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The Lakers introduced newly acquired guard Luke Kennard on Saturday and also discussed relatively good news about Luka Doncic’s injury and how long he’ll be out.
The Lakers said Doncic was diagnosed with a mild left hamstring strain and will be day to day before the All-Star guard sat out the team’s 105-99 win over the Golden State Warriors at Crypto.com Arena. LeBron James led the Lakers with 20 points, 10 assists and seven rebounds.
The Lakers host Oklahoma City on Monday night, San Antonio on Tuesday night and Dallas on Thursday night. All-Star Weekend follows, and the Lakers don’t play again until Feb. 20 against the Clippers at home.
So coach JJ Redick and president of basketball operations Rob Pelinka were asked if Doncic would be able to play in the All-Star Game or if it would be best for him to rest.
Lakers forward Jarred Vanderbilt battles Warriors guard Brandin Podziemski for a loose ball at Crypto.com Saturday.
(Gina Ferazzi/Los Angeles Times)
“I’ve been around him as a teammate and as a coach and I know he plays. If he’s able to play, he plays. I think he wants to be in the All-Star Game,” Redick said. “I know he wants to play against Dallas, the game before the All-Star Game. He has his team working on him day and night. So again, it’s day to day and when he’s ready to play, we’ll get him out there.”
Doncic, who leads the NBA in scoring (32.8 ppg) and is second in assists (8.6), earned the most All-Star votes. In the new format of “U.S. vs. the World,” Doncic would play for the world team because he’s from Slovenia.
“Luka, one of his greatest qualities is when he has an injury or he’s unavailable for a game, he is deeply upset,” said Pelinka, who spoke to the media for the first time since September. “He just can’t stand not playing basketball. He loves the game so much and wants to play every night. And that’s an incredible quality. Just a player who’s like fighting and clawing to play versus looking for a reason maybe not to. So we commend Luka for that. In terms of this injury, the good news is it doesn’t appear to be anything serious. It was a mild hamstring strain and he is truly day to day.”
The Lakers and Warriors faced off in a nationally televised game without stars Doncic and Stephen Curry (knee). The Lakers pulled off the win with six players scoring in double figures.
Lakers center Jaxson Hayes (11) scores in front of Warriors forward Draymond Green at Crypto.com Arena on Saturday.
(Gina Ferazzi/Los Angeles Times)
Rui Hachimura had 18 points on seven-for-10 shooting, and Austin Reaves had 16 points, eight assists and five rebounds in 24 minutes off the bench.
Kennard, acquired Thursday from the Atlanta Hawks for Gabe Vincent, played his role well. He had 10 points in his first game as a Laker, coming off the bench to go four for seven from the field and two for four from beyond the three-point line. He also had two assists and two rebounds.
Kennard impressed James with his play.
“It showed tonight, obviously. I mean, some of the ones that he had when he was driving, penetrating, kickout, some of them we didn’t make, but it’s just a great basketball play,” James said. “So, it’s going to help us have another ballhandler, for sure. But then his shooting, how elite his shooting is, is going to help us as well, tremendously.”
Kennard drilled a three-pointer off a pass from Reaves to give the Lakers a 92-88 lead in the fourth quarter. After Reaves scored, Kennard showed off his passing skills, finding Jarred Vanderbilt under the basket for a dunk. Maxi Kleber scored and Reaves made four free throws down the stretch to help seal the win for the Lakers (32-19).
Kennard quickly got a glimpse of what life will be like playing with the Lakers’ big three of Doncic, James and Reaves.
“It’s huge to play in a place like this, I mean, the biggest stage in basketball,” Kennard said. “It’s something special and I think for me, expectation was obviously getting a win. That’s the biggest thing at the end of the day. For me, just to be aggressive out there, try to make plays when I can and have an impact with the shooting, passing, screening, anything it is, that was my expectation for myself. And that was really good.”