After losing Game 4 of their first-round NBA playoff series to the Houston Rockets 116-95 on Sunday, the Los Angeles Lakers will have another shot at knocking the Rockets out of the playoffs when Game 5 takes place at Crypto.com Arena on Wednesday. They could get Austin Reaves back from the oblique injury that has caused him to miss over four weeks of action, and if he returns, it would undoubtedly give them a big shot in the arm.
Luka Doncic, who has been out since sustaining a Grade 2 hamstring strain on April 2, isn’t nearly as close to returning as Reaves is. He recently started to ramp up his activity in practice a little bit, but he still appears to have a long way to go before he can even scrimmage against his teammates.
ESPN NBA insider Shams Charania went on “The Pat McAfee Show” and said that Doncic will not return in this series but that he could come back in the second round, if the Lakers make it there.
“Luka Dončić, though not returning in this series, the expectation would be that he continues to ramp up,” Charania said. “He’s starting to do more on the court. JJ Redick said that yesterday.
“We’ll see in the second round, if the Lakers can advance — that’s really where his timeline could open up. As the series progresses into the second round, we could get updates.”
Jovan Buha, a journalist who covers the Lakers, gave a more specific estimate of what could be Doncic’s return timeline during his “Buha’s Block” podcast (h/t Heavy Sports).
“JJ Redick said today that Luka has started to increase his on-court workload, and that started today specifically,” Buha said following the Lakers’ Game 4 loss. “Before this, Luka had been doing standstill stuff — we’ve seen him shooting stationary shots or little shots in the paint, but nothing at game speed.”
Buha feels that Doncic could perhaps return somewhere in the middle of the second round of the postseason.
“A couple of the doctors I follow have thrown out that based on this update and Luka’s original timetable, it could indicate about 10 to 14 days from now as a realistic return,” Buha said.
If the Lakers finish off the Rockets, they would then face the defending NBA champion Oklahoma City Thunder, who swept the Phoenix Suns on Monday, in the next round. They would almost certainly lose against Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and crew, but if they have both Reaves and Doncic back, even for part of the series, perhaps they would have at least an outside chance.
That could especially be true when one considers that forward Jalen Williams, who is arguably the Thunder’s second-best player, is out with a hamstring strain of his own and is considered week to week.
This article originally appeared on LeBron Wire: Lakers insider estimates Luka Doncic’s return timeline
Reporting by Robert Marvi, LeBron Wire / LeBron Wire
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
