04/03/26 06:06:00
Printable Page
04/03 18:05 CDT NBA scoring leader Luka Doncic to miss rest of Lakers' regular
season with hamstring strain
NBA scoring leader Luka Doncic to miss rest of Lakers' regular season with
hamstring strain
By GREG BEACHAM
AP Sports Writer
LOS ANGELES (AP) --- Luka Doncic will miss the rest of the Los Angeles Lakers'
regular season with a Grade 2 strain of his left hamstring, the team announced
Friday.
Doncic is the NBA's top scorer and the driving force behind the Lakers' surge
into the third spot in the Western Conference standings, but he injured his leg
during Los Angeles' blowout loss in Oklahoma City on Thursday. An MRI exam
revealed the severity of the strain.
The Pacific Division champion Lakers (50-27) have just five games left before
the postseason, starting Sunday at Dallas.
Grade 2 hamstring strains sometimes require several weeks of recovery, but
Doncic also has prior experience with hamstring issues. He missed four games
right before the All-Star break with another left hamstring strain, but
returned to the lineup after the break.
Doncic is putting up spectacular numbers in his first full season with the
Lakers, who acquired the Slovenian superstar from the Mavericks last season. He
is averaging 33.5 points, 8.3 assists and 7.7 rebounds per game for Los
Angeles, and he was named the NBA's Western Conference player of the month for
March after racking up 13 consecutive 30-point performances, including seven
40-point games, a 51-point barrage against Chicago and a 60-point masterclass
in Miami.
Doncic scored a whopping 600 points in March, becoming only the 10th player in
NBA history to hit that mark in one month. While LeBron James and Austin Reaves
have also played well down the stretch, the Lakers thoroughly depend on Doncic,
who either scored or assisted on 58% of the their total points in March.
Doncic is all but certain to win his second NBA scoring title --- but he has
played in only 64 games this season, which means he will finish one game shy of
the 65-game threshold to be eligible for the NBA's biggest postseason awards.
He was a lock to be an All-NBA selection, and he had even been making a late
run at consideration for the MVP award with his outstanding play down the
stretch.
Along with his two absences caused by hamstring injuries and a handful of
additional absences for minor medical maintenance early in the season, Doncic
missed two games last December while flying to Slovenia for the birth of his
second child. He also missed one game last week under suspension for
accumulating 16 technical fouls.
Since he sits just shy of the 65-game threshold, Doncic theoretically could
challenge the rule by citing the extraordinary circumstances of his daughter's
birth in Europe through the grievance process created for these collectively
bargained rules. It's wholly unclear whether that appeal would have any chance
of success.
If Doncic wins the scoring title but doesn't make the All-NBA teams, he would
be only the third scoring champ in league history to fail to do so. Elvin Hayes
wasn't selected when he won the crown as a rookie in 1969, and Bob McAdoo
wasn't chosen for the teams in 1976.
Lakers coach JJ Redick said Doncic was injured in the first half against the
Thunder, but was cleared to return to the game while his team was getting
plastered by the defending NBA champion Thunder. Doncic lasted only about four
minutes before he spun, stopped and went down on the court in pain, leading to
his departure.
The loss was only the Lakers' third in 19 games since Feb. 26, but Doncic's
absence casts a cloud of uncertainty over the rest of their year. Los Angeles
only leads fourth-place Denver (49-28) by one game, while sixth-place Minnesota
(46-30) is 3 1/2 games back with a game in hand.
The Lakers' regular-season finale is next Sunday, April 12, at home against
Utah. Their first-round playoff series is expected to start the following
weekend.
___
AP Basketball Writer Tim Reynolds contributed to this report.
___
AP NBA: https://apnews.com/NBA
|
