Luka Doncic Suffers Injury at Worst Possible Time
Luka Doncic was enjoying an MVP-caliber season, posting incredible numbers as the Los Angeles Lakers surged. That's all over now. With just five games left, Doncic is not likely to play again this season before the postseason, and depending on the severity of his new hamstring injury, he might miss some playoff time.
The Lakers clinched an outright playoff berth already, so they will have an extra week to rest Doncic while the NBA's Play-In Tournament takes place. Still, hamstring issues can require multiple weeks, so the Lakers' title hopes may have taken a hit.
Luka Doncic goes down with crippling injury in blowout
The Los Angeles Lakers got blown out by the Oklahoma City Thunder on Thursday night. They lost by 44, which is substantial and illustrates the gap between the third-seeded Lakers and first-seeded Thunder.
But the most important loss wasn't on the scoreboard. Luka Doncic went down with a strained hamstring in the third quarter of the loss, which could impact the Lakers' playoff chances as the regular season winds down.
"At this point, at this juncture of the season, it's the last thing you want to see," LeBron James said. "When you have an MVP candidate on your team, the last thing you want to see is somebody go down with a hamstring injury. ... So, pray for the best, for sure, and a speedy recovery."
The Lakers were -25 in Doncic's 26 minutes, so his exit didn't hurt them this game, but it could in subsequent outings. Los Angeles holds a one-game lead over the Denver Nuggets for the three seed, and the Houston Rockets are 1.5 games back of the Lakers for the four seed.
Lakers couldn't compete
Losing Luka Doncic is bad, but this game was ugly for a long time. Perhaps it's even more frustrating that the injury, which could derail their title hopes, came in a game that was a major blowout. The game ended up not mattering, and Doncic is now down for the count.
"They beat the s--- out of us," said Austin Reaves. "They're the defending champs, [but] we've got to, you know, be better." Reaves had four of the Lakers' 18 turnovers in the first quarter as the Thunder built a 423-point lead that they never looked back from. The Lakers had 18 turnovers and 21 points in that quarter, which is an impressively dreadful ratio.
The Lakers stumbled out of the gate, fell behind, lost Doncic, and got blown out. It's a candidate for one of the single worst games any team has had this year, and it is coming at the worst possible time with the playoffs looming.
Health is key
It's never good for a star player to go down, but it's usually a little easier to stomach earlier in the year. Look at the Denver Nuggets, who withstood Nikola Jokic's absence. Losing him for the last month of the season instead of one in the middle makes a big difference.
"There's never a time to get comfortable in this league," LeBron James said. "The only thing we do know is that we won't be in the play-in, so we have that week. But health is wealth." Right now, the Lakers don't have that on their side.
This kind of loss has the potential to totally derail a team, especially when it also includes losing the best player. But James believes this is still a "tight-knit" group, as he referred to them before the Thunder came in and droppd 139 on them.
"Nothing has changed," James said. "We still will be [together]. Obviously we'll be tested with the head of the snake [missing]. ... But nothing is rattled. It's one game, it's part of the NBA season, it's the defending champions. We get it. We understand."
