Lakers coach JJ Redick mentioned Luka Doncic might debut both Saturday towards Indiana or Monday towards Utah.
Doncic, who the Lakers acquired in a blockbuster commerce for Anthony Davis, Max Christie and a first-round decide, hasn’t performed since Christmas due to a calf damage. After the Lakers’ Wednesday observe, Doncic participated in a 5-on-5 sport with low-minute gamers and training associates.
“We’re kind of just assessing it day-by-day. We hope to have him back within the next few games,” Redick mentioned after observe. “He was a participant. We just had non-contact practice today. But we got some good work in for about 45 minutes. And he’ll have a stay-ready game at some point. And over the next two days, Thursday, Friday, he’ll have some more opportunities to play live basketball. And then we’ll make a decision on Saturday. If it’s not Saturday, hopefully it’s Monday.”
Doncic mentioned he took extra time on this restoration for his calf damage with a view to get issues again to 100%.
After Wednesday’s observe, Doncic’s pal and former teammate Dorian Finney-Smith defended Doncic and his conditioning.
“I know him, man. He wants to play the whole game. Now I think he played like 40 minutes every game last playoffs,” Finney-Smith mentioned. “So that’s one thing about L, he a hooper, he want to play. So I don’t really look at the noise, I look at his production and he produced. … If I’m putting up them type of numbers, maybe I need to be 270.”
