Los Angeles Lakers star Luka Doncic has been ruled out of Sunday night’s game against the Sacramento Kings with a left finger sprain and lower leg contusion and will be re-evaluated in one week.
This is tough blow for Doncic, who was added to the injury report after hurting his finger and leg early in the Lakers’ win over the Minnesota Timberwolves. He had it taped up in a splint for the rest of the night, and it didn’t seem to affect his play as he scored a game-high 49 points to go along with 11 rebounds and eight assists to lead the Lakers to their first victory.
Through two games, Doncic is averaging 46 points per game as he has gotten off to a historic start for L.A.
The Lakers will now have to manage without him for at least a week though, which will be at least four games beginning with Sunday night in Sacramento. The team is already without LeBron James as he continues to deal with sciatica on his right side, so now Austin Reaves will take over as the team’s primary ball-handler in the absence of the other two stars.
While the injury bug hitting early in the season is never ideal, the Lakers are understandably being cautious with Doncic to avoid the finger and leg becoming long-term issues. Given his production to start the season though, the other Lakers players will need to step up to stay afloat in the mean time.
JJ Redick praises Deandre Ayton after Lakers’ first win
While Luka Doncic was the main reason the Lakers picked up their first win, center Deandre Ayton was great against the Timberwolves as well, finishing with 15 points and eight rebounds in 32 minutes.
After the game, head coach JJ Redick praised Ayton for his ability to stay patient on the offensive side of the ball.
“Yeah, DA was great,” Redick said after the game. “I thought his patience for the game was really good by that. Luka getting it going early, being the beneficiary of DA screening at times. Yet at halftime, I thought DA was playing really well. You look up, he’s got three shots. And really just kind of let the offense come to him throughout that second half. And then defensively, he was really good as well.”
The process of building chemistry in the pick-and-roll with Luka Doncic has taken some time, but Ayton already seems to be making strides in that department just two games into the season.
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