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The Los Angeles Lakers’ championship hopes just took a major blow.
NBA scoring leader Luka Dončić will miss the remainder of the regular season with a grade 2 left hamstring strain, the team announced Friday.
It’s unclear what his status is for the playoffs.
Dončić is the main reason why the Lakers climbed to third place in the Western Conference standings. But a leg injury during Los Angeles’ blowout loss at Oklahoma City on Thursday erased all that after an MRI scan revealed the severity of the strain.
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Lakers coach JJ Redick said Dončić was injured in the first half against the Thunder, but was allowed to return to the game as his team was getting plastered by the defending NBA champion Thunder.
Dončić only lasted about four minutes before spinning, stopping and falling to the field in pain, leading to his departure.
Los Angeles Lakers guard Luka Dončić controls the ball against the Orlando Magic in the first quarter at the Kia Center on March 21, 2026. (Nathan Ray Seebeck/Imagn Images)
The Lakers acquired Dončić in a surprising and controversial trade in February 2025, when the Dallas Mavericks sent the Latvian superstar, along with Maxi Kleber and Markieff Morris, to Los Angeles in exchange for 31-year-old Anthony Davis, Max Christie and a 2029 first-round draft pick. The move left many fans and pundits perplexed, believing the trade to be lopsided in favor of the Lakers.
The Lakers (50-27), Pacific Division champions, have only five games remaining before the playoffs, which begin Sunday in Dallas.
Grade 2 hamstring strains sometimes require several weeks of recovery, but Dončić also has previous experience with hamstring issues. He missed four games just before the All-Star break due to another left hamstring strain, but returned to the lineup after the break.
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Guard Luka Dončić of the Los Angeles Lakers reacts after a foul in the first half against the Los Angeles Clippers at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles on November 25, 2025. (Keith Birmingham/MediaNews Group/Pasadena Star-News/Getty Images)
Dončić is putting up spectacular numbers in his first full season with the Lakers, who acquired the Slovenian superstar from the Mavericks last season.
He’s averaging 33.5 points, 8.3 assists and 7.7 rebounds per game for Los Angeles, and he was named the NBA’s Western Conference Player of the Month for March after racking up 13 straight 30-point performances, including seven 40-point games, a 51-point barrage against Chicago and a 60-point masterclass at Miami.
Dončić scored 600 points in March, becoming the 10th player in NBA history to reach that mark in a single month. While LeBron James and Austin Reaves have also played well down the stretch, the Lakers are dependent on Dončić, who scored or assisted on 58% of their point total in March.
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Los Angeles Lakers guard Luka Dončić controls the ball against the Atlanta Hawks during the first half at State Farm Arena in Atlanta on November 8, 2025. (Dale Zanine/Imagn Images)
The Lakers’ regular season finale will take place next Sunday, April 12, at home against Utah. Their first-round playoff series is scheduled to begin the following weekend.
