Lakers Star Injured Just Before Playoffs is ‘Out Indefinitely’
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Los Angeles Lakers star Luka Doncic sustained a left hamstring injury Thursday night, and his prognosis is surely going to frustrate fans.
As reported by Shams Charania of ESPN, Doncic is “out indefinitely.”
“He will miss the remainder of the regular season and his status is uncertain beyond that,” Charania added.
The timing couldn’t be worse, with the Lakers having only five regular season games remaining.
And Doncic had been playing at an elite level, doing things only ever done by Michael Jordan and garnering MVP consideration before his injury.
How Does this Impact Luka Doncic’s MVP Candidacy?
The additional missed games mean Doncic may not even be eligible for the MVP and other awards, given the 65-game minimum players must meet.
That said, his agent, Bill Duffy, told Charania in a statement that he plans to fight that stipulation.
“This season, Luka Dončić 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 said. “To ensure that Luka’s incredible accomplishments this season are rightly honored 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. Luka missed two games this season for the birth of his second child in Slovenia. His daughter was born on Dec. 4 on another continent, and yet he was back in the United States competing with his team on Dec. 6. Luka has gone to great lengths to show up for his team and this league this season. His record-breaking season deserves to be noted in the history books, despite last night’s unfortunate injury and other extraordinary circumstances. We look forward to working with the NBAPA and the league office to ensure a fair outcome in this matter.”
