Luka Doncic, who went to Spain to receive treatment on his injured hamstring, will return to the United States on Friday, sources told the California Post.
The Lakers’ star guard suffered a Grade 2 left hamstring strain in a 134-96 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder on April 2. The Injury typically sidelines athletes around 30 days, but Doncic is hoping to expedite his return to the court.
The fourth-seeded Lakers will host the fifth-seeded Rockets in Game 1 of their first-round playoff series on Saturday at Crypto.com Arena at 5:30 pm.
Doncic was having an MVP-caliber season before suffering the injury with five games remaining in the regular season. He led the league in scoring (33.5 points), was third in assists (8.3) and sixth in steals (1.6).
Over the month of March, Doncic averaged a league-leading 37.5 points on 49.2% shooting, 8 rebounds and 7.4 assists. He led the Lakers to a 15-2 record over that period.