The Lakers said Doncic was diagnosed with a mild left hamstring strain and will be day-to-day.
The Lakers host Oklahoma City on Monday night, San Antonio on Tuesday night and Dallas on Thursday night. All-Star Weekend follows, and the Lakers don’t play again until Feb. 20 against the Clippers at home.
So, Lakers coach JJ Redick and president of basketball operations Rob Pelinka were asked if Doncic would be able to play in the All-Star Game or if it would be best for him to rest.
“I’ve been around him as a teammate and as a coach and I know he plays. If he’s able to play, he plays. I think he wants to be in the All-Star Game,” Redick said. “I know he wants to play against Dallas, the game before the All-Star Game. He has his team working on him day and night. So again, it’s day-to-day and when he’s ready to play, we’ll get him out there.”
Doncic, who leads the NBA in scoring (32.8 ppg) and is second in assists (8.6), earned the most All-Star votes. In the new format of “U.S. vs. the World,” Doncic would play for the world team because he’s from Slovenia.
“Luka, one of his greatest qualities is when he has an injury or he’s unavailable for a game, he is deeply upset,” said Pelinka, who spoke to the media for the first time since September. “He just can’t stand not playing basketball. He loves the game so much and wants to play every night. And that’s an incredible quality. Just a player who’s like fighting and clawing to play versus looking for a reason maybe not to. So we commend Luka for that. In terms of this injury, the good news is it doesn’t appear to be anything serious. It was a mild hamstring strain and he is truly day-to-day.”
