{"id":418302,"date":"2026-01-17T03:56:08","date_gmt":"2026-01-17T03:56:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/418302\/"},"modified":"2026-01-17T03:56:08","modified_gmt":"2026-01-17T03:56:08","slug":"lakers-luka-doncic-out-vs-blazers-due-to-groin-soreness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/418302\/","title":{"rendered":"Lakers’ Luka Doncic out vs. Blazers due to groin soreness"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

Dave McMenaminJan 17, 2026, 12:42 PM<\/p>\n

Close<\/a>Lakers and NBA reporter for ESPN.
\nCovered the Lakers and NBA for ESPNLosAngeles.com from 2009-14, the Cavaliers from 2014-18 for ESPN.com and the NBA for NBA.com from 2005-09.<\/p>\n

PORTLAND — Los Angeles Lakers<\/a> star Luka Doncic<\/a> will miss Saturday’s game against the Portland Trail Blazers<\/a> because of left groin soreness, the team announced Friday.<\/p>\n

Doncic, 26, is coming off of 39 points, 4 assists and 3 rebounds in L.A.’s 135-117<\/a> loss to the Charlotte Hornets<\/a> on Thursday.<\/p>\n

Earlier in the week, before the Lakers’ 124-112<\/a> loss to the Sacramento Kings<\/a> on Monday, Doncic said he “felt something” in his groin area while warming up, but played nonetheless — receiving treatment on his inner leg during the game.<\/p>\n

Editor’s Picks<\/a><\/a><\/p>\n

1 Related<\/p>\n

He scored 42 points against the Kings with 8 assists and 7 rebounds and then played the next night in the Lakers’ rousing 141-116<\/a> win over the Atlanta Hawks<\/a>, when he put up 27 points, 12 assists and 5 rebounds after being a game-time decision.<\/p>\n

Doncic leads the league in scoring with 33.6 points per game and is the Western Conference’s leading vote getter through two rounds of All-Star ballot returns.<\/p>\n

Despite his personal success in his first full season with the Lakers after last February’s shocking trade from the Dallas Mavericks<\/a>, the Lakers are in a bit of a tailspin, losing eight of their past 13 games to drop to No. 5 in the West.<\/p>\n

After the Hornets game, Doncic cited the Atlanta win as evidence L.A. can overcome the funk it’s in.<\/p>\n

“The way we play against Atlanta, it was a back-to-back, too, so we told on ourselves [that we are capable],” Doncic said. “We got to play like that. Playing fast, playing with physicality. I think Atlanta was a good example for us.”<\/p>\n

The Lakers also announced that backup center Jaxson Hayes<\/a> is questionable Saturday because of the left hamstring tendinopathy that has kept him out the past two games, while starting center Deandre Ayton<\/a> is a new addition to the injury report. Ayton is questionable because of left knee soreness.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Dave McMenaminJan 17, 2026, 12:42 PM CloseLakers and NBA reporter for ESPN. Covered the Lakers and NBA for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":418303,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[557],"tags":[64,63,590,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-418302","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nba","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-nba","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/418302","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=418302"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/418302\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/418303"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=418302"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=418302"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=418302"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}