New concerns over Doncic: Bad news for the Lakers

Doncic Frust

The Lakers are cruising in their first-round series against the Houston Rockets. The only lingering concerns are Austin Reaves and Luka Doncic.

The Lakers have now all but ruled out a return by the Slovenian superstar for the remainder of the Houston series, according to ESPN insider Shams Charania. The regular season’s leading scorer (33.5 points per game) remains sidelined, and his absence is expected to last “indefinitely”.

Doncic suffered a significant hamstring injury—a grade-two strain—early in April during a Western Conference showdown with the Oklahoma City Thunder. Despite Dallas trailing by a wide margin and the star guard visibly labouring, head coach JJ Redick left him in the game, a decision that backfired.

He subsequently travelled to Spain for specialist treatment, including injections into the injured muscle, and only returned to Los Angeles a few days ago. Doncic was on the sidelines as the Lakers, led by LeBron James and sharpshooters Marcus Smart and Luke Kennard, took a 2-0 series lead over the Rockets.

“It’s great to have him back. He grabbed a few rebounds for the lads and played a few passes during some shooting drills,” Redick said about Doncic’s return ahead of Game 2 against the Rockets. “It’s good that the team is now properly back together again.”

Austin Reaves Lakers

Austin Reaves is showing encouraging progress with the Lakers.

Luka Doncic remains sidelined, but injured teammate Austin Reaves is making significant progress, ESPN reports. Reaves, sidelined shortly after the Doncic injury with a strained oblique, has already returned to one-on-one drills and is poised to progress to three-on-three and five-on-five work. 

When healthy, Reaves and Doncic form the Lakers’ primary offensive engines, so their simultaneous absences fueled doubts about Los Angeles’s chances in the first-round series against Houston. Nevertheless, the Purple and Gold have silenced the critics for now and travel to Texas holding a 2–0 lead.

LeBron James

The Lakers can rely on LeBron's historic playoff run

LeBron James has never surrendered a similar playoff lead, now 32-for-32 in such series. Without Doncic and Reaves, the King controlled Game 2, logging 28 points, 8 rebounds and 7 assists. Marcus Smart and Luke Kennard also excelled from long range. Smart knocked down five triples on his way to 25 points, while Kennard chipped in 23, draining three of six from beyond the arc (8/13 FG).

In Game 1, Los Angeles had already drawn strength from Kevin Durant’s late scratch. In Tuesday’s Game 2, Houston’s Slim Reaper self-destructed in the second half. Durant had looked unstoppable in the opening frame, pouring in 20 points on 6-of-7 shooting, but he managed only five points after the break and coughed up nine turnovers, five coming after halftime.

The series now shifts to Houston for Games 3 and 4, with the Lakers poised to serve up their first match point on Friday night.

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