Luka Dončić will miss rest of Lakers’ regular season with hamstring strain | Luka Dončić

Luka Dončić will miss the remainder of the Los Angeles Lakers’ regular season due to a grade 2 left hamstring strain, the team announced Friday.

Dončić is the NBA’s leading scorer and the driving force behind the Lakers’ rise to third place in the Western Conference standings, but he injured his leg in Los Angeles’ 139-96 loss to Oklahoma City on Thursday. An MRI scan revealed the severity of the strain.

The Lakers are 50-27 with just five games left before the playoffs. They travel to Dallas on Sunday.

Dončić is putting up spectacular numbers in his first full season with the Lakers, who acquired the Slovenian superstar from the Mavericks last season. He averages 33.5 points, 8.3 assists and 7.7 rebounds per game for Los Angeles, and he was named the NBA Western Conference Player of the Month for March after racking up 13 consecutive 30-point performances, including seven 40-point games.

He’s almost certainly going to win the NBA scoring title, but it’s now very possible that he won’t make the All-NBA team. Dončić played in 64 games, one short of the league’s 65-game award eligibility threshold. BetMGM Sportsbook, among others, removed Dončić from the list of MVP betting options following his injury on Thursday.

Grade 2 hamstring strains sometimes require several weeks of recovery, but Dončić also has previous experience with hamstring issues. He missed four games just before the All-Star break due to another left hamstring strain, but returned to the lineup after the break.

Lakers coach JJ Redick said Dončić was injured in the first half against the Thunder but was cleared to return to the game. Dončić only lasted about four minutes before spinning, stopping and falling to the field in pain, leading to his departure.

Five of the league’s six highest-paid players this season — Golden State’s Stephen Curry and Jimmy Butler, Philadelphia’s Joel Embiid, Milwaukee’s Giannis Antetokounmpo and Boston’s Jayson Tatum — are ineligible for the awards because they will not meet the eligibility threshold. It was collectively bargained, meaning the league and players’ association agreed to terms, and this is the third season it’s been part of NBA rules.

It applies to players’ eligibility for five awards: MVP, Defensive Player of the Year, Most Improved Player, All-NBA Team and All-Defensive Team. Players must either play 65 regular season games (with a minimum of a few minutes played as well) or at least 62 games before suffering a “season-ending injury.”

But even if Dončić’s hamstring is injured enough that he misses the remainder of the regular season, it would not be considered “season-ending” unless a doctor jointly selected by the NBA and National Basketball Players Association declared that he would not be able to play again until May 31.

There is a grievance procedure and even a way to challenge the rule citing extraordinary circumstances, but neither procedure would be easy to use.