![\"Lakers](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/GettyImages-2269604306_b47ed0-e1775291769890.jpg\")
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tGetty\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
Lakers guard Luka Doncic during a game against the Oklahoma City Thunder in April 2026.<\/p>\n
Headlines continue to be dominated by Los Angeles Lakers<\/a> superstar Luka Doncic<\/a> and his untimely hamstring injury<\/a>.<\/p>\n During Thursday night\u2019s blowout loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder<\/a>, one of the heaviest defeats in franchise history<\/a>, Doncic was forced to exit the game due to injury.<\/p>\n The Slovenian guard was seen grabbing his hamstring throughout the contest<\/a> before leaving in the third quarter with a left hamstring issue.<\/p>\n ESPN\u2019s Shams Charania<\/a> has since reported that Doncic has been ruled out \u201cindefinitely\u201d and is expected to miss the remainder of the Lakers\u2019 regular season.<\/p>\n Lakers Face Growing Concern Over Luka Doncic\u2019s Playoff Availability<\/p>\n While the news of Doncic missing the rest of the regular season is significant, it is not entirely unexpected.<\/p>\n The focus now shifts to whether the 27-year-old will be available for the postseason.<\/p>\n With just five games remaining, concluding<\/a> April 12 against the Utah Jazz<\/a>, time is limited for any potential recovery before the Lakers\u2019 playoff campaign begins.<\/p>\n Sports injury expert Dr. Jesse Morse<\/a> has offered further insight into the situation.<\/p>\n \u201cLuka Doncic confirmed hamstring strain, OUT INDEFINITELY with a grade 2 hamstring strain,\u201d Morse wrote on X. \u201cBest case scenario he returns in 3 weeks. More realistic is 4-6 weeks. Playoffs start in 2 weeks.\u201d<\/p>\n Morse added that Doncic is likely to miss at least the first-round of the playoffs, though a late return in the series with limited minutes remains a possibility.<\/p>\n Much will depend on how the Lakers perform in his absence. A comfortable series could allow for a cautious approach, but a tightly contested matchup may force a difficult decision regarding his return.<\/p>\n Currently, Los Angeles sits third in the Western Conference and would face the Minnesota Timberwolves<\/a> in the first-round if the standings hold<\/a>.<\/p>\n Injury Timeline Suggests Potential Second-Round Return<\/p>\n Morse also shared a visual breakdown of hamstring injury grades, confirming that Doncic is dealing with a grade two strain, described as a \u201cmore severe partial muscle tear.\u201d<\/p>\n While serious, it remains below a grade three strain, which is classified as a \u201ccomplete rupture of the muscle\u201d and would almost certainly end a season.<\/p>\n RotoWire\u2019s Jeff Stotts<\/a> reported that the average recovery time for a grade two hamstring strain is approximately 35 days.<\/p>\n He noted that this typically equates to around 14.7 games. With five regular season games remaining and a potential seven-game first-round series, the timeline suggests Doncic may not return until well into the second-round, based on Stotts\u2019 analysis.<\/p>\n Stotts also highlighted<\/a> that Doncic missed four games for the Lakers earlier this season due to the same left hamstring injury.<\/p>\n He previously sat out a game during the 2023-24 campaign with soreness in that area, raising further concerns about a recurring issue.<\/p>\n With Doncic sidelined, the responsibility now shifts to LeBron James<\/a> and Austin Reaves<\/a> to guide the Lakers through the remainder of the regular season and into the playoffs, as the team looks to maintain its position in the standings and stay competitive.<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tMatt Evans<\/a> is a sports journalist from the United Kingdom, based in Paris, with over a decade of experience covering the NBA and wider global sport. More about Matt Evans<\/a>\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tMore Heavy on Lakers\n\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\tLoading more stories\n\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Getty Lakers guard Luka Doncic during a game against the Oklahoma City Thunder in April 2026. Headlines continue…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":697486,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[3790],"tags":[7,4034,1698,300,4044,251,150,4033,4043,6],"class_list":{"0":"post-697485","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles-lakers","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-la","10":"tag-la-lakers","11":"tag-lakers","12":"tag-lalakers","13":"tag-los-angeles","14":"tag-los-angeles-lakers","15":"tag-losangeles","16":"tag-losangeleslakers","17":"tag-nba"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116345618704981916","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/697485","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=697485"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/697485\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/697486"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=697485"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=697485"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=697485"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}