The Lakers may have to wait until closer to tipoff to know whether Luka Doncic is available for Sunday’s game against the Detroit Pistons.
Los Angeles listed Doncic as questionable on Saturday because of lower back tightness, a day after he erupted for 53 points against the Portland Trail Blazers. The team has not ruled him out for Detroit, but the back issue is already familiar territory - Doncic also missed the Oct. 28 game against the Clippers with back tightness.
The timing is less than ideal for a Lakers team navigating a quick turnaround. After Sunday’s matchup with Detroit, they head to Atlanta for a game Monday. For now, Saturday’s injury designation only applies to the Pistons game.
Doncic’s recent run has been nothing short of massive. Through nine appearances, he is averaging 40.1 points, 7.8 rebounds and 7.7 assists. He also leads the NBA in charges drawn with four and is a +140 in those nine games, meaning the Lakers have outscored opponents by 140 with him on the floor.
His latest outburst came against Portland, where he posted 53 points, five rebounds and five assists. Austin Reaves chipped in 25 points and four steals, while Walker Kessler added 16 points and 12 rebounds. Doncic and Reaves combined for 78 points in the win.
If Doncic can’t go Sunday, Reaves would be the most obvious player to take on a bigger share of the offense. Quentin Grimes and Collin Sexton are among the other ball-handling options the Lakers could lean on.
Earlier this week, JJ Redick talked about the ways the Lakers have tried to lighten Doncic’s load, using other ball handlers and off-ball screens to get him the ball in better spots instead of asking him to do everything himself. Redick also pointed to Reaves, Grimes and Sexton as players he wanted attacking the paint.
A Doncic absence would push even more responsibility onto that group to create offense, rather than simply help set him up. Saturday’s report did not identify a replacement starter, so the Lakers’ next update will determine whether Redick needs to change his starting lineup against Detroit.
In Other News...
Luka Doncic Is Forcing A New Lakers Question Fast
Luka Doncic keeps making the Lakers scoring conversation feel less like a nice problem and more like a nightly reality. In the 124-118 win over Portland, he poured in 53 points with five rebounds and five assists, carrying Los Angeles through a game that demanded nearly everything from him. It was the kind of performance that also had head coach JJ Redick praising him afterward, which has become a familiar refrain as Doncics workload and production keep climbing together.
The bigger question now is what this run means for the way the Lakers are built around him. Doncic has now put together four straight 40-point games, a stretch that places him in rare company in franchise history and underscores just how quickly he has become central to everything Los Angeles does on offense. For a team trying to balance winning now with finding a sustainable formula, his latest outburst only sharpens the debate about how far this version of the Lakers can go if he keeps carrying this kind of load. [Read more 🡒]
Blazers Loss To Lakers Put Portlands Biggest Role Questions Back In Focus
The first NBA Cup game of the season offered Portland a familiar kind of frustration, the sort that can make a promising night feel suddenly unfinished. The Trail Blazers had control early against the Lakers, building a double-digit cushion in the first half, and they got strong work from Deni Avdija, who came close to a triple-double, while Damian Lillard carried the scoring load for much of the night.
But the loss also pushed the Blazers biggest role questions right back into view, especially around the backcourt where Scoot Hendersons uneven night stood out. With Luka Doncic driving the Lakers comeback, Portland was left sorting through the same issues that have followed this group for stretches, and the result was another reminder that the team still has to find a cleaner balance when the game tightens and the pressure rises. [Read more 🡒]
Anthony Davis To Lakers Talk Comes With One Huge Problem
Anthony Davis midseason move to Washington has already created a new layer of intrigue for the Lakers, even if it is still early in the process. ESPNs Brian Windhorst said the Wizards are taking a measured approach, wanting to see Davis over a meaningful stretch before making any call on an extension, which naturally shapes how the rest of the league has to view him. He has gotten off to a productive start in Washington, averaging 23.4 points and 9.3 rebounds in his first eight games there, and that kind of production is enough to keep the speculation machine humming.
For the Lakers, though, the path back is not simple. Any talk of a reunion runs into the reality that Los Angeles does not have much left in the way of premium trade pieces, which makes a big swing far more complicated than the name value alone would suggest. Until Washington makes its long-term intentions clearer, Davis remains one of the more interesting players to monitor on the market, but the Lakers are hardly in position to chase him without serious hurdles. [Read more 🡒]