The Los Angeles Lakers are holding out hope that Luka Doncic can join them at some point on the court during the playoffs.
The Lakers are off to a solid start in the postseason as they currently own a 1-0 series lead against the Houston Rockets. Like Los Angeles, Houston was without its main star in Kevin Durant but the series can still swing in either direction given that Doncic and Austin Reaves are considered out indefinitely.
However, Doncic finally returned from receiving treatment in Europe and rejoined the team for Game 1 and their recent practice. Rui Hachimura acknowledged it was good to see Doncic back with the group joking around like usual.
“It’s amazing. I think people don’t know how much impact Luka has not only on the court but off the court,” Hachimura said. “He’s a guy that’s always wants be around with us. We love him just being around, just hanging out, talking. So we’re happy he’s back finally. He was doing funny things as always, so we missed him for sure.”
Hachimura added that Doncic is normally seen playfully messing with the members of the organization.
“Just messing around with the coaches, the players. Just the normal thing you guys see on the camera, probably. It’s a normal thing for him.”
Doncic is known to love cracking jokes and talking trash with teammates, so it’s great to hear that he’s in such good spirits despite remaining sidelined. There’s still some hope that Doncic could return at some point this series, but for now Los Angeles needs to lean on the rest of the roster to hold down the fort.
Hachimura started in Game 1 against the Rockets and was a reliable scoring threat whenever the basketball swung his way. Houston boasts a a strong defense at all three levels of the floor, so having someone like Hachimura who can create his own shot is a massive boost for Los Angeles’ offense.
Game 2 should be another physical and gritty matchup between two Western Conference teams playing shorthanded. Having Doncic at some point would be great, but the Lakers have shown they can win games without him.
Luka Doncic not named NBA MVP finalist
Doncic had one of his best offensive seasons to date, winning the NBA scoring title for the 2025-26 season. While Doncic was electric offensively every night, it apparently wasn’t enough to make the top-three in MVP voting as he just missed out on being a finalist.
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