The Los Angeles Lakers are one win away from beating the Houston Rockets to advance to the second round of the NBA playoffs, and they’ve done so without their superstar and best player, Luka Doncic.
Unfortunately, if they do move on to face the No. 1-seeded Oklahoma City Thunder, they’re still unlikely to have the services of the six-time All-Star as he continues to deal with the hamstring strain suffered back on April 2.
ESPN insider Shams Charania recently shared that Doncic will not be returning for Round 2, as it’s been a rather slow road to recovery thus far.
“It is a slow path on the recovery front for Luka. The expectation is if the Lakers are able to beat Houston and advance, Luka Doncic will be out for the next series. There’s still no timetable for him as of right now. He’s starting to do more on-court movement, as JJ Redick said the other day, but he is not at the point where he’s progressing in his own court workouts as far as one-on-ones and truly pushing it from a movement standpoint,”
Not having Doncic against Houston has been tough enough, but facing Oklahoma City without him might be too much to overcome for Los Angeles—even with the potential return of star guard Austin Reaves, who is questionable for Game 5 of their first-round series on Wednesday night.
The Thunder, meanwhile, just swept away the Phoenix Suns with relative ease and should be well-rested for whoever they’ll have to face in the second round.
You can never count out a team with LeBron James on it, but this latest update makes an extremely difficult road to a championship that much tougher for the Lakers.
