Lakers fans can breathe a sigh of relief as it’s looking like Luka Dončić will be okay after exiting LA’s recent contest against the Sixers with a hamstring injury.
After the win, Lakers head coach JJ Redick didn’t have an update on Luka, but he did say that Dončić would get an MRI to indicate the severity of the injury.
While the Lakers haven’t officially given a statement on their superstar guard, Dave McMenamin of ESPN is reporting that there’s optimism that the injury is not a major one.
Luka’s importance to the Lakers cannot be understated.
He is their best player and the NBA’s leading scorer, averaging 33.4 points per game. LA playing without him for an extended period of time would make winning that much harder.
Also, if he were to miss significant time, the Lakers would once again be playing shorthanded. Now that Austin Reaves is back, there was hope that the Lakers could have their entire rotation healthy for the first time since mid-December.
Hopefully, this update means Luka will miss no games, or at most just a few.
Luka has dealt with hamstring injuries before. As a Dallas Maverick he suffered a hamstring injury late in the 2022-23 season that forced him to miss some games.
Not only will Luka’s availability help the team, but avoiding significant time away from the Lakers will keep him eligible for the NBA’s end-of-season awards. Currently, Luka has missed seven games due to injury. He can only miss 10 more games to remain eligible.
Luckily, it seems the worst-case scenario has been avoided, and Luka will continue his MVP-caliber campaign with the Lakers with little to no interruption.
Los Angeles is currently on a homestand, and with All-Star weekend fast approaching, he’ll have opportunities to rest even if he misses some regular-season action.
This injury, however, does put Luka at risk of missing the All-Star game. He was named a starter, but with the game taking place on Feb. 15, it does make his availability is far from a foregone conclusion.
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