Luka Dončić out for regular season, agent to challenge eligibility for individual awards

MRI confirms hamstring injury

By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net

The Los Angeles Lakers will finish the regular season without Luka Dončić after an MRI confirmed a Grade 2 hamstring strain.

According to ESPN’s Shams Charania, Dončić is sidelined indefinitely and will at least miss the remaining five games of the regular season.

The injury, sustained during Thursday’s loss to Oklahoma City, leaves Dončić with 64 games played—exactly one shy of the NBA’s 65-game minimum for postseason awards. The Lakers currently hold the No. 3 seed in the Western Conference, sitting just one game ahead of the Denver Nuggets.

In response to the injury and the eligibility threshold, Dončić’s agent, Bill Duffy, issued a formal statement:

“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. 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.”