For a brief moment in the fourth quarter Tuesday night, everything in Los Angeles stopped. Luka Doncic, in the middle of a 43-point masterpiece against the Golden State Warriors, grabbed at his groin.
That was the same area that has sidelined him before. You could almost feel the collective gasp from Los Angeles Lakers fans across the city.
By Wednesday morning, the tension broke. Head coach JJ Redick calmed the nerves with an update: “He seems to be fine. I don’t think it’s anything major. He got some treatment this morning, and we didn’t practice long, but he was a participant in practice.”
Translation: Doncic is okay and the Lakers avoided a nightmare headline. It is hard to overstate how big that is. Doncic’s first game this season in purple and gold could not have started stronger.
Redick confirms Luka Doncic injury nothing for Lakers to worry about
Doncic attacked the paint relentlessly in his season debut. He finished shooting 13-of-14 inside and 15-of-17 on two-pointers overall.
Doncic was not just scoring, he was dictating the entire rhythm of the game, showing off a leaner, more explosive version of himself. Defensively, he looked noticeably sharper too, swiping two steals and holding his ground on switches, something that he has struggled with
The performance that Doncic had was pretty historic. Doncic became only the second Laker ever, after Shaquille O’Neal, to post at least 35 points, 10 rebounds, and five assists in a season opener. He also joined Kobe Bryant and Elgin Baylor as the only Lakers to score 40 or more points to open a season.
Doncic's final stats in 41 minutes of action consisted of 43 points, 12 boards, 9 dimes on 63 percent shooting from the field. He also was able to knock down two triples from beyond the arc.
The Lakers lost 119-109 to the Warriors, but the takeaway was not the scoreboard. It was that their franchise cornerstone looked ready to carry this team, especially with LeBron James still working back from a sciatica injury. There are new faces on this squad and it will take a few games to build chemistry.
The concern over Doncic’s groin made sense. Injuries like that can be unpredictable, especially for a player who puts as much torque on his body as he does. For a few minutes, it looked like the Lakers’ promising start might unravel before it began.
Instead, the diagnosis brought relief. Now, Los Angeles can focus on what is ahead, not what could have gone wrong.