LOS ANGELES – In all reality, the Los Angeles Lakers will be without Luka Doncic for their opening round playoff series, but that won’t stop him from attempting to return earlier than expected from his hamstring injury. Doncic is currently in Europe seeking additional medical treatment in hopes of speeding up his return to the lineup.

While Lakers head coach JJ Redick would not reveal how long Luka Doncic plans to be in Europe, prior to the team’s game agains the Oklahoma City Thunder on Thursday, he did speak about the toll the injury has taken on Doncic while trying to maintain a positive outlook.

“I think he’s in good spirits. I think he’s, in my conversations with him, he’s motivated to do everything possible. I know for him, it’s hard for him not to be on a basketball court. That’s his happy place,” Redick said. “And he’s one of the handful of guys that really plays year round. It’s not just international competition, but he likes to be in the gym. He likes to be working on his craft and I think it’s hard for him. He wants to get back on the court.”

Doncic initially suffered the injury during the first half of the Lakers’ loss to the Thunder last Thursday. He exited the game and did not return. While he was originally ruled out for the remainder of the Lakers’ regular season schedule, the severity of the injury hinted at a potentially longer absence. The team has three more games remaining following the Tuesday’s Thunder matchup.

Before the injury, Doncic had vaulted himself back in the MVP conversation amid the Lakers’ surge up the Western Conference standings to the No. 3 seed. He had been averaging a league-leading 33.5 points, 7.7 rebounds, 8.3 assists and 1.6 steals with splits of 47.6 percent shooting from the field, 36.6 percent shooting from the 3-point line and 78 percent shooting from the free-throw line.

Doncic was also leading the league in field goals made (10.8), field goals attempted (22.8), 3-point shots made (4.0), 3-point shots attempted (10.8) and free-throws attempted (10.1).

With Doncic out, as well as Austin Reaves and Marcus Smart, the Lakers are trying to hold on to their spot in the West standings. They’ve already fallen out of the No. 3 seed to No. 4 amid the Denver Nuggets recent surge. And they are only one game up on the No. 5 Houston Rockets.

But when it comes to potential seeding, Redick believes that no longer is a factor.

“You obviously have to tackle the situation in front of you and we have a unique situation in front of us. We’ve got to prepare our team, our group that we’re going to have available to play in a playoff series,” Redick said. “That’s how we approach the next four games, how we approach next week leading into Game 1. It’s finding who’s going to be able to play in the playoffs for us. That all goes into it, the seeding part probably went out the window after the OKC game.”

LOS ANGELES – In all reality, the Los Angeles Lakers will be without Luka Doncic for their opening round playoff series, but that won’t stop him from attempting to return earlier than expected from his hamstring injury. Doncic is currently in Europe seeking additional medical treatment in hopes of speeding up his return to the lineup.