![\"Lakers,](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1775475880_986_GettyImages-2268204301-e1774789760373.jpg\")
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Lakers guard Luka Doncic, #77, winks and points to a player after a play in the second half against the Brooklyn Nets at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles Friday, March 27, 2026. <\/p>\n
Hall of Famers Carmelo Anthony<\/a> and Tracy McGrady have endorsed the idea of the NBA granting Luka Doncic<\/a> an \u201cExtraordinary Circumstances Challenge\u201d in light of the Los Angeles Lakers<\/a> star suffering an injury.<\/p>\n Since Doncic sustained his grade 2 hamstring strain in his 64th game of the season, he technically isn\u2019t eligible for end-of-season awards and All-NBA honors. However, the Slovenian plans to appeal to the league, citing the fact that he missed two games in early December to travel to Slovenia for the birth of his second child.<\/a><\/p>\n During Sunday\u2019s \u201cNBC on Prime\u201d telecast,<\/a> Anthony and McGrady \u2014 who collectively earned 13 All-NBA selections during their careers \u2014 expressed sympathy for Doncic and called on the league to grant him an injury exemption.<\/p>\n Luka Doncic All-NBA Chances<\/p>\n \u201cThe Extraordinary Circumstances Challenge is a thing, right? Where they get an arbitrator, and they come in and see if this warrants a change,\u201d McGrady said.<\/p>\n \u201cI think he\u2019s eligible for that. He should be able to get those two games back.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s the birth of his child. It\u2019s not an injury,\u201d McGrady continued. \u201cThis is not load management. This is the birth of his child, where you\u2019ve gotta fly to another country.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m sure the league is gonna do right by that.\u201d<\/p>\n Anthony agreed with his former fellow NBA scoring champion<\/a>, adding that Doncic should not be penalized for attending\u00a0to family matters.<\/p>\n \u201cThese are international players. This is why we want them over here,\u201d Anthony said.<\/p>\n \u201cIf they need to get back to go take care of family matters and they\u2019re missing games, they shouldn\u2019t be penalized for that.\u201d<\/p>\n Luka Doncic Seeks Treatment in Europe<\/p>\n Anthony added that the NBA needs to address \u201ca bigger question\u201d regarding the 65-game rule, as Anthony Edwards<\/a>, Cade Cunningham, Stephen Curry<\/a>, LeBron James<\/a>, and Giannis Antetokounmpo have also been disqualified from All-NBA honors this year.<\/p>\n Doncic is reportedly determined to accelerate his rehab and rejoin his Lakers teammates for the upcoming NBA playoffs. After being diagnosed with a grade 2 hamstring strain, it was initially believed that he\u2019d miss around three to six weeks. However, the Lakers star has opted for an alternative treatment in Europe, with some sports doctors speculating that Doncic would probably undergo cell-based therapy.<\/p>\n \u201cAfter consultation with Lakers doctors and his own medical team, Luka Doncic will seek specialized medical treatment in Europe on his Grade 2 left hamstring in an attempt to expedite his return to play,\u201d ESPN\u2019s Shams Charania<\/a> reported on Sunday.<\/p>\n Stem cell specialist Jesse Morse, MD, believes Doncic\u2019s treatment could be similar to the treatment<\/a> the late Kobe Bryant received after his Achilles injury in 2013.<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s likely getting a combination of MSC\u2019s, placental tissue, exosomes, as well as other treatments not legal here in the United States,\u201d Morse wrote on X.<\/p>\n \u201cRemind me of what Kobe did many years ago. They will be injected under ultrasound guidance directly into each area of weakness in his hamstring.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tSai Mohan<\/a> covers the NBA for Heavy.com. Based in Portugal, Sai is a seasoned sports writer with nearly two decades of publishing experience, including bylines at Yardbarker, FanSided’s Hoops Habit, International Business Times, Hindustan Times and more. More about Sai Mohan<\/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, #77, winks and points to a player after a play in the second…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":699969,"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-701258","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\/116357593723126583","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/701258","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=701258"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/701258\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/699969"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=701258"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=701258"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=701258"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}