Dave McMenamin
Multiple Authors
DALLAS — Los Angeles Lakers star Luka Doncic will likely be sidelined at least by the top of the regular season with a Grade 2 left hamstring pressure, the staff introduced Friday.
Doncic underwent an MRI in Dallas on Friday afternoon that exposed the extent of the pressure, which he suffered within the third quarter of the Lakers’ 139-96 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder on Thursday.
A Grade 2 pressure sometimes entails a monthlong restoration, however the Lakers didn’t present a timetable for Doncic’s return past lacking the ultimate 5 regular-season video games. The first spherical of the NBA playoffs begins April 18.
While the harm will stop Doncic from reaching the 65-game threshold wanted to be eligible for end-of-season awards, his agent, Bill Duffy of WME Basketball, instructed ESPN’s Shams Charania that he’ll apply for an “Extraordinary Circumstances Challenge” on behalf of his consumer.
“This season, Luka Doncic has performed at a historic level, leading the league in scoring, carrying the Lakers to third place in the Western Conference and placing himself in the middle of one of the most tightly contested MVP races in memory,” Duffy stated in a press release to ESPN. “To ensure that Luka’s incredible accomplishments this season are rightly honored and he can be considered for the league’s end-of-season awards, we intend to apply for an ‘Extraordinary Circumstances Challenge’ to the 65-game rule.
“Luka missed two video games this season for the start of his second youngster in Slovenia. His daughter was born on Dec. 4, on one other continent, and but he was again within the United States competing along with his staff on Dec. 6. Luka has gone to nice lengths to present up for his staff and this league this season. His record-breaking season deserves to be famous within the historical past books, regardless of final night time’s unlucky harm and different extraordinary circumstances. We look ahead to working with the NBAPA and the league workplace to guarantee a good consequence on this matter.”
In ESPN’s third and closing NBA MVP straw poll of 2025-26, which polled 100 NBA media members, Doncic positioned a distant fourth behind runaway favourite Shai Gilgeous-Alexander of the Thunder, the San Antonio Spurs‘ Victor Wembanyama and the Denver Nuggets‘ Nikola Jokic.
Doncic’s first full regular season with the Lakers will end with the eight-year veteran leading the league with 33.5 points per game, along with 8.3 assists (third in the NBA), 7.7 rebounds (second among guards) and 1.6 steals (sixth in the league) in 64 appearances.
The Lakers (50-27), currently No. 3 in the Western Conference, have clinched a playoff spot and have a road game against the Dallas Mavericks, dwelling sport in opposition to the Thunder, highway sport in opposition to the Golden State Warriors and residential video games in opposition to the Phoenix Suns and Utah Jazz remaining on their schedule.
Los Angeles is one sport forward of No. 4 Denver, two video games forward of the No. 5 Houston Rockets and 4 video games forward of the No. 6 Minnesota Timberwolves. The Lakers personal the tiebreaker in opposition to these three groups by successful the season collection in opposition to every.
