Doncic space to miss no lower than remainder of frequent season

DALLAS — Los Angeles Lakers necessary particular person Luka Doncic will seemingly be sidelined no lower than throughout the end of the unparalleled season with a Grade 2 left hamstring stress, the workforce presented Friday.

Doncic underwent an MRI in Dallas on Friday afternoon that printed the extent of the stress, which he suffered in the third quarter of the Lakers’ 139-96 loss to the Oklahoma Metropolis Bellow on Thursday.

A Grade 2 stress now and again involves a monthlong restoration, however the Lakers did not present a timetable for Doncic’s return beyond missing the final 5 unparalleled-season games. The first round of the NBA playoffs begins April 18.

Whereas the injure will forestall Doncic from reaching the 65-sport threshold wished to be eligible for end-of-season awards, his agent, Bill Duffy of WME Basketball, told ESPN’s Shams Charania that he’s going to practice for an “Extraordinary Circumstances Challenge” on behalf of his client.

“This season, Luka Doncic has performed at a historic level, leading the league in scoring, carrying the Lakers to third place in the Western Conference and placing himself in the middle of one of the most tightly contested MVP races in memory. To ensure that Luka’s incredible accomplishments this season are rightly honored and he can be considered for the league’s end-of-season awards, we intend to apply for an ‘Extraordinary Circumstances Challenge’ to the 65-game rule,” Duffy talked about in an announcement to ESPN.

“Luka missed two games this season for the birth of his second child in Slovenia. His daughter was born on Dec. 4, on another continent, and yet he was back in the United States competing with his team on Dec. 6. Luka has gone to great lengths to show up for his team and this league this season. His record-breaking season deserves to be noted in the history books, despite last night’s unfortunate injury and other extraordinary circumstances. We look forward to working with the NBAPA and the league office to ensure a fair outcome in this matter.”

In ESPN’s third and final NBA MVP straw ballot of 2025-26, which polled 100 NBA media participants, Doncic positioned a a long way away fourth in the support of runaway accepted Shai Gilgeous-Alexander of the Bellow, the San Antonio Spurs‘ Victor Wembanyama and the Denver Nuggets‘ Nikola Jokic.

Doncic’s first full unparalleled season with the Lakers will end with the eight-year ancient leading the league with 33.5 aspects, along with 8.3 assists (third in the NBA), 7.7 rebounds (2nd amongst guards) and 1.6 steals (sixth in the league) in 64 appearances.

The Lakers, currently No. 3 in the Western Conference, have already clinched a playoff space and have a road sport in opposition to the Dallas Mavericks, dwelling sport in opposition to the Bellow, road sport in opposition to the Golden Express Warriors and residential games in opposition to the Phoenix Suns and Utah Jazz remaining on their time desk.

L.A. is one sport sooner than No. 4 Denver, 2½ games sooner than the No. 5 Houston Rockets and 3½ games sooner than the No. 6 Minnesota Timberwolves. The Lakers secure the tiebreaker in opposition to those three groups, too, by successful the season sequence in opposition to every.