{"id":1921264,"date":"2026-05-06T17:45:38","date_gmt":"2026-05-06T14:45:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1921264"},"modified":"2026-05-06T17:45:38","modified_gmt":"2026-05-06T14:45:38","slug":"luka-doncic-unlikely-to-return-during-lakers-second-round-series-against-thunder","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1921264","title":{"rendered":"Luka Don\u010di\u0107 unlikely to return during Lakers\u2019 second-round series against Thunder"},"content":{"rendered":"
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OKLAHOMA CITY \u2014 Luka Don\u010di\u0107 is unlikely to play in the Los Angeles Lakers\u2019 second-round series against the top-seeded Oklahoma City Thunder. The star guard said\u00a0Wednesday that the Grade 2 hamstring injury he suffered in early April initially came with an eight-week recovery timetable.<\/p>\n

Even if the Lakers\u00a0were to force a Game 7, it would still come less than seven weeks after the injury.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThe moment the day I did the MRI on the hamstring, the doctor told me eight weeks at the beginning,\u201d Don\u010di\u0107 said. \u201cI\u2019m doing everything I can in the process, and I think we\u2019re on a good way. But at the beginning, he told me eight weeks.\u201d<\/p>\n

The update is the clearest timeline Don\u010di\u0107 has publicly shared since suffering the injury. He did say he\u2019s progressed to on-court running work but has not yet been cleared for contact.<\/p>\n

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After the injury, Don\u010di\u0107 traveled to Spain to undergo four different PRP (platelet-rich plasma) treatments in an attempt to return sooner. Don\u010di\u0107 said there had to be four days between injections.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverybody knows that Spain \u2014 they\u2019re just one of the best countries to do that,\u201d said Don\u010di\u0107, who began his professional career with the Spanish club Real Madrid. \u201cAnd obviously, I talked with the Lakers\u2019 doctors, so everybody agreed for me to go there. Obviously, I know and trust lots of people from Spain that I used to work before.\u201d<\/p>\n

Don\u010di\u0107 said he\u2019s not targeting a specific game for his return.<\/p>\n

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What You Should Read Next<\/div>\n
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\n A blowout loss was bad. What happened to Luka Don\u010di\u0107 and the Lakers was worse\n <\/div>\n
\n The Lakers didn’t just lose big in Oklahoma City \u2014 they may have lost something more.\n <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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\u201cI\u2019m just in the process,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m working every day. I feel better every day. Like I said, in the beginning, they say eight weeks. So, we just go from there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Don\u010di\u0107, speaking to the media for the first time since the injury, said the Lakers\u2019 15-2 March record before his absence convinced him that the Lakers had a championship-caliber roster.<\/p>\n

\u201c(I) still think that,\u201d Don\u010di\u0107 said. \u201cBut, we had an amazing month of March. The injury came in the worst moment probably for me. But I think other guys just stepped up really good. But it was very frustrating for me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Don\u010di\u0107 averaged 33.5 points, 7.7 rebounds and 8.3 assists in 64 games this season. Despite falling one game short of the 65-game eligibility threshold for end-of-season awards, he was ruled eligible because he missed two games in December to attend the birth of his second child in Slovenia.<\/p>\n

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It appears the Lakers will need to extend their season beyond the Western Conference semifinals to get Don\u010di\u0107 back on the court.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s very frustrating,\u201d he said. \u201cI think people \u2026 I don\u2019t think people understand how frustrating it is. All I wanna do is play basketball, especially this time. It\u2019s the best time to play basketball. It\u2019s very frustrating, seeing what my team is doing. I\u2019m very proud of them. It\u2019s been very tough, to just, to sit and watch them play.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

OKLAHOMA CITY \u2014 Luka Don\u010di\u0107 is unlikely to play in the Los Angeles Lakers\u2019 second-round series against the top-seeded Oklahoma City Thunder. The star guard said\u00a0Wednesday that the Grade 2 hamstring injury he suffered in early April initially came with an eight-week recovery timetable. Even if the Lakers\u00a0were to force a Game 7, it would […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[226,241],"class_list":["post-1921264","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-crawlmanager","tag-nytimes-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1921264","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1921264"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1921264\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1921264"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1921264"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1921264"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}