After the Los Angeles Lakers’ Luka Doncic was forced to leave their April 2 game in Oklahoma City with a hamstring injury, head coach J.J. Redick told reporters that the NBA‘s leading scorer was headed for an MRI on April 3.
For LeBron James and the rest of the Lakers, the injury couldn’t come at a worse time.
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“At this point, at this juncture of the season, it’s the last thing you want to see, especially anybody on our team,” James said, via Benjamin Royer of the Southern California News Group.
Doncic played 26 minutes in the Lakers’ 139-96 loss to the Thunder. He didn’t return after grabbing his left hamstring, falling to the court, and leaving the game in the third quarter.
The Lakers (50-27) went 15-2 in February to break away from a pack of teams on the Western Conference playoff bubble. They would be the No. 3 seed in the conference if the regular season ended today. Only the Thunder (61-16) and San Antonio Spurs (58-18) have a better record in the West.
Doncic had been the central figure in the Lakers’ rise. In addition to his league-leading 33.8 points per game, the six-time All-Star began the day with a league-leading 4.0 3-pointers per game.
Redick said he wasn’t planning on using Doncic much after the veteran appeared to tweak his hamstring late in the first half.
A winnable game against the top team in the conference isn’t usually an opportune time to engage in “load management.” For Doncic, the rest couldn’t come soon enough.
Doncic did not play in the Lakers’ March 30 game against the Washington Wizards. When he was on the court in March, he was brilliant, averaging 37.5 points, 8.0 rebounds, and 7.4 assists in 16 games.
The sustained effort, combined with Los Angeles’ rise in the standings, thrust Doncic into the center of the MVP conversation.
Doncic has played 64 games, and needs to suit up once more to be eligible for any awards. Soon, the MRI machine will tell the Lakers whether that’s advisable.
