risk of potentially missing this entire series.
As of now, the Slovenian superstar should be optimistic about a potential Game 3 or Game 4 return, and Williams will be evaluated every week, which means he is also at least ruled out until Game 3 or Game 4. While there is no official timeline for both stars’ return, both teams are hoping to have them back in time for this series.
Can The Lakers Beat The Thunder Without Luka Doncic?
Even though both teams are missing key scorers in their starting lineup, the absences are not to be mistaken for equal. The reigning MVP, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, is still running the offense for the Thunder, while the Lakers will heavily rely on a 41-year-old LeBron James to replicate his first-round heroics with Austin Reaves for the Lakers to realistically have a chance in this series.
Almost everyone on the Lakers acknowledged how tough it is to go up against the defending champions. JJ Redick equated them to the Bulls and the Warriors’ dynasty teams, while Reaves admitted how tough it was to stop Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.
Marcus Smart very candidly spoke about the Lakers’ chances against the Thunder, given how they performed in the regular season against them.
“Those two losses, we got our a– kicked and rightfully so, right?” said Smart on the Lakers’ blowout losses to the Thunder in April during the regular season.
“Only from there, we had to build. After those two losses, we had to figure some things out … As you can see, we started to kind of rise in the right direction. Definitely going to be a challenge,” said Smart while reflecting on the upcoming Thunder series.
So in my opinion, the Lakers will have an uphill battle against the defending champions without their superstar, but I would still not put it beyond the Lakers’ capabilities to at least win two or three games in this series if they figure out their matchups properly.
Without Luka Doncic, they realistically do not have a chance to win this series. But if they do, we are certainly going to have some intense discussions about its impact on LeBron James’ legacy in the NBA.
