DALLAS — Luka Doncic is set for Europe in the hopes to expedite his recovery from a Grade 2 left hamstring strain that will keep him out for the rest of the regular season after the Lakers fell 134-128 to the Dallas Mavericks 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 to Europe.
While the Lakers have not placed a public timeline on either of Doncic or Austin Reaves‘ regular-season-ending injuries, both of which are Grade 2 strains (Reaves suffered a left oblique strain), are multi-week recoveries that, in all likelihood, will keep the two Lakers stars out for the first round of the NBA playoffs.
The Lakers (50-28) lost their first game without Doncic and Reaves against the Mavericks on Sunday night, falling by six points in a game where, defensively, they never stabilized themselves. 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 returning to sooner join the Lakers’ hunt for a championship, or at the very least, threaten the likes of the Oklahoma City Thunder and San Antonio Spurs. Reaves was with the team in Dallas on Sunday, often advocating for his teammates from the bench against the Mavericks.
Earlier Sunday, Redick defended his decision to keep Reaves and Doncic in the game for the second half of Thursday’s blowout defeat to the Oklahoma City 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.”