Luka Doncic is expected to miss the start of the next series if the Lakers advance, with Shams Charania saying Wednesday morning that there is still no clear timetable for the star guard’s return. Charania said Doncic has been out since the beginning of the month with a grade 2 hamstring strain and is only now beginning to ramp up.
The update followed a more alarming reading of Charania’s comments Tuesday night on, when he said Doncic would be out for the next series. On Wednesday morning on Get Up, he softened that view, saying the expectation is for Doncic to miss the start of the series rather than the entire matchup. If Los Angeles gets past the first round, it would face the Oklahoma City Thunder next.
Charania said Doncic is doing more on the court, but he has not reached full scrimmages or workouts yet. That leaves the Lakers still describing the injury in public as having an indefinite element to it, even as the recovery appears to be moving forward.
The shift matters because it changes the reading of the injury report from a firm absence to an open-ended one with some forward movement. For now, the best answer to when is luka doncic coming back is that he is closer than he was, but not close enough to give the Lakers a date they can count on.