DALLAS — Luka Doncic is headed to Europe with the hope of expediting his recovery from a Grade 2 left hamstring strain that will keep him out for the rest of the regular season, it was first reported after the Lakers lost to the Dallas Mavericks, 134-128, on Sunday night.
Doncic’s agency first told ESPN of the news of the Slovenian star’s attempt to recover quicker, potentially joining the Lakers for games in the playoffs sooner than anticipated. The Athletic reported later Sunday that Doncic was already on his way overseas.
While the Lakers have not placed a public timeline on either of Doncic or Austin Reaves’ injuries beyond saying both are out for the rest of the regular season (four more games), both injuries are designated as Grade 2 strains (Reaves suffered a left oblique strain), typically requiring multi-week recoveries that, in all likelihood, will keep both players out for the first round of the NBA playoffs, which begin the weekend of April 18-19.
The Lakers (50-28) lost their first game without Doncic and Reaves against the Mavericks on Sunday night, a game in which they never stabilized themselves defensively. Before Sunday’s game, Lakers coach JJ Redick shared that Reaves and Doncic are doing everything in their ability to return as quickly as possible.
“I just know that (Doncic is) gonna do everything he can to try to be back,” Redick said. “I talked to him Friday, I talked to him again yesterday, I talked to him again this morning. He’s going to go through all the necessary things to be back at some point, and it’s our job again to extend the season so both those guys can get back.”
That now includes Doncic traversing to Europe in hopes of rejoining the Lakers sooner in their hunt for a championship, or at the very least, to help them threaten the likes of the Oklahoma City Thunder and San Antonio Spurs in a potential second-round series. Reaves was with the team in Dallas on Sunday, often advocating for his teammates from the bench during the game.
Earlier Sunday, Redick defended his decision to keep Reaves and Doncic in the game for the second half of Thursday’s blowout loss to the Thunder. He shared that the medical staff cleared both players before Doncic left with his left hamstring strain in the third quarter. Reaves had exited and returned to the game during the first half.
“(Doncic) was medically cleared,” Redick said. “When Austin came back, I asked directly, I thought he was hurt. (I was told), ‘No, he’s medically cleared.’ You know, the group wanted to go for it in the second half. … There was nothing leading into that game that would suggest either those guys were ‘running hot’ as we call it.”
