The Los Angeles Lakers announced that Luka Doncic was ruled out of Thursday night’s game against the Oklahoma City Thunder due to a left hamstring injury
Doncic was hobbling for most of the night but seemed to tweak his hamstring early in the third quarter, immediately going down in pain. Once he got up, he was able to walk back to the locker room under his own power before eventually being ruled out for the night. He previously missed four games this season due to a left hamstring injury.
The 27-year-old played 26 minutes before leaving the game, struggling for the first time in a while to the tune of 12 points, four rebounds and seven assists while shooting 3-for-10 from the field with six turnovers. The Thunder defense was hounding Doncic and the Lakers all night, creating turnovers and getting out in transition.
As a result, Oklahoma City built a huge lead in the first half and never looked back, especially once Doncic was ruled out for the game.
The Lakers will now have two days off before facing Doncic’s former team the Dallas Mavericks. Considering the playoffs are just around the corner, the Lakers will be cautious with Doncic and won’t rush him back to put him at risk of reaggravating the injury.
If Doncic is forced to miss time, then that would obviously put some pressure on LeBron James and Austin Reaves as the primary ball-handlers to keep the team afloat. After the Thunder game, the Lakers have just five regular season games remaining and then will get nearly a week off before the postseason gets underway.
Luka Doncic named Western Conference Player of the Month
The hope is that Doncic’s injury is not serious as he was in the midst of one of the best stretches of his entire career before going down, being named Western Conference Player of the Month for March.
Doncic led the Lakers to a 15-2 record in the month while averaging a ridiculous 37.5 points, 8.0 rebounds, 7.4 assists and 2.3 steals while shooting 49.2% from the field and 39.2% from 3-point range. He had reached the 30-point mark in 13 consecutive games and scored at least 40 in the Lakers’ last three contests before their blowout against the Thunder.
The Lakers star also made history with his performance last month, breaking Kobe Bryant’s franchise record for the most points in the month of March while also joining Michael Jordan as the only players in NBA history with 600 points in March.
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