Shams Charania did his part to terrify the entire Los Angeles Lakers fanbase on Tuesday night, making it sound like Luka Doncic would miss the entire series against the Oklahoma City Thunder, should the Lakers advance beyond the first round. It now looks like just a poor choice of words.
Charania said during a Tuesday night appearance on ESPN that Doncic would be 'out for the next series.' Lakers fans everywhere started to panic. Beating the Thunder is tough enough as it is for any team. Knocking off the defending champs without your best player? Woof, good luck.
Thankfully, Charania may have just misspoke. When featured on Get Up come Wednesday morning, the ESPN insider clarified the expectation is for Doncic to miss the start of the series.
"Out since the beginning of the month with a grade 2 hamstring strain, I'm told it is a slow path on his recovery. If the Lakers do advance, ... the expectation is that Luka Doncic will be out to start that series. There's still no clarity on a timeline. He's starting to ramp up a little bit more."
Charania added that Doncic is doing more on the court, but still has not progressed to full scrimmages and workouts.
Lakers need Luka Doncic for any hopes of survival against the Thunder
Calm down Lakers fans, it is going to be okay. The more recent update from Charania falls closer to the general expectation of when many felt Doncic would be back.
The lack of clear timeline, as Charania pointed out, is the difficult part here. For the most part, the Lakers have stayed consistent with outwardly communicating that Doncic's injury has an indefinite element to it. They may have a better idea than that behind closed doors, but in public, that has been the messaging they have stuck to.
For their sake's, and that of Lakers fans rooting for the team to make it to the Western Conference Finals, they had better hope Doncic is back against the Thunder. It is excruciatingly difficult to envision Los Angeles beating Oklahoma City without Luka.
Quite frankly, the regular season clashes between both sides make it tough to buy in on that idea even with the Lakers at full strength. When Doncic is back, the superstar guard will not be completely healthy. There should be some expectation of both Luka and Austin Reaves laboring post-injury.
Granted, the Thunder do not have a clean bill of health either. Jalen Williams is dealing with a hamstring injury of his own. Both teams have proven capable of overcoming those injuries to key guys in the first round.
The Thunder are already waiting for the Lakers after finishing off their series against the Phoenix Suns with a sweep. The Lakers could join them by completing the gentleman's sweep of the Houston Rockets on Wednesday.
Dreams of a seven-game series between these two sides begin and end, on the Lakers' side, with having Doncic available. Without him, a long shot becomes a Hail Mary. Thankfully for LA fans, the clarification on Luka provides plenty of hope.
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