The first quarter of the Los Angeles Lakers’ contest against the Cleveland Cavaliers brought a real injury scare for superstar guard Luka Doncic. While drifting back after launching a 3-pointer, Doncic would fall to the ground as he stepped into the gap between the court and the arena floor.
The Rocket Arena in Cleveland has the only raised court in the NBA with the floor itself being a few inches lower than the court. Luka clearly wasn’t aware of this and nearly severely injured his ankle because of it, but after a trip to the locker room, he would return to the court and finish the game.
That doesn’t change the fact that it was a concerning moment and after the game, Doncic admitted that he was scared when he initially went down and thinks he was lucky to avoid serious injury, via Dan Woike of The Athletic:
“I kind of got scared,” Doncic said after the Lakers’ 129-99 loss to Cleveland. “It wasn’t a great feeling, and, looking back at the video, I think I got a little bit lucky.”
Luka was still able to put forth a strong outing against the Cavs with 29 points, five rebounds and six assists, but it wasn’t nearly enough to help lift the Lakers to victory.
Lakers coach JJ Redick doubled down after the game as well, calling the court a safety hazard and speaking about possibly lodging a complaint to change the court, though he was dubious about whether the complaint would actually lead to any action:
“It is absolutely a safety hazard,” Lakers coach JJ Redick said after the game. “And I don’t know why it’s still like that. I don’t. You know, you can lodge formal complaints. A lot of times you don’t see any change when you lodge a formal complaint.”
As Redick said, the raised court is a safety hazard to the players and could potentially lead to serious injury in situations like this. Doncic was very fortunate to escape without serious harm, but it is something that should be addressed, especially as it is the only court like this in the league so players aren’t used to it.
Perhaps this high-profile incident will lead to some sort of change and it would be wise for the NBA to do something about it before a player suffers a serious injury that could be prevented.
Big men across the NBA want to play with Lakers’ Luka Doncic
Despite the injury scare, Doncic was still able to have another great individual game and show he is one of the best players in the NBA today. And his game is apparently a draw to other big men around the league who reportedly would love to join the Lakers and play alongside the superstar guard.
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