ESPN announced that they’ll be airing the Los Angeles Lakers’ home game on Saturday against the Indiana Pacers to accommodate Luka Doncic’s expected debut.
ESPN was initially scheduled to air the Utah Jazz versus the Phoenix Suns on Friday.
Doncic has been sidelined over a month now with a calf injury and vice president of basketball operations and general manageer Rob Pelinka said at his introductory press conference that he is considered day-to-day.
Doncic participated in the team’s practice on Wednesday though head coach JJ Redick didn’t want to commit to the superstar playing on Saturday.
“Yeah, I mean, we’re kind of just assessing it day-by-day,” Redick said. “We hope to have him back within the next few games. He was a participant. We just had non-contact practice today. But we got some good work in for about 45 minutes. And he’ll have a stay-ready game at some point. And over the next two days, Thursday, Friday, he’ll have some more opportunities to play live basketball. And then we’ll make a decision on Saturday. If it’s not Saturday, hopefully it’s Monday. But again, those decisions by Saturday will be made on Saturday.”
The obvious hope is that Doncic can return against Indiana to give himself a little more time to get acclimated to his new team, but if it has to wait until Monday against the Jazz that’s of little consequence. The most important thing is that Doncic is fully healthy as he has a history of nagging lower-leg injuries.
While ESPN is flexing their schedule, it does not mean things are set in stone as the Lakers have every reason to be cautious. Even if Doncic is unable to suit up, Pacers-Lakers is a far better matchup on paper than Jazz-Suns given the state of those two teams.
Los Angeles is likely still coming to accept the new reality that Doncic is with the franchise now, giving them a bridge to their next era after LeBron James retires. Doncic and James have the potential to be one of the best duos of all time and it’ll be interesting to see if their partnership officially kicks off this weekend.
LeBron James believes playing with Luka Doncic will be special
LeBron James was close with Anthony Davis, though he has to be ecstatic about the prospect of playing alongside someone like Luka Doncic. When asked what their partnership could look like, James said he thinks it’ll be special.
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