Lakers Dealt Brutal Injury Update on Luka Doncic's Potential Return
The Los Angeles Lakers enter Game 5 of their first-round series against the Houston Rockets on Wednesday night leading 3-1, just one win away from advancing to the second round and setting up a matchup with the No. 1 seed Oklahoma City Thunder.
Los Angeles has been without both Luka Dončić and Austin Reaves, who suffered injuries in the same game on April 2. Doncic is dealing with a grade 2 hamstring strain, while Reaves sustained a grade 2 oblique strain, with both initially expected to miss roughly 4-to-6 weeks.
However, Reaves appears to be progressing more quickly, with real optimism that he could return to the court on Wednesday. Doncic's recovery timeline, meanwhile, remains much further out.
According to ESPN's Shams Charania, there is also a real possibility Doncic may not return even during a potential second-round series against the Thunder if the Lakers advance, a significant setback given early expectations that his rehab stint in Spain could accelerate his return for the start of the next round.
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Charania noted that it was a “slow path” on the recovery front for Doncic, which likely puts him on the closer side of the six week mark of any return being feasible, which would be a handful of games into that second round series.
“It is a slow-path on the recovery front for Luka,” Charania said on ESPN Tuesday. “The expectation is if the Lakers are able to beat Houston and advance Luka Dončić will be out for the next series. There’s still no time table for him as of right now. He’s starting to do more court movement as JJ Redick said the other day but he is not at the point where he’s progressing in his own court work outs as far as one on ones and truly pushing it on a movement front.”
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This story was originally published April 28, 2026 at 9:34 PM.