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Pro wrestling legend Ric Flair didn’t mince his words when it came to Luka Doncic’s absence from the Los Angeles Lakers on Tuesday night.
The Lakers fell to the Oklahoma City Thunder in Game 1 of their second-round series, 108-90. Doncic missed the first round of the playoffs with a hamstring injury. Los Angeles saw Austin Reaves return to the lineup last series. He played 36 minutes against the Thunder, but only scored eight points.
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Ric Flair exclaims his trademark “WOOO” during his final match press conference at the Fairgrounds in Nashville, Tennessee on June 23, 2022. (Abbey Cutrer / The Tennessean / USA TODAY NETWORK)
Flair wrote on X that Doncic needed to return to the game and that he hoped the Lakers would decide to trade him.
“Luka, please get in the game! Take a cortisone shot and manage the pain! They pay you 50 million a year, and you’re not here! WTF! I hope @JeanieBuss trades you next year. Nobody wants a lame duck on their team!” Flair wrote in his rant.
Flair made it clear in an interview with PK Press Club Digital in 2023 that he watches all sports – not just what happens in professional wrestling.
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Lakers guard Luka Doncic greets Rockets forward Jeff Green after Game 6 of the first round of the 2026 NBA Playoffs at the Toyota Center in Houston, Texas on May 1, 2026. (Erik Williams/Imagn Images)
In particular, he found players resting because of “load management” repugnant.
“These basketball players who whine and…, it took a lot of the sport away from me,” he said at the time.
Flair compared struggling through his own injuries to NBA players sitting out because of injuries that he thought they should be able to play through.
“They go to work hurt,” Flair said of professional wrestlers of the era. “That’s what pisses me off today about these basketball players stubbing their toe. No. How do you think I feel about that knowing I struggled six months after breaking my back in a fucking plane crash? ‘I had a torn sticker. Whoa, whoa, whoa.'”
Lakers players Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves talk while sitting on the bench during the second half of Game 1 of the NBA playoffs against the Rockets at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles, California on April 20, 2026. (Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)
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Regardless, Doncic’s hamstring injury cost him the final five games of the regular season and each of the Lakers’ playoff games.
