LOS ANGELES — Lakers star Luka Doncic is set to return to Los Angeles on Friday after spending the last week in Spain, where he received multiple injections for his Grade 2 left hamstring strain, according to multiple reports.
NBA reporter Marc Stein and ESPN’s Shams Charania were first to report the news on Monday morning.
There is no current public timetable for Doncic’s hamstring injury recovery. Doncic, who suffered the injury on April 2 in Oklahoma City, quickly departed for Europe before the Lakers played the Dallas Mavericks on April 5. Once in Spain, according to ESPN, he received multiple injections to attempt to speed up the month-long recovery process typically associated with this kind of injury.
The fourth-seeded Lakers open their best-of-seven first-round series against the fifth-seeded Houston Rockets on Saturday at 5:30 p.m. at Crypto.com Arena. A full month since Doncic’s injury could match up with a potential Game 6 or Game 7 scenario should the Lakers be able to push the Rockets to the brink against Kevin Durant without their Slovenian star and guard Austin Reaves (Grade 2 left oblique muscle injury) available.
Doncic officially won the NBA scoring title on Monday, leading the league in points per game (33.5) and total points (2,143) for the regular season. However, Doncic is currently ineligible for league MVP honors having only played 64 of the necessary 65 games for awards eligibility.
Doncic’s agent, Bill Duffy, has previously shared that they’re filing a special circumstances exception on behalf of Doncic – arguing that the two games he missed in December, traveling to Slovenia for the birth of his second daughter – should not count toward his games missed tally.
Doncic also missed one game on March 30 against the Washington Wizards after picking up his 16th technical foul, which forced a one-game suspension.
WEEKLY HONOR FOR JAMES
LeBron James capped his 23rd NBA regular season with Western Conference Player of the Week honors for his performances while transitioning back into a leading role with Doncic and Reaves on the sidelines.
James averaged 24 points, 9.7 assists and 6 rebounds per game while leading the Lakers to a 3-1 record over the last four games of the regular season. The weekly honor was the 70th of his career, extending his own NBA record.