Lakers’ Luka Doncic says he’ll play in NBA All-Star Game

Lakers star Luka Doncic has missed his last four games with a left hamstring strain, but he plans to play in the NBA All-Star Game on Sunday at the Intuit Dome.

Doncic, who was injured when the Lakers played the Philadelphia 76ers a week and a half ago, practiced before Los Angeles played the Dallas Mavericks on Thursday at Crypto.com Arena and recently played five-on-five.

Doncic was the main vote-getter for the All-Star Game, which will be his sixth.

“I feel pretty good,” Doncic said Saturday during his media season. “You know, I worked to come back. Obviously [I] I wanted to play the last match, but it wasn’t possible. I was almost there, so I think I’ll play a little.

Lakers teammate LeBron James was selected as a Western Conference reserve by the coaches, his first time in 21 years not being chosen as a starter. James, who did not attend press sessions Saturday but will speak before the game Sunday, increased his record for NBA All-Star selections to 22 straight.

Doncic, who will play for Team World, was jokingly asked that if he played, he would try to dunk on James, who will be on Team USA Stripes.

“No, I won’t try to dunk on LeBron,” Doncic said with a smile.

This will be Doncic’s first time representing the Lakers as an All-Star. His other five came while playing for the Dallas Mavericks, who traded Doncic to the Lakers last February for Anthony Davis.

Doncic was asked about his emotions.

“Every All-Star is just blessed,” he said. “I’ll get back to it. I’m a six-time All-Star now, and not everyone can say they’re an All-Star. So take everything in the moment and enjoy it.”

When NBA coaches selected All-Star reserves, Clippers forward Kawhi Leonard was not chosen despite playing some of the best basketball of his career.

But NBA Commissioner Adam Silver added Leonard to the roster, allowing him to play in his seventh All-Star Game, which is being held in his arena.

Leonard was asked during his press session Saturday if his failure to initially be selected was due to his role in the NBA’s investigation into the Clippers and owner Steve Ballmer over allegations that the team circumvented the salary cap by paying Leonard under the table through a sponsorship deal with a company called Aspiration.

Clippers star Kawhi Leonard speaks to reporters during the NBA All-Star Game media day. He will play in his seventh All-Star Game on Sunday at the Intuit Dome.

(Jae C. Hong / Associated Press)

“I’m not sure,” said Leonard, eighth in the NBA with 27.9 points per game. “I don’t think Adam Silver would let something like that influence the way any player plays on the court, especially me. I don’t do anything.”

Aspiration, which has since filed for bankruptcy, agreed to pay Leonard $28 million over four years. The Clippers have denied the allegations.

The NBA has a new format for the All-Star Game, “United States vs. the World.” It will be a round-robin tournament with four 12-minute matches.

There are two American teams. Leonard will be on the USA Stripes with some veterans such as James and Kevin Durant.

Leonard was asked about his views on the new format.

“I can’t say I hate it or I love it, because I really don’t know what the situation is,” Leonard said. “I know it’s three teams and is it like a pickup game where we’re waiting for someone to score? But I’d rather it be just East and West and go out there and compete and see what the result is. I don’t think any format can make you compete…”

Fans and media have complained that players aren’t playing hard enough and don’t seem to care.

As Stephen Curry, James and Durant near the end of their careers, Durant was asked why the NBA saw the need to make improvements to the All-Star Game.

“I just feel like the fans and the media need something to complain about, and the All-Star Game doesn’t give them the feeling they felt when they were kids,” Durant said. “They need something to complain about. I don’t think it’s that big of a deal, to be honest – the All-Star Game, All-Star Weekend. Just here to celebrate basketball.

“People [are] I always come to celebrate basketball. They come to watch. People at home complain about the game and its intensity. I don’t think we’ll ever top that, but seeing everyone still there, showing up, doing their job, moving the game forward throughout this weekend, you go around the city, there’s so much energy in the city, so many greats from the past. … I just think it’s a lot bigger than that this weekend. We can talk about who plays the hardest or team USA against the world.