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Luka Dončić of the Lakers is now predicted to return from injury at a crucial moment in the playoffs.
When will Los Angeles Lakers star Luka Dončić return from his hamstring injury? A top ESPN analyst now predicts a timeline. If the prediction proves accurate, the Lakers’ playoff chances just received a major boost.
Why? The timeline points to a possible first-round playoff return. If the Lakers can extend the series.
The 27-year-old Dončić, a native of Slovenia, played five years as a teenager for the Spanish basketball club Real Madrid, leading the team to the EuroLeague championship in 2018. Later that year, he was drafted third overall by the Atlanta Hawks, who immediately traded him to the Dallas Mavericks.
Now, Dončić is back in Spain to receive treatment on his hamstring, which he injured on April 2 in a Lakers loss to the defending NBA champion Oklahoma City Thunder. According to Los Angeles Times report, Dončić is most likely in Spain to receive “ultrasound-guided platelet-rich plasma (PRP) injections and stem cell injections,” treatments that can speed healing of damaged tissue.
“In the U.S., only PRP and stem cell injections coming from a patient’s own body are allowed and the cells are not allowed to be manipulated,” wrote Times reporter Thuc Nhi Nguyen. “With looser regulations in Europe, doctors can attempt to increase the concentration of anti-inflammatory factors in a single PRP sample or culture stem cells over days to increase the number of them with hopes of speeding up healing even more.”
If the European treatments work as Dončić and the Lakers hope, when could he return? Veteran ESPN NBA analyst Ramona Shelburne offered a prediction in an on-air interview Friday.
Lakers Must Extend First-Round Playoff Series
Dončić would be available to help NBA legend LeBron James “write that Hollywood ending” to his unprecedented 23-year career, Shelburne predicted.
“I mean, this is on a platter for him. Just write the final scene there. I mean, everybody’s out, his back’s against the wall. Can he still have it? This is it. It sets up for it,” Shelburne said on the ESPN2 NBA Today program. “From what I understand, there’s a chance Luka could come back later in the first round. He’s in Spain, he’s getting treatment every day. A lot of people on the team are talking to him every day. He’s engaged.”
Shelburne later said that, “Even if Luka is not able to make it all the way back in the first round, that does give them (i.e. the Lakers) some hope. If they can extend the series one or two at home, maybe there’s a chance Luka comes back.”
In other words, the prediction that Dončić returns in the first round of the playoffs depends on whether the Lakers can avoid being swept by their first-round opponent, likely the Houston Rockets.
Lakers Playoff Outlook With 1 Game to Play
The Lakers as of Saturday are riding a two-game winning streak heading into Sunday’s regular-season finale at home against the Utah Jazz, the team who, at 22-59, hold the worst record in the Western Conference, tied with the Sacramento Kings.
Assuming the Lakers win that Sunday game, they clinch the No. 4 seed, because they hold tiebreakers over both the Rockets, one game behind Los Angeles, and the current No. 3-seeded Denver Nuggets, who are now one game ahead.
That means their first-round opponent would be Houston — unless the Lakers win Sunday and the Nuggets, currently on an 11-game win streak, lose their finale to the San Antonio Spurs. In that case, the Lakers take the No. 3 seed and would host the Minnesota Timberwolves to start the first round.
Jonathan Vankin JONATHAN VANKIN is an award-winning journalist and writer who now covers baseball and other sports for Heavy.com. He twice won New England Press Association awards for sports feature writing. He was a sports editor and writer at The Daily Yomiuri in Tokyo, Japan, covering Japan Pro Baseball, boxing, sumo and other sports. More about Jonathan Vankin
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