Lakers star Luka Doncic missed their last four games because of a strained left hamstring, but he plans to play in the NBA All-Star Game on Sunday at the Intuit Dome.
Doncic, who was injured when the Lakers played the Philadelphia 76ers 1½ weeks ago, worked out before L.A. played the Dallas Mavericks on Thursday at Crypto.com Arena and has played some five-on-five recently.
Doncic was the leading vote-getter for the All-Star Game, which will be his sixth.
“I feel pretty good,” Doncic said Saturday during his media season. “You know, I’ve been working to get back. Obviously [I] wanted to play the last game, but it wasn’t possible. I was almost there, so I think I’ll play a little bit.”
His Lakers teammate, LeBron James, was selected as a Western Conference reserve by the coaches, his first time in 21 years not being chosen a starter. James, who didn’t attend the media sessions on Saturday but will talk before the game Sunday, extended his NBA record All-Star selections to 22 in a row.
Doncic, who will play for Team World, was jokingly asked that if he does play will he try to dunk on James, who will be on Team USA Stripes.
“No, I will not try to dunk on LeBron,” Doncic said, smiling.
This will be Doncic’s first time representing the Lakers as an All-Star. His other five came when he played for the Dallas Mavericks, who traded Doncic to the Lakers last February for Anthony Davis.
Doncic was asked about his emotions.
“Every All-Star, just blessed,” he said. “ I’m going to look back at it. I’m a six-time All-Star now, and not everybody can say they’re an All-Star. So just take everything into the moment and enjoy this.”
When the NBA coaches selected the All-Star reserves, Clippers forward Kawhi Leonard was not chosen despite playing some of the best basketball of his career.
But NBA commissioner Adam Silver added Leonard to the roster, allowing him to play in his seventh All-Star Game, which is being hosted in his home arena.
Leonard was asked at his media session on Saturday if not being initially selected was because of his role in the NBA’s investigation of the Clippers and owner Steve Ballmer over allegations that the team circumvented the salary cap by paying Leonard under the table through an endorsement deal with a company called Aspiration.
Clippers star Kawhi Leonard talks to reporters during the NBA All-Star Game media day. He’ll be appearing in his seventh All-Star game on Sunday at Intuit Dome.
(Jae C. Hong / Associated Press)
“I’m not sure,” said Leonard, who is eighth in the NBA in scoring at 27.9 points a game. “I don’t think Adam Silver would let something like that play into how a player is playing on the court, especially me. I’m not doing anything.”
Aspiration, which has since filed for bankruptcy, agreed to pay Leonard $28 million over four years. The Clippers have denied the allegations.
The NBA has a new format for the All-Star Game, “U.S. vs. the World.” It will be a round-robin tournament with four 12-minute games.
There are two U.S. teams. Leonard will be on the USA Stripes with some of the veterans uch as James and Kevin Durant.
Leonard was asked about his view of the new format.
“I can’t say I hate it or I love it, ‘cause I really don’t know what the situation is,” Leonard said. “I know it’s three teams and is it like a pickup game where we wait until somebody scores? But I’d rather it just be East and West and just go out there and compete and see what the outcome is. I don’t think no format can make you compete …”
Fans and media have complained that the players don’t play hard enough and don’t seem to care.
With Stephen Curry, James and Durant near the end of their careers, Durant was asked why the NBA saw the need to make improvements to the All-Star Game.
“I just feel like fans and media need something to complain about, and the All-Star Game don’t make them feel like they felt when they were kids,” Durant said. “They need something to complain about. I don’t think it’s that big of a deal, to be honest — the All-Star Game, All-Star weekend. Just here to celebrate the game of basketball.
“People [are] still coming to celebrate the game of basketball. They’re coming to watch. People at home are complaining about the game and the intensity of it. I don’t think we’ll ever get past that, but to see everybody still here, showing up, doing their jobs, pushing the game forward through this weekend, you go around the city, it’s so much energy in the city, so many past greats. … I just think it’s way bigger than that this weekend. We can talk about who plays harder or the U.S. team versus the World.”
