While Austin Reaves is nearing a return, the same can’t be said for Luka Dončić.
He has been out since Apr. 2 with a hamstring strain and despite a trip to Spain to speed up his recovery, he has yet to do significant on-court work.
The Lakers have figured out how to win games without Luka and are just one victory away from advancing to the second round. However, if they do eliminate the Rockets and play the Thunder next, don’t expect Luka to be ready to start that series.
According to Shams Charania
of ESPN, Dončić will be out at least for the beginning of the second round and there is no timetable for his return.
For the Lakers’ immediate future, this is not good. The Thunder are the best team in basketball and the Lakers got annihilated by them even when Luka was available. Luka is needed for the Lakers to have the best chance to win.
Hamstring injuries are notoriously difficult to recover from, so while it’s disappointing that Luka hasn’t made a faster recovery like Reaves, it’s not surprising. Clearly, Luka is doing everything to return, but hasn’t made enough improvement to have any kind of timetable for his comeback.
The Lakers’ mission will remain the same: keep on winning games and extend the season long enough for Luka to return.
That’s only going to get harder the deeper they go into the postseason, but that’s the task at hand.
The only good news from all this is that Luka hasn’t suffered any setbacks, and the hamstring strain is a short-term injury, not a long-term one. The timing couldn’t be worse, but this isn’t the kind of injury that will signifcantly impact Luka’s future in anyway.
For the present, though, it means Lakers fans shouldn’t expect a Luka return any time soon.
You can follow Edwin on Twitter at @ECreates88 or on Bluesky at @ecreates88.bsky.social.
