By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
File: Los Angeles Lakers guard Luka Doncic (77) reportedly looks skinny in a series of new photos on social media. (Jerome Miron-Imagn Images).
Luka Doncic will be sidelined at least through the end of the regular season with a left hamstring strain, LA Lakers announced on Friday.
Doncic underwent an MRI in Dallas on Friday afternoon that revealed the extent of the strain, which he suffered in the third quarter of the Lakers’ 139-96 loss to the Oaklahoma City Thunder on Thursday.
Lakers did not provide a timetable for Doncic’s return beyond missing the final five regular-season games. The first round of the NBA playoffs begins April 18.
Doncic is the NBA’s leading scorer this season with 2143 points for an unequalled average of 33.5 points per game.
However, having been sidelined for four games with a left hamstring strain earlier in the season, and missing two games to return to Slovenia for the birth of his daughter in December, Doncic is set to fall short of the minimum games threshold required to qualify for the NBA’s major end-of-season awards.
Doncic, who is one appearance short of the 65 required, will apply for an “Extraordinary Circumstances Challenge”, according to his agent Bill Duffy.
“This season, Luka Doncic has performed at a historic level, leading the league in scoring, carrying the Lakers to third place in the Western Conference and placing himself in the middle of one of the most tightly contested MVP races in memory,” Duffy told ESPN.
“To ensure Luka’s incredible accomplishments this season are rightly honoured and he can be considered for the league’s end-of-season awards, we intend to apply for an ‘Extraordinary Circumstances Challenge’ to the 65-game rule.”
Doncic was named March’s player of the month following 13 consecutive 30-point performances which helped the Lakers to 13 wins in 14 games prior to the defeat by Thunder.