LOS ANGELES – As he alluded to on Saturday, it was a short stint for Los Angeles Lakers star Luka Doncic during the NBA All-Star Game. Doncic took the court for the first time since suffering a minor hamstring injury back during the Lakers’ win against the Philadelphia 76ers on Feb. 5.
During his media availability session as part of All-Star Weekend, Doncic had acknowledged that he was only going to play a little bit in the actual game, and that his hamstring injury felt good. Sure enough, Doncic played only five minutes of Team World’s first game of the new All-Star format, while sitting out the second game. He finished with two points and two assists while shooting 1-of-3 from the field.
Following Team World’s elimination in the new All-Star Game tournament, Doncic spoke about how his injury felt after being back on the court
“It was good. Obviously I wanted to go out there, the fans voted for me to be in this game so I wanted to be there and be part of it a little bit,” Doncic said. “But [my hamstring] felt good.”
After sustaining the injury, Doncic missed four consecutive games. The Lakers went 3-2 in those games. They came into the All-Star break with a record of 33-21, and in fifth place in the Western Conference standings. They are only one and half games behind the current No. 3 seed Denver Nuggets, but only one and half games up on the No. 7 seed Phoenix Suns and falling to a play-in spot.
As the Lakers try and build some consistency during the final stretch of the season, one thing they’re banking on is being healthy. Injuries have forced the Lakers to shuffle their lineups, and they’ve yet to have a consistent stretch where they’ve had a full roster available.
That’s the main thing that Doncic feels is key for the team finish the next couple of months strong.
“Just health,” Doncic said. “We’ve been dealing with injuries a lot, so that will help.
In his first full season with the Lakers since the trade, Doncic has appeared in 42 games at a little over 35 minutes per game. He’s averaged a league-leading 32.8 points, 7.8 rebounds, 8.6 assists and 1.5 steals with splits of 47.3 percent shooting from the field, 34.5 percent shooting from the 3-point line and 78.1 percent shooting from the free-throw line.
The Lakers will resume play following the All-Star break on Friday, Feb. 20 at home against the LA Clippers.
