Luka Doncic all but confirms grim reality if Lakers reporter is correct

Los Angeles Lakers superstar Luka Doncic is soon to miss an eighth consecutive playoff game as he fights to return from a Grade 2 hamstring strain. It's been a frustrating experience for the five-time All-NBA First Team honoree, who has plainly stated: "All I wanna do is play basketball."

Unfortunately, signs appear to be pointing to Doncic only being able to play again during the 2025-26 season if the Lakers manage to advance past the second round.

Doncic suffered the hamstring injury on Apr. 2. That puts him at exactly five weeks removed as of May 7. Unfortunately, his most recent comments seem to suggest that he's still a fair way out from being able to return to the court—a belief that's seemingly been confirmed.

According to Dave McMenamin of ESPN, Doncic stated that he was told by his doctor that there "would be an eight-week recovery window."

For those who can't watch the video, McMenamin said the following on ESPN's SportsCenter:

"Doncic spoke to us for the first time since the injury yesterday and he said that his initial MRI, the doctor told him it would be an eight-week recovery window. Today marks five weeks. Game 4 would be six weeks. Which is basically Luka saying without explicitly saying it that you're not going to see him in the second round against the OKC Thunder."

McMenamin continued:

"He's been able to run thus far. He's done no contact drills. He says he continues to improve day by day. But when we talked to him yesterday and we saw this guy's dejected body language, it didn't look like a person who plans to be playing in the playoffs any time soon."

In other words: Doncic still has three weeks remaining in his recovery window and is thus unlikely to play a game against the Oklahoma City Thunder in the second round of the playoffs.

Luka Doncic, now in week 5, was given an "eight-week recovery window"

Game 7 of the Lakers-Thunder series would be played on May 21, which would be just shy of the eight-week mark. As such, it's certainly possible that Doncic could return by the end of the series if Los Angeles manages to extend it that far.

Even then, however, Doncic would still be returning somewhat ahead of schedule—and that assumes that his rehabilitation proceeds without a hitch.

The good news is that the Lakers have already overcome adversity during the 2026 NBA Playoffs. Despite playing the entire first round without Doncic and having Austin Reaves for just two of a possible six games, Los Angeles defeated the Houston Rockets 4-2 to advance to the second round.

Now tasked with taking on the 64-18 defending NBA champion Thunder, however, the task of winning without Doncic has proven quite daunting.

Lakers must win without Luka Doncic to create window for his return

Oklahoma City won Game 1 by a score of 108-90. Although it was a more competitive game than the final score suggests, Los Angeles struggled to close the gap and failed to generate any semblance of consistent offense if it wasn't created by LeBron James or Rui Hachimura.

Hachimura and James combined for 45 points on 19-of-30 shooting. Unfortunately, all other Lakers combined for 45 points on 16-of-55 shooting.

The hope moving forward is that Austin Reaves can right the individual ship and thus help Los Angeles reroute the series as a team. Reaves shot 3-of-16 from the field and committed four turnovers during Game 1, which at least suggests that there's nowhere to go but up.

If the Lakers hope to get Doncic back at some point during the 2026 NBA Playoffs, however, then it would seem as though they'll need to extend the current series or perhaps even reach the Conference Finals without him.

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