Los Angeles Lakers superstar Luka Dončić wants to return this season, which is why he’s in Spain receiving an injection in his injured left hamstring to promote healing and expedite his return to the court, per ESPN.
Dončić suffered a Grade 2 left hamstring strain against the Oklahoma City Thunder on April 2. The Lakers said the MVP candiate is out indefinitely, but Dončić’s agent, Bill Duffy of WME Basketball, said his client is motivated to return to the Lakers’ lineup for the 2026 playoffs, which begin on April 18.
Los Angeles has four games left in the regular season against the Thunder, Golden State Warriors, Phoenix Suns and Utah Jazz. Dončić and Austin Reaves, who is out because of a Grade 2 left oblique muscle injury, both want to return for the playoffs, per Lakers head coach JJ Redick.
“Both those guys are going to try to come back and it’s our job to extend the season so that they can come back,” Redick said before the Lakers lost to the Dallas Mavericks on April 5.
In his first full season with the Lakers, Dončić is putting up spectacular numbers. He’s averaging 33.5 points, 7.7 rebounds and 8.3 assists per game while shooting 47.6% from the field, 36.6% from beyond the arc and 78.0% from the free-throw line. The future Hall of Famer leads the league in points and points per game.
LeBron James, the oldest active player in the NBA at 41 years old, had a blunt reaction to the Dončić and Reaves injury news.
“I took my nap after practice, and I woke up with that news, it was like another shot to the [head],” James said. “It was a shot to the heart, obviously, and to the chest and to the mainframe with Luka. … But we kind of got that news kind of quick, and AR … we knew he was going to get an MRI, but I woke up from my nap yesterday and then saw that news, and I was like, ‘S—.’ That was literally my tone.”
It will be fascinating to see if Dončić and Reaves play again this season. As of this writing, the Lakers are in third place in the Western Conference standings. They would face the Minnesota Timberwolves in the first round of the playoffs again.
Minnesota beat Los Angeles in the first round of last year’s playoffs in five quick games.
