Luka Doncic will be back for the beginning of the Lakers’ playoff run. Just not on the court.
The Lakers superstar will rejoin the team by Friday after traveling to Spain to receive specialized treatment on his Grade 2 hamstring strain, a source familiar with the situation confirmed to The Times, but there is no timetable for Doncic’s return to the lineup.
Doncic suffered the injury in a game against Oklahoma City on April 2. A Grade 2 strain typically requires four to six weeks of recovery, but Doncic traveled to Europe to receive injections on his left hamstring with the hope of speeding up the recovery process.
The Lakers (53-29) face the Houston Rockets in Game 1 of the first round on Saturday at 5:30 p.m. at Crypto.com Arena. The fourth-seeded Lakers are looking for their first playoff series win since 2023.
Read more: Inside Luka Doncic’s high-stakes medical treatment and recovery plan
They are underdogs without Doncic and guard Austin Reaves, who suffered a Grade 2 left oblique strain in the same game. Doncic led the league in scoring with 33.5 points per game. Reaves, the team’s second-leading scorer at 23.3 points per game, is expected to miss four to six weeks with his injury.
The Lakers finished the season with three consecutive wins to hold onto home-court advantage in the first round. LeBron James reasserted himself as the team’s top player, averaging 25.5 points, 11 assists, 6.8 rebounds and 2.5 steals in the games since Doncic and Reaves were injured. He was named Western Conference player of the week Monday after leading the Lakers to a 3-1 record in the final week of the regular season.
The Lakers went 2-1 against the Rockets (52-30) during the regular season, but Doncic played a major role in the two wins. He scored 76 points in the victories, which came in a two-game series in Houston that resembled a playoff atmosphere in March.
The Rockets finished the season with nine wins in their last 10 games.
Staff writer Broderick Turner contributed to this report.
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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
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