Lakers star Luka Dončić will reportedly head to Europe for hamstring injury treatment ahead of playoffs

Ryan YoungMon, April 6, 2026 at 2:51 AM UTC

0

The Lakers have already ruled Luka Dončić out for the rest of the regular season with the hamstring injury. (Cooper Neill/Getty Images) (Cooper Neill via Getty Images)

Luka Dončić is trying to speed up his return for the Los Angeles Lakers.

Dončić is going to seek specialized medical treatment in Europe on his left hamstring strain “in an attempt to expedite his return to play,” his agent told ESPN on Sunday night. It’s unclear where Dončić will go in Europe specifically, or what kind of treatment he will undergo.

The Lakers already ruled Dončić out for the rest of the regular season due to the hamstring injury, which he first suffered during the team’s blowout loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder on Thursday night. Dončić pulled up near the free throw line suddenly in the third quarter and started grabbing at his hamstring, which sent him down to the court in clear pain.

Advertisement

Dončić actually tweaked his hamstring in the first quarter of that game, but was cleared by the Lakers to continue to play in the game. He underwent an MRI on Friday, which is what led to the Grade 2 hamstring strain diagnosis.

While the Lakers have ruled him out indefinitely, his status for the start of the playoffs is still reportedly uncertain. Dončić has averaged a league-best 33.5 points per game this season with the Lakers while putting up 8.3 assists and 7.7 rebounds per contest.

The Lakers have just four games left in the regular season after Sunday night’s loss to the Dallas Mavericks, which dropped them into a tie for third in the Western Conference standings with the Denver Nuggets. The Lakers lost Austin Reaves to an oblique strain, too, and will be without him for four-to-six weeks. That timeline would almost certainly sideline Reaves, the team’s second-leading scorer, for the entirety of the first round of the playoffs.

It’s unclear if Dončić’s treatment in Europe is going to make a difference or speed up his return to the court for the Lakers with the playoffs right around the corner. But if both Reaves and Dončić are sidelined for even part of the first round of the playoffs, the Lakers will undoubtedly have a much tougher time at making a deep postseason run.

Original Article on Source

Source: “AOL Sports”