As the Los Angeles Lakers battled against the Oklahoma City Thunder on Thursday night, the star guard Luka Doncic left the court early with a suspected hamstring injury.
When Doncic went back to the locker room in the third quarter, he checked out after 26 minutes of action. During that time, Doncic was struggling with his shot, going 3-10 from the field. He had 12 points at the time of his exit.
In addition to his scoring, Doncic also had seven assists (six turnovers) and four rebounds. The Lakers were trailing by double-digits as well, adding insult to injury.
Heading into Thursday’s game against the Thunder, the Lakers were looking to improve their standing as the Western Conference’s third seed.
At this point, the Lakers can’t touch the top two seeds. The Thunder have a comfortable 10-game lead over the Lakers with the first seed in the Western Conference.
The San Antonio Spurs are in second place, with a 50-26 record. The Lakers trail them by 8.0 games.
LA’s biggest competition right now is the Denver Nuggets. The fourth-seeded squad is 49-28 on the year, in the midst of a seven-game winning streak. They trailed the Lakers by 1.5 games, heading into Thursday night’s slate.
The Lakers have officially ruled out Doncic for the remainder of the game on Thursday.
Considering the state of the game when Doncic went out, it was always in the Lakers’ best interest to move forward without risking further setback for their superstar guard.
This season, Doncic has appeared in 63 games. He is producing 33.8 points per game, while shooting 47.7% from the field, and hitting on 36.8% from three. In addition to his scoring, Doncic is averaging 8.3 assists, along with 7.8 rebounds per game.
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