The Los Angeles Lakers released their injury report for Saturday’s game against the Golden State Warriors and Luka Doncic (left hamstring strain) has been ruled out while Luke Kennard (trade pending) is questionable.
Additionally, Adou Thiero (right MCL sprain) remains out while Jaxson Hayes will return to the lineup after his one-game suspension.
Doncic suffered the injury in the second quarter of Thursday night’s win over the Philadelphia 76ers and he was not able to return.
After the game, JJ Redick did not know the severity of the injury and revealed that Doncic would be getting testing done to determine it.
“Yeah, he, felt some soreness in his hamstring. He didn’t feel like it was good enough to go back in [and] neither did medical. So we held him out,” Redick said. “He’ll get some imaging. I mean [it’s] too early to say if there’s an injury, but [he] just had a sore hamstring.”
It still remains to be seen exactly how much time Doncic will miss, but it makes sense for the Lakers to be cautious and hold him out against the Warriors to avoid it becoming a more serious injury. The Lakers only have four more games until the All-Star break and then would get eight days off, which would give Luka plenty of time to rest and get healthy.
With Doncic out though, that obviously puts more pressure on LeBron James and Austin Reaves to run the team’s offense. Reaves just got back from his own injury but looked phenomenal leading L.A. to victory over the 76ers after Doncic went down.
Meanwhile, Kennard has a chance to make his Lakers debut, although he said it will depend on getting his physical wrapped up beforehand.
Austin Reaves: Lakers need Luka Doncic
It’s been a rough year for the Lakers due to injuries as LeBron James, Austin Reaves, Luka Doncic and others have all missed time. Reaves just got back this week to put the Lakers at full strength really for the first time, but now Doncic is dealing with this hamstring injury.
Even if he misses time, Reaves is hoping that Doncic will be back soon given his importance to the team.
“I talked to (Doncic) a little bit at halftime, asked if he was OK, and he kind of just looked at me,” Reaves said. “Hopefully it’s nothing major. We need him. He’s our best player and the engine of a lot of stuff that we do. Hopefully it’ll be good news tomorrow.”
The Lakers have a tough four-game stretch coming up against Western Conference teams before the All-Star break, and Doncic may not be on the court for some or all of those games.
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