The Los Angeles Lakers’ two-game road trip concludes on Friday against the Memphis Grizzlies, and it is likely they get much-needed reinforcements on the court. On Thursday afternoon, the Lakers listed both Luka Doncic and Marcus Smart as questionable on the injury report for the game against the Grizzlies. Friday’s game is the Lakers’ first NBA Cup game of the season.
And on Friday afternoon, it appeared as if the duo would make their injury return with Luka Doncic, and Marcus Smart being upgraded to probable for the Lakers. In Doncic’s case, he was diagnosed with having two injuries, a finger injury and a leg injury, that have kept him out of the Lakers’ last three games.
Doncic seemingly suffered a groin injury during the Lakers’ season opening loss to the Golden State Warriors, but he brushed it off as a non-issue after the game. He was able to play during the team’s win against the Minnesota Timberwolves on Oct. 24, pouring in a season-high 49 points. The injuries were disclosed prior to the Lakers’ game against the Sacramento Kings last Sunday.
In Doncic’s absence, the Lakers have gone 2-1, with Austin Reaves stepping up in a big way. Reaves scored a career-high 51 points in the win against the Kings. He followed that up with 41 albeit in a loss to the Portland Trail Blazers. Reaves capped that off with a game-winner against the Wolves on Wednesday.
While the Lakers have remained competitive and have overall played well without Doncic, getting the All-Star guard back in the lineup would be a tremendous boost, especially for a team that has been short on ball-handlers lately. LeBron James has yet to make his season debut due to a nerve injury, and Smart (quad) and Gabe Vincent (ankle) have both been sidelined following Sunday’s Kings game.
In the two games that Doncic has played this season, he’s averaged 46.0 points, 11.5 rebounds, 8.5 assists and 1.0 steals with splits of 62 percent shooting from the field, 31.8 percent shooting from the three-point line and 79.3 percent shooting from the free-throw line.
