There are certain moments that haunt us. That gnaw at us. That creep into our minds in quiet moments and play with our emotions like a fiddle.
Luka Dončić knows his.
It happened on April 2 in a game against the Thunder last season. It was a measuring stick game against the reigning NBA champions. The Lakers’ momentum was at a fever pitch.
The Lakers were on a 16-2 run. Dončić was playing out of his mind, averaging 37.5 points, 8 rebounds and 7.4 assists per game in March. He had catapulted himself into the MVP conversation and turned the Lakers into a championship contender.
If Dončić led the Lakers past the Thunder, he could have leapfrogged Shai Gilgeous-Alexander in the MVP race. He could have made the Lakers considered real threats for the Larry O’Brien trophy.
But the game was a nightmare from tipoff.
The Lakers were being steamrolled. To make matters worse, Dončić felt a tweak in his left hamstring in the second quarter.
Given the implications of this game, he decided to push through it. Even though the Lakers were down by 31 points at halftime, he decided to fight.
Then disaster struck.
Five minutes into the third quarter, the pain worsened. Dončić grabbed at his left hamstring again. He was taken out of the game.
An MRI later revealed that he suffered a Grade 2 hamstring strain. Dončić missed the final five games of the season. He was sidelined for the entire postseason.
That moment effectively ended the Lakers’ championship hopes. It put a red slash through his MVP campaign. It marked his team’s postseason demise.
If Dončić could go back, he would.
“When it comes to my spirit of trying to win, I am just stubborn,” Dončić told Sports Illustrated. “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.”
That was Dončić’s first time publicly acknowledging he wishes he would’ve handled things differently in that moment.
It’s impossible to assess fault here.
Sure, Dončić should’ve known better. You don’t mess around with hamstrings. But teams have coaches and training staffs to prevent players from getting in their own way.
Lakers coach JJ Redick could’ve refused to put Doncic back in. The training staff could’ve intercepted. There were a lot of dropped balls in retrospect. Hindsight is 20-20.
But it’s hard not to imagine a sliding doors situation, especially knowing Dončić believes things could’ve easily gone another way.
What would’ve happened if Dončić had pulled himself from that game at the first sign of pain?
It’s impossible to say.
The Lakers lost their regular season games against the Thunder by an average of 29.3 points. Maybe they never had a chance of getting past Oklahoma City in the playoffs.
Or maybe they did.
No one thought the Lakers would go on a 16-2 run last spring, including beating the Knicks, Timberwolves, Nuggets and Rockets.
No one thought they’d take a 3-0 lead against the Rockets in the first round of the playoffs without Dončić and Austin Reaves (who suffered a Grade 2 oblique strain against the Thunder on April 2).
The Lakers were on a roll.
Dončić was playing better than anyone in the league last spring. LeBron James had fully bought into being the Lakers’ third offensive option. Austin Reaves looked like an All-Star.
Things were clicking.
In many ways, belief is more powerful than anything in basketball. And the Lakers really believed. Dončić really believed.
But Dončić’s hamstring strain robbed the Lakers of knowing their potential.
James put the Lakers on his 41-year-old shoulders and carried them past the Rockets in the first round of the playoffs. But without Dončić, they had no chance of getting past the Thunder in the second round.
Los Angeles was swept out of the playoffs. And now, that iteration of the Lakers is history. James chose to leave for the 76ers in free agency and LA added nine new players last offseason.
There will forever be a “what if?”
Dončić was in the zone. Over a six-game stretch in March he averaged 40.6 points, 6.6 rebounds 6.3 assists and 2.6 steals, becoming the first player to average 40 points over six road games since Michael Jordan in 1986.
Players don’t get into trances like that often. And when they do, it’s powerful.
The Lakers’ potential last season will forever be unknown. At that moment, it felt limitless. It felt as though they could really compete for a championship.
Then everything went up in flames in that one fateful game against the Thunder.
We’ll forever be left with more questions than answers.
And Dončić will forever be left with pangs of regret.
