Barring a major setback, the newly acquired Luka Dončić is expected to make his Los Angeles Lakers debut on Saturday, February 8th, against the Indiana Pacers. The last time Dončić played was on Christmas Day where he suffered a calf strain in a loss against the Minnesota Timberwolves. Lakers vice president of basketball operations, Rob Pelinka, gave an update about the five-time All-Star.
“Our sports performance department is led by Dr. Leroy Sims,” Pelinka said. “Luka’s got trusted sports performance folks that’s going to become part of our family and Dr. Sims’ circle. They’re working together as we speak about a return-to-play plan.
“We have 5-on-5 scheduled tomorrow for Luka and we’re going to take it one day at a time just to make sure that the calf injury is at a good and safe place. So, I would truly say, at this point, he’s day-to-day. We’re going to take it one step at a time. But if all those days go well and Luka feels good and confident, he’ll be in a game soon.”
The five-time All-NBA player also weighed in on his rehab process.
“For the first time, I took my time,” Dončić said. “Get it to heal 100 percent. Other times, I think I just wanted to get back on the court and playing basketball and not really be healthy 100 percent. This time, I just took my time, which was a normal amount of time, to get back to 100 percent.”
Dončić will most likely start at the point guard spot for Los Angeles. However, we have seen in the past that he is versatile enough to play multiple positions. With this in mind, he should be able to co-exist well with LeBron James. Expect some growing pains to start his Lakers tenure, but eventually, he will showcase why he is a top-five talent in today’s NBA.
Luka Dončić Expected to Make Lakers Debut Saturday Against Pacers
Luka Dončić’s Impact
Dončić is having another great campaign. This season, he is averaging 28.1 points, 2.0 steals, 7.8 assists, and 8.3 total rebounds per game. Dončić is also tallying a player efficiency rating of 24.6, a true shooting percentage of 58.4 percent, and an offensive box plus/minus rating of +5.6. He is also averaging a usage rate of 32.8 percent this year. All in all, the Los Angeles Lakers have to be excited about the debut of Luka Dončić on Saturday night. Especially with him coming back 100 percent healthy.
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