Luka Doncic Still Day-To-Day & Could Return In Next Couple Games

The Los Angeles Lakers have been hit by the injury bug early in the season as LeBron James has yet to play and Luka Doncic went down in just his third game.

Doncic suffered both a left finger sprain and lower left leg contusion in the Lakers’ recent win over the Minnesota Timberwolves and was said to be re-evaluated in one week.

The Lakers have done a nice job in Doncic’s absence, winning two of their last three to stay afloat until their stars can get back. And it appears it won’t be much longer for Luka.

Before Wednesday’s game against the Timberwolves, Lakers head coach JJ Redick provided an update on Doncic and he is considered day-to-day but should be back in action soon, via Khobi Price of the Southern California News Group:

“With a contusion, it’s a day-to-day thing,” Redick said. “The swelling has gone down a little bit. His finger, it looks like he has 1½ fingers now, and not two. So he’s progressing. And we’re hopeful at some point in the next little bit, next couple games, we’ll have an opportunity to have him back in the lineup.”

This is good news for the Lakers, who close out their road trip on Friday against the Memphis Grizzlies before returning home to host the Miami Heat on Sunday. Doncic is not on the current road trip with the team, so it’s reasonable to expect him to miss Friday’s game before potentially returning against Miami.

Either way, this early in the season the Lakers will not him rush back, especially with Austin Reaves keeping the team afloat while his co-stars have been out. With the bigger picture in mind, the Lakers need Doncic to be 100% healthy and back to playing how he was to begin the season, even if he has to miss an extra game or two.

Luka Doncic reveals motivation behind offseason body transformation

Luka Doncic made it a point to get in the best shape of his career this past offseason, completely transforming his body to prepare for his first full season with the Lakers. In a recent interview with his former teammate Dirk Nowitzki, Doncic revealed the motivation behind that transformation.

“It kind of started in that Finals run. I felt like I was missing a little bit. Obviously last season was hard for me, a lot of things going on. I’m 26 years old and I got a long ways ahead of me. So it just kind of started there.”