OKLAHOMA CITY — The last time the Lakers were in Oklahoma City, Luka Doncic’s regular season ended because of a Grade 2 left hamstring strain he suffered in the April 2 loss to the Thunder.
Nearly a month later, Doncic reaffirmed his desire to return during the playoffs.
When speaking with media on Wednesday morning, Lakers star Luka Doncic confirmed that he will be returning for the NBA playoffs. Getty Images Doncic told reporters the update during a media availability in between Tuesday’s Game 1 loss to the Thunder and Thursday’s Game 2 of the best-of-seven second round playoff series.
Originally, the injury had an expected recovery timeline of 4-6 weeks but Doncic said he was told 8 weeks. He had already passed the one-month mark since suffering a Grade 2 hamstring strain on April 2 against the Thunder.
He has begun running on the injured hamstring, taking the next step in his return-to-play protocol.
Right after the injury happened, Doncic traveled to Spain for advanced treatment aimed at accelerating recovery, where he received four PRP injections.
“Obviously, we always want to have Luka out there,” Austin Reaves said Sunday. “He’s one of the best players in the league, if not the best player. It’s definitely a different task. Everyone has to play differently to create and fill the void of the things he does for us.”
Doncic had an incredible season before suffering the hamstring strain on April 2. He became the second person in NBA history to score 600-plus points in March, alongside Michael Jordan. Over that period, he led the Lakers on a 16-2 run.
Yet he wasn’t even an MVP finalist this season despite leading the league in scoring (33.5 points), finishing third in assists (8.3) and sixth in steals (1.6).
It’s a tough break for Doncic, who came into training camp in arguably the best shape of his career. Motivated by the shocking trade that sent him to Hollywood from Dallas, he carried the Lakers to fourth place in the West after playing in 64 games and averaging 35.8 minutes per game.
Without Doncic, the Lakers shocked the Rockets in six games to advance to the Western Conference semifinals agianst the defending champions. Despite limiting reigning MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander to just 18 points and getting an incredible game from LeBron James, the Lakers suffered a 108-90 loss in Game 1.
“When you play against the world champions and [miss] having a guy that averages 34 [points] and eight [rebounds] and nine [assists] and is that special, that’s [tough],” James said regaridng the Lakers missing Doncic.
With Doncic on his way back, the Lakers could return to full strength with James and Austin Reaves and have a legitimate chance at pulling off one of the biggest postseason updates of the decade.
