OKLAHOMA CITY — It was all good just a week ago.
On the final Friday of March, the Los Angeles Lakers were preparing to play their first home game after a successful six-game road trip. All-Star point guard Luka Dončić, who dominated during the trip as the Lakers won five of those games, was listed as questionable against the visiting Brooklyn Nets due to left hamstring soreness. He played through the injury, scoring 41 points in 39 minutes against a tanking Nets team, picking up a suspension-inducing technical foul in the process.
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Dončić could have rested against the Nets and had four days off, or five if he didn’t play in the front end of the back-to-back at home against the Washington Wizards. Instead, he served his one-game suspension Monday against the Wizards, returning Tuesday against the Cleveland Cavaliers. Dončić had a slightly lighter night in a blowout win, but it probably should have been even shorter. Despite a 27-point lead against a Cavaliers team that played the previous night in another time zone, Dončić was needed for three more fourth-quarter minutes, hitting a 3-pointer to reach 40 points and finishing his fourth dunk of the season: Forty-two points in 34 minutes to cap a 600-point March for Dončić.
Hindsight is 20/20. But Dončić’s left hamstring injury Thursday, suffered in the third quarter of a 139-96 road loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder, wasn’t exactly a fluke. Dončić played through pain in the first quarter. The Lakers knew he was affected enough by the injury that he had to be evaluated at halftime, when Oklahoma City led by 31 points.
Thursday was a trifecta of bad events for the Lakers: Dončić played poorly (12 points, 3-of-10 shooting overall, 1-of-7 on 3s, six turnovers); he got injured; and his team was blown out for the first time since the Boston Celtics beat them in Los Angeles 111-89 on Feb. 22.
“I feel really bad for him,” said OKC’s Jalen Williams, who was guarding Dončić when he got injured and has his own history of hamstring ailments. “It’s very spooky in a way to see it happen to him, and I’m the one guarding him. So that was a weird play. I didn’t even want to take off — I think he lost the ball. I could have taken off with the ball, tried to let it go out of bounds and give them time to figure it out, just because that injury sucks. So I wish him a speedy recovery, hopefully it’s not anything serious.”
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The Lakers’ priority moving forward is their superstar’s playoff availability. Dončić, who would fall just short of the 65-game threshold for end-of-season awards if he didn’t play again in the regular season, is scheduled to have an MRI on Friday. The first round of the NBA playoffs begins in a little more than two weeks. How do the Lakers proceed while Dončić deals with what could be an extended absence?
L.A. enters Friday with a 50-27 record, third in the Western Conference but just 3 1/2 games ahead of the sixth-place Minnesota Timberwolves. The remaining five Lakers games this regular season are at Dallas after two days off, home against the Thunder again, a back-to-back that begins on the road in Golden State before hosting the Phoenix Suns and the finale at home against the Utah Jazz. Those games will provide the Lakers with time to figure out how to play again without Dončić.
On Monday, when Dončić was suspended, Austin Reaves started at point guard next to LeBron James at small forward, along with center Deandre Ayton and fill-in starters Jake LaRavia and Rui Hachimura; starter Marcus Smart remains day-to-day with an ankle contusion and hasn’t played since his game-winning assist to Luke Kennard on March 21 in Orlando.
Reaves appears to be dealing with a hip injury; he was listed as questionable for the Orlando game due to to left hip soreness, but he has played 24 consecutive games. James is 41 years old and has had to make a series of adjustments to work alongside Dončić and Reaves.
Once Smart returns, the Lakers have to make a decision about starting LaRavia or Hachimura alongside James, Reaves and Ayton. Los Angeles should have enough offense if Hachimura is reintroduced to the starting lineup; LaRavia would be the better defensive option, though he isn’t close to the shooting threat that Hachimura is. The Lakers have also been playing Bronny James in the rotation over Jarred Vanderbilt; Bronny offers ballhandling the Lakers have missed without Smart and will miss even more without Dončić, though having the 21-year-old play at the expense of Vanderbilt has been a curious decision given Vanderbilt’s value as a defender with size.
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As much as Dončić earned rave reviews for his improved conditioning, both before the season and throughout as he played at an All-NBA level, he has not escaped soft tissue injuries, most notably the left calf strain suffered in his final game with the Dallas Mavericks on Christmas 2024 that cost him nearly seven weeks. While he has avoided a similar injury to this point, Thursday was the third game of the season that Dončić left a game prematurely due to injury.
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In the 13 games that Dončić has missed this season, the Lakers are 7-6. Los Angeles is 4-2 in the games Dončić missed that James and Reaves both played (wins at Toronto and home against Warriors, Mavericks and Wizards; losses at Phoenix and against the Thunder). When the Lakers had Reaves play without James or Dončić, they were 2-2 (wins at Sacramento and Minnesota, losses against the Trail Blazers and at Boston). The Lakers lost in Portland in January when Dončić was out with groin soreness and James played without Dončić and Reaves. And the Lakers split the two games that they played without any of their big three (a win at Portland in November and a loss in February at home to the Spurs).
The Lakers got a rude awakening Thursday in Oklahoma City. It helps to have a month like March to cushion the blow, and Dončić was the driving force of that. But the Lakers need to prioritize getting Dončić healthy, consider giving Reaves and James a day to rest as well — either in Dallas or in Golden State — prepare for the Thunder again and use the final week of the season to fine-tune their play in preparation for the playoffs.