Luka Doncic has been ruled out of the regular season with a left hamstring strain, hurting both the Los Angeles Lakers’ title and his own MVP chances.
However, there is some controversy that has followed the Slovenian superstar. Recently, a popular NBA analyst hurriedly claimed that the 27-year-old might be ‘faking’ his issues. However, backlash followed soon.
Luka Doncic injury update
Doncic “has been diagnosed with a Grade 2 left hamstring strain and will be out for the remainder of the regular season,” the Lakers, who have five games left in the regular season, said in a statement on Friday. ESPN reported that his playoffs appearance is also in doubt.
The MVP contender is averaging 33.5 points per game, 8.3 assists and 7/7 rebounds this season. He injured himself in the first quarter of the Lakers’ crushing 139-96 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder on Thursday. The Slovenian star returned briefly, but then appeared uncomfortable. He limped out in the third quarter.
Stephen A Smith faces backlash
Meanwhile, fans slammed Smith for his comments on Luka Doncic’s injury. Speaking on First Take, the radio host and analyst said, “It was almost like it’s a good thing Luka actually got hurt and had to get taken out in the third quarter, because when we saw him holding his hamstring in the first half, a lot of us were like, wait a minute, that wasn’t happening when you were dropping 30-plus the last 12, 13, 15 games.”
“But suddenly now your damn hamstring is hurt. We were looking at it with a raised eyebrow, because an ass-whooping will do that to you. It will make you humble. It will make you run for cover. It will make you want to run to the locker room.”
Smith further added that Donic might be ‘pretending’.
“It will make you pretend you got to use the bathroom. It will make you pretend that something might be a family emergency or anything just to get away from those confines. That’s the kind of a** whipping we saw last night, and they came into this game, and we wanted to see whatever it was that we wanted to see from the Los Angeles Lakers.”
Extraordinary Circumstances
Meanwhile, Donic’s agent, Bill Duffy of WME Basketball, told ESPN that he will apply for an “Extraordinary Circumstances Challenge” to the 65-game rule on Doncic’s behalf.
In a statement to the sports network Duffy noted that Doncic had missed two games for the birth of his second child in Slovenia.
“His daughter was born on December 4, on another continent, and yet he was back in the United States competing with his team on December 6,” Duffy said. “Luka has gone to great lengths to show up for his team and this league this season. His record-breaking season deserves to be noted in the history books, despite last night’s unfortunate injury and other extraordinary circumstances.
“We look forward to working with the (National Basketball Players Association) and the league office to ensure a fair outcome in this matter.”