Luka Doncic makes confession about his late-season injury

Los Angeles Lakers star Luka Doncic is pointing the finger at himself over the injury that severely limited him in the NBA Playoffs.

Doncic tried to absolve coach JJ Redick of blame for the hamstring injury he suffered during a blowout loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder in an April 2 regular season game. Doncic suffered a hamstring strain early in the second half after having already tweaked the hamstring during the first half.

Redick was criticized for leaving Doncic in the game, but Doncic himself said all the blame should fall on him.

“When it comes to my spirit of trying to win, I am just stubborn,” Doncic told Chris Mannix of SI. “I felt a little bit in the first half that I should have just stopped. I should have come out. I think we had a team that could compete for the championship. I definitely regret it.”

By Doncic’s own admission, the strain proved serious, and it ultimately ended his season. While he deserves plenty of credit for playing through the injury, even he admits at this point that he would have been better off just sitting out a few regular season games and trying to get himself healthy for the playoffs.

Doncic has once again put in plenty of work this offseason that he hopes will ensure that he remains a bit more durable going forward. Part of that may also be knowing when to let up instead of trying to push through an injury.