{"id":604933,"date":"2026-04-13T21:51:08","date_gmt":"2026-04-13T21:51:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/604933\/"},"modified":"2026-04-13T21:51:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-13T21:51:08","slug":"doncic-to-return-from-spain-on-friday-status-still-unknown","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/604933\/","title":{"rendered":"Doncic to return from Spain on Friday; status still unknown"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

Dave McMenaminApr 14, 2026, 05:55 AM<\/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

Multiple Authors<\/p>\n

Los Angeles Lakers<\/a> star Luka Doncic<\/a> might not be on the court for the start of the NBA playoffs this weekend, but he will be with his team.<\/p>\n

Doncic is returning to Los Angeles on Friday after spending the last week in Spain, where he received multiple injections for his Grade 2 left hamstring strain, sources told ESPN’s Shams Charania on Monday.<\/p>\n

The No. 4-seeded Lakers host the No. 5-seeded Houston Rockets<\/a> in Game 1 of their first-round playoff series Saturday (8:30 p.m. ET, ABC).<\/p>\n

Editor’s Picks<\/p>\n

2 Related<\/p>\n

The Lakers have not provided a timeline for Doncic’s return to the lineup other than ruling him out for the remainder of the regular season after he suffered the injury April 2 against the Oklahoma City Thunder<\/a>. A Grade 2 hamstring strain typically involves a monthlong recovery period.<\/p>\n

L.A. finished the season 3-2 without Doncic and Austin Reaves<\/a>, who suffered a Grade 2 left oblique strain in the Thunder game and is also sidelined indefinitely.<\/p>\n

LeBron James<\/a> was named the Western Conference Player of the Week for the final week of the season after averaging 24.0 points, 9.7 assists and 6.0 rebounds and guiding the Lakers to a winning record without their other two stars.<\/p>\n

Doncic finished the season averaging a league-best 33.5 points along with 8.3 assists and 7.7 rebounds per game. He appeared in 64 games, failing to reach the 65-game threshold to be eligible for regular-season awards. His agent, Bill Duffy of WME, has petitioned the NBA to grant his client a “special circumstances” exception because Doncic missed two games in December to travel to Slovenia to be present for the birth of his daughter.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Dave McMenaminApr 14, 2026, 05:55 AM CloseLakers and NBA reporter for ESPN. Covered the Lakers and NBA for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":604934,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[557],"tags":[64,63,590,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-604933","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\/604933","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=604933"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/604933\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/604934"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=604933"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=604933"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=604933"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}