![\"Luka](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/GettyImages-2274098272-e1777706924716.jpg\")
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tGetty\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
Luka Doncic #77 of the Los Angeles Lakers looks on during the second quarter against the Houston Rockets in Game Six of the First Round of the NBA Western Conference Playoffs at Toyota Center on May 01, 2026 in Houston, Texas. <\/p>\n
Slovenian star Luka Doncic<\/a> is clearly itching to return to basketball as he continues rehabbing his injured hamstring. During the Los Angeles Lakers\u2019<\/a>\u00a098-78 win over the Houston Rockets<\/a> in Friday\u2019s Game 6, Doncic made a one-handed trick shot from the sidelines just as the halftime buzzer sounded.<\/p>\n The NBA<\/a> posted a video of Doncic\u2019s underhanded shot with an apt caption:<\/p>\n \u201cLuka magic, even while out!\u201d<\/p>\n The fact that the Lakers took a commanding 49-31 lead into the break probably buoyed Doncic\u2019s spirits, as the six-time All-Star was all smiles after making the shot.<\/p>\n Luka Doncic and Trick Shots<\/p>\n Doncic has a history of making insane trick shots<\/a> during pre-game warm-up routines. In April 2024, before a game between the Dallas Mavericks<\/a> and the Rockets, he made a shot that bounced off the Toyota Center\u2019s video board and swished through the net.<\/p>\n While Doncic\u2019s sorcery may shock fans who don\u2019t follow him regularly, his teammates and coaches have witnessed his trick shots for years. Doncic told The Athletic<\/a> in 2024 that he spontaneously comes up with new trick shots during his pregame routines, even if he second-guesses himself about their effectiveness.<\/p>\n \u201cI like to have fun. So sometimes, I just try some new stuff,\u201d Doncic had said.<\/p>\n Doncic\u2019s former teammate Dorian Finney-Smith<\/a> provided further insight.<\/p>\n \u201cS\u2014, before practice even start, he probably threw every ball on the rack at the rim from wherever the rack at,\u201d Finney-Smith said of Doncic back in 2024.<\/p>\n \u201cHe gon\u2019 grab all the balls and probably gonna launch \u2019em 90 feet to try to make \u2019em.\u201d<\/p>\n Luka Doncic Injury Update<\/p>\n Unfortunately for the Lakers, Doncic\u2019s wizardry won\u2019t be on display when they start their semifinals series against the Oklahoma City Thunder<\/a> on Tuesday.<\/p>\n During the Lakers\u2019 Game 6 win over the Rockets, NBA on Prime\u2019s Casidy Hubbarth<\/a> provided a critical Luka Doncic injury update.<\/p>\n \u201cNo timeline,\u201d she said of when Doncic could return.<\/p>\n \u201cThere has been some progress on the court,\u201d she added, He\u2019s now doing some movement work in drills, getting up shots, but it is controlled.<\/p>\n \u201cHe hasn\u2019t advanced to one-on-one or full-contact work yet. He\u2019s not into any scrimmages, so it\u2019s a little more than just spot shooting, but still a step away from anything live.\u201d<\/p>\n ESPN\u2019s Brian Windhorst<\/a> also ruled out an imminent Luka Doncic return.<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s not close,\u201d Windhorst told \u201cSC with SVP\u201d on Friday night.<\/p>\n \u201cMost likely you\u2019re not gonna see Luka Doncic at the front end of this series, maybe at least for another week to 10 days on the minimum. So the Lakers are gonna have to face reality, they\u2019re gonna have to do it without (him).\u201d<\/p>\n Luka Doncic averaged 33.5 points, 8.3 assists and 7.7 rebounds in his first full season with the Lakers. He went down with a hamstring injury just two weeks before the end of the regular season, leaving the Lakers to enter the playoffs without his services. Amazingly, the Lakers beat the Rockets 4-2 despite being without Doncic and not having Austin Reaves<\/a> (oblique injury) for the first four games of the series.<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tSai Mohan<\/a> covers the NBA for Heavy.com. Based in Portugal, Sai is a seasoned sports writer with nearly two decades of publishing experience, including bylines at Yardbarker, FanSided’s Hoops Habit, International Business Times, Hindustan Times and more. More about Sai Mohan<\/a>\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Getty Luka Doncic #77 of the Los Angeles Lakers looks on during the second quarter against the Houston…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":642823,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[434],"tags":[49,48,459,82],"class_list":["post-642822","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-nba","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/642822","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=642822"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/642822\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/642823"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=642822"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=642822"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=642822"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}