On the heels of his historic month, Los Angeles Lakers star guard Luka Dončić suffered a hamstring injury that could derail the rest of his regular season.
Lakers coach JJ Redick told reporters after Thursday's game against the Oklahoma City Thunder, an eventual 139-96 Lakers loss, that Dončić would undergo an MRI Friday, April 3, so that the team could diagnose the severity of the injury.
With 7:39 to play in Los Angeles’ April 2 game, Dončić was driving down the left lane when he met an OKC double-team of Jalen Williams and Chet Holmgren. Dončić stopped abruptly and immediately clutched at his left hamstring, tossing the ball aside. He started to limp before officials blew the play dead.
Dončić then hobbled over to the baseline, where he went down to the court and lay on his back while trainers rushed over to tend to him.
Those injuries are the scariest.
— Luka Updates (@LukaUpdates) April 3, 2026
Sending good thoughts Luka's way 🙏 pic.twitter.com/WeCLJ0YMCp
Dončić appeared to be instantly frustrated and spent some time on the floor before he stood up and was able to walk off on his own power. He buried his face in his jersey and went straight to the locker room.
The injury came during the height of a blowout, with the Lakers down by 32. The team officially ruled Dončić out with a hamstring injury in the fourth quarter.
“It was discussed at halftime,” a visibly frustrated Redick said of potentially benching Dončić because of the blowout. “Thought we would give (the starters) about 6 minutes (to start the third quarter) and then — if we didn’t cut into the lead — we were going to pull them. Obviously, it was around that time that that happened.”
Luka is absolutely devastated pic.twitter.com/NHIAL4mE0Y
— Italo Santana (@BulletClubIta) April 3, 2026
Dončić finished the game with 12 points on 3-of-10 shooting, including a sluggish 1-of-7 from 3-point range. He added 7 assists and 4 rebounds.
The left hamstring had apparently been bothering Dončić throughout the game. From the first quarter, Dončić had grabbed at it following plays when he used bursts of acceleration. That continued in the second quarter.
Dončić has been dealing with various lower body injuries throughout this season. Just last week, prior to Friday, March 27’s game against the Nets, the Lakers had listed Dončić as questionable with a hamstring issue.
The timing of the injury comes at a precarious time for Dončić and the Lakers; Los Angeles has played well recently but its grip on the No. 3 seed over the Nuggets in the Western Conference will shrink to just 1 game. And for Dončić, his eligibility for individual awards is suddenly in jeopardy. Thursday night was his 64th game, which leaves him one shy of the 65-game minimum and which means he needs to play in at least one of Los Angeles’ last five games to reach that threshold.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Luka Doncic injury update, status for Lakers vs Thunder