DALLAS — Los Angeles Lakers star Luka Doncic will be sidelined until at least the end of the regular season with a Grade 2 left hamstring strain, the team announced Friday.
Doncic underwent an MRI in Dallas on Friday afternoon, which revealed the severity of the strain he suffered in the third quarter of the Lakers’ 139-96 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder on Thursday.
Grade 2 strains typically involve a month of recovery, but the Lakers did not provide a timetable for Doncic’s return other than missing the final five regular-season games. The first round of the NBA playoffs will begin on April 18.
While the injury will prevent Doncic from reaching the 65-game threshold needed to be eligible for season-ending awards, his agent, WME Basketball’s Bill Duffy, told ESPN’s Shams Charania that he will apply for an “extraordinary circumstances challenge” on his client’s behalf.
“This season, Luka Doncic has performed at a historic level, leading the league in scoring, leading the Lakers to third place in the Western Conference and placing himself in the midst of one of the most tightly contested MVP races in memory,” Duffy said in a statement to ESPN. “To ensure that Luca’s incredible achievements this season are appropriately recognized and that he can be considered for the league’s end-of-season awards, we intend to apply for an ‘exceptional circumstances challenge’ to the 65-game rule.
“Luka missed two games this season due to the birth of his second child in Slovenia. His daughter was born on December 4 on another continent, and yet he returned to the United States to compete with his team on December 6. Luka has done a lot to perform for his team and this league this season. Despite last night’s unfortunate injury and other extraordinary circumstances, his record-breaking season deserves to go down in the history books. We “Look forward to working with the NBAPA and the league office to ensure there is a fair outcome to this case.”
In ESPN’s third and final 2025–26 NBA MVP straw poll, which polled 100 NBA media members, Doncic finished fourth behind runaway favorite Shai Gilgeous-Alexander of the Thunder, Victor Wembanyama of the San Antonio Spurs and Nikola Jokic of the Denver Nuggets.
Doncic’s first full regular season with the Lakers would end with the eight-year veteran leading the league with 33.5 points per game, while also averaging 8.3 assists (third in the NBA), 7.7 rebounds (second among guards) and 1.6 steals (sixth in the league) in 64 appearances.
The Lakers (50-27), currently ranked No. 3 in the Western Conference, have clinched a playoff berth and have a road game against the Dallas Mavericks, a home game against the Thunder, a road game against the Golden State Warriors and home games against the Phoenix Suns and Utah Jazz remaining on their schedule.
Los Angeles is one game ahead of No. 4 Denver, two games ahead of the No. 5 Houston Rockets and four games ahead of the No. 6 Minnesota Timberwolves. The Lakers own the tiebreaker by winning the season series against each of those three teams.
