![\"Luka](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/GettyImages-2206733865-e1742853804112.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 of the Los Angeles Lakers in action against the Chicago Bulls.<\/p>\n
Another day, more Luka Doncic<\/a> speculation. When is the Los Angeles Lakers<\/a> star going to return to the court?<\/p>\n Doncic, 27, is dealing with one of the most annoying injuries possible. A hamstring strain is agitating not only because it causes pain, but because the darn thing can easily be reaggravated as soon as intense physical activity is resumed.<\/p>\n That\u2019s perhaps what is preventing Doncic from making more progress. It has been 27 days since he went down with a Grade 2 hamstring strain, an injury that typically necessitates a monthlong recovery process. The fact that Doncic is reportedly not close to return is alarming.<\/p>\n Doncic wasn\u2019t initially projected to play in the first round in the Lakers series against the Houston Rockets<\/a>, but there was at least some optimism he would be ready to go as soon as Game 1 of the Western Conference semifinals.\u00a0<\/p>\n Even that may be entirely ruled out of play now.<\/p>\n At least the Lakers are on the verge of welcoming back Austin Reaves<\/a>, who, too, has been out since April 2 with a Grade 2 oblique strain. The 27-year-old Los Angeles Star could suit up in tonight\u2019s Game 5.<\/p>\n Even if Reaves is back in the fold, LeBron James<\/a> still has the burden of absorbing the lion share of the load. He is the healthiest, most dependable star the Lakers have right now. Tonight, he\u2019ll need to have a performance similar to what he had in Game 2, where he posted 28 points, eight rebounds and seven assists.<\/p>\n The Defending Champs Are Up Next \u2026 What about Luka Doncic?<\/p>\n The Lakers getting Doncic back will greatly impact the playoffs, but whether it\u2019ll be enough to put up a fight against the Oklahoma City Thunder<\/a> remains to be seen, if he at all returns.<\/p>\n GettyLuka Doncic has been sidelined since early April with a hamstring injury.<\/p>\n There has been intense speculation around Doncic\u2019s availability in recent weeks. Fans anticipated a miraculously fast return after it was announced Doncic was headed to Spain to seek specialized treatment.\u00a0<\/p>\n Recent videos on the internet have surfaced showing Doncic shooting around and partaking in light drills, but there remains no evidence the Lakers star is close to returning.\u00a0<\/p>\n ESPN\u2019s NBA<\/a> insider Shams Charania reported Tuesday that \u201cLuka Doncic will be out for the next series\u201d and that there is \u201cstill no time table for him as of right now.\u201d<\/p>\n Insider Details Star\u2019s Path to Returning for Potential Thunder Series<\/p>\n L.A. still has some major work to do before it can begin thinking about the Thunder, but what\u2019s also true is if the Lakers hope to pull off a major upset against the defending champs, they need Doncic back in uniform.\u00a0<\/p>\n Jovan Buha, a prominent Lakers insider, broke down the hurdles Doncic would need to clear to return<\/a> at some point in the second round against the Thunder.<\/p>\n \u201cIt doesn\u2019t seem like he\u2019s going to be available to at least start the series,\u201d Buha began, \u201cbut could he potentially be back for it at some point mid-to-late series? I think that seems to be optimistic right now, but we\u2019ll see. \u2026 It does feel like it\u2019s a little surprising if he does end up missing the entirety of the OKC series.\u00a0<\/p>\n Added Buha: \u201cI think the key thing to track here is going to be probably early next week, where\u2019s he at in terms of has he started the 1-on-1s, has he started the group workouts \u2014 if he\u2019s there, then it feels like he can maybe return [during the] middle of the series at the earliest. If he\u2019s not \u2026 then I think that tells us where Luka\u2019s at.\u201d<\/p>\n L.A.\u2019s season is quite literally tethered to Doncic\u2019s hamstring. What he brings as a scorer and as a total offensive engine is sometimes enough to single-handedly deliver a playoff win.\u00a0<\/p>\n The Lakers will need to steal a game (or two, or three, or four) to beat the Thunder. But right now, things aren\u2019t looking promising for L.A. on the Doncic front.\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tAdel Ahmad<\/a> Adel is a writer with over five years of experience covering the NBA. His work has appeared on various media platforms, both national and local. More about Adel Ahmad<\/a>\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Getty Luka Doncic of the Los Angeles Lakers in action against the Chicago Bulls. Another day, more Luka…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":416725,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[85,46,105],"class_list":["post-416724","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/416724","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=416724"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/416724\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/416725"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=416724"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=416724"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=416724"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Luka](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Copy-of-1920-2025-10-23T211103.147.png\")
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