Luka Doncic was in the building. This is not a drill. The Los Angeles Lakers superstar was seen at practice with the team on Monday ahead of Game 2 in their first-round series matchup against the Houston Rockets.
Luka Doncic back on the Lakers practice court pic.twitter.com/YTHIO6Wdo8
— Dave McMenamin (@mcten) April 20, 2026
Now just to be clear, Doncic was not an active participant. JJ Redick told reporters everyone but his superstar point guard and Austin Reaves was good to go in the drills on Monday. Luka was around the team to offer support in other ways.
"It's been nice, it's been really nice," Redick said of Doncic's presence at practice. "He definitely rebounded and passed in some shooting drills. I think having the group together two of the last three days has been really nice."
Not that it ever appeared close, but this should mean Doncic will not be active for the Lakers' Game 2 matchup against the Rockets on Tuesday night. However, there should be some optimism overall from seeing Luka with the team and what that could mean for the long-term outlook on this series.
Luka Doncic return against Rockets is starting to feel more realistic
Seeing Doncic back at the practice facility, even without him being an active participant, adds to the mounting reports of optimism that have come on his hamstring injury of late. The developments have been trending in the right direction.
Dave McMenamin reported the Lakers' stance on Doncic and Reaves was they were not going to expect them back in the series, but they did not rule out the possibility either. That was followed by another team insider upping the ante.
Jovan Buha came out and told viewers of Run It Back on FanDuel that Doncic was expected back before Reaves was. There was optimism about the Spain trip potentially shaving a little bit of time off the return date for Luka.
That was then followed up by a separate appearance on CNN in which Buha said Doncic had a chance of returning in the middle of the first-round against the Rockets. It is important to clarify the Lakers insider was not delivering anything concrete. It was a big game of speculating that it could happen.
For Lakers fans, that possibility, whether it be big or small, does offer hope all the same. For the Rockets, it creates constant unease of not knowing what the future could hold should the series get extended to six or seven games. The NBA certainly did their part to draw out the scheduled dates in this head-to-head.
There are no real guarantees with this situation. The Lakers will continue to prepare for life without Doncic. Should those circumstances change, no one would imagine any complaints to be heard.
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