NBA news, live updates: Luka Dončić to miss rest of regular season with hamstring injury; Steph Curry expected to return Sunday; Anthony Edwards ineligible for awards

The Los Angeles Lakers suffered both insult and injury Thursday night against the Oklahoma City Thunder. During the team’s blowout loss, star guard Luka Dončić was forced to leave the game due to a left hamstring injury.

Dončić underwent an MRI on Friday, resulting in the Lakers ruling him out indefinitely, according to ESPN’s Shams Charania. At the very least, he will miss the remainder of the regular season.

The injury occurred with a little over seven minutes remaining in the third quarter. Dončić pulled up near the free-throw line after being double-teamed and grabbed at his left hamstring. He laid on the court for a while before eventually leaving the contest.

After the game, Lakers head coach JJ Redick revealed Dončić actually tweaked his hamstring in the first quarter, but was cleared to play in the second half. Dončić missed four games earlier in the season due to a left hamstring injury.

The injury comes at an awful time for the Lakers, as the team has just five games left in the regular season. Following Thursday’s loss, the Lakers sit at 50-27, good for the No. 3 seed in the Western Conference.

Read the full story here.

Anthony Edwards is questionable for Friday’s game against the Philadelphia 76ers, according to the Minnesota Timberwolves’ injury report. He’s already awards ineligible after missing his 17th game Thursday (and failing to reach 15 minutes in another game).

After more than two months out of action, Golden State Warriors superstar Stephen Curry “is expected to be cleared to return” to the floor for Sunday’s matchup with former teammate Kevin Durant and the Houston Rockets, according to Shams Charania and Anthony Slater of ESPN.

Curry hasn’t played since January 30, sidelined by lingering pain and swelling in his right knee that has cost him the last 27 games. Sam Amick and Nick Friedell of The Athletic reported Tuesday that Curry was targeting a weekend return, after going through his first full practice in months.

“He went through a full practice, but it was very light,” Warriors head coach Steve Kerr told reporters. “We didn’t do anything live. He’s gonna scrimmage right now five-on-five. It’s a good step for him.”

With Curry taking more steps as the week wore on, he and the Warriors are now reportedly poised to end an absence that, combined with the loss of All-Star forward Jimmy Butler to a torn right ACL in late January, sent Golden State plummeting down the standings.

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Denver Nuggets Peyton Watson has a right hamstring injury that will put him on week-to-week status, head coach David Adelman told reporters on Friday.

Watson, 23, left Wednesday’s game versus the Utah Jazz in the first half and did not return.

The Lakers’ very bad night saw them lose 139-96 to the Oklahoma City Thunder on Thursday. They are also holding their breath Dončić, who left the game in the third quarter with a hamstring injury.

Dončić will undergo an MRI on Friday. If he cannot return by the end of the regular season on April 12, he will be ineligible for any postseason awards.

Anthony Edwards has been ruled out for Thursday’s game with right knee pain and an illness. That will be his 17th absence of the season, leaving him ineligible for the NBA’s postseason awards.

The Spurs have officially ruled out their MVP candidate for Thursday’s game against the Clippers, which is the second leg of a back-to-back after Wednesday’s lopsided win over the Warriors. He’s resting his a sore ankle.

Where it gets interesting is that Wemby is at 61 games played with five games left on the Spurs schedule after Thursday. With his appearance in the NBA Cup final counting for that total, he needs to play in at least three of those five games to be awards eligible.

The Wizards announced Thursday that Kyshawn George is out for the rest of the year with a ulnar collateral ligament (UCL) tear after being re-evaluated yesterday. George suffered the grade 2 UCL tear in his left elbow earlier this month.

Per the team, he is “expected to make a full recovery ahead of the 2026-27 season.”

The Orlando Magic have cleared forward Franz Wagner to return to action on Wednesday night, having missed 22 games with an ankle injury, the team announced.

Golden State Warriors point guard Stephen Curry is close to making his return. Curry’s goal is to reportedly play against the Houston Rockets on Sunday, according to ESPN’s Shams Charania.

The 38-year-old point guard last played on Jan. 30 against the Detroit Pistons after suffering a knee injury.

With a few hours to go before his team is set to take on the Washington Wizards on Wednesday, Joel Embiid’s playing status is unclear.

The Philadelphia 76ers originally announced Embiid would miss the contest due to an illness, but the center posted on social media that his injury designation must have been an “April Fools joke.”

In his tweet, Embiid mentioned he played against the Miami Heat on Monday despite the same symptoms.

The Phoenix Suns fell to the Orlando Magic 115-111 on Tuesday night. As soon as that game went final, a pair of Western Conference squads punched their tickets to the postseason.

With the Suns’ loss, the Los Angeles Lakers and Denver Nuggets both clinched playoff spots. The Lakers also claimed the Pacific Division crown.

Anthony Davis is progressing as expected from a hand injury and has been cleared for light contact, the Wizards announced Tuesday.

However, with only seven games remaining on the Wizards’ schedule and the team one of many tanking at this point of the season, you have to wonder how much they try actually getting him on the court.

The New York Knicks didn’t play Monday night. But they clinched their spot in the postseason.

With the 76ers’ 119-109 loss to the Heat Monday night, the Knicks are guaranteed to finish in no worse than sixth place in the Eastern Conference and have earned a guaranteed playoff spot.

But the Knicks are setting their sights higher than sixth place. At 48-27 as of Monday night, the Knicks stood firmly in third place in the East, two games ahead of the fourth-place Cavaliers and four games ahead of the fifth-place Raptors.

They’re in strong position to lock up home-court advantage in the first round. But a potential second-round matchup against a Celtics team with home-court advantage awaits. The 50-24 Celtics leave a 112-102 loss to the Hawks Monday with a 2.5 game edge over the Knicks for second place with eight games remaining on their schedule.

The Minnesota Timberwolves could be without one of their key players for the rest of the regular season as they battle for playoff positioning in the Western Conference.

Jaden McDaniels is listed as week-to-week with patellar tendinitis and a bone bruise in his left knee, the team announced on Monday.

However, Minnesota could get Anthony Edwards back for Monday’s matchup with the Dallas Mavericks. He was upgraded to questionable on the injury report after missing the past six games with a right knee injury.

Read more from Yahoo Sports.

The Boston Celtics officially secured their spot in the playoffs with Sunday’s 114-99 victory over the Charlotte Hornets.

Jayson Tatum had his best game since returning from his Achilles tear with 32 points, 8 assists and 5 rebounds. Jaylen Brown missed the game with left Achilles tendinitis.

Boston is now guaranteed to have no worse than the Eastern Conference’s No. 4 seed when the playoffs begin.

For more about the NBA’s postseason picture, read here.

Philadelphia picked up a much-needed win over Charlotte on Saturday, with the two trading three-pointers in an exciting finish.

Joel Embiid ended up playing hero for the Sixers, hitting what would prove to be the game-winning three pointer with a minute left in the game.

Both Tyrese Maxey and Kelly Oubre Jr. are back.

They’ve returned to the lineup for the Philadelphia 76ers’ game versus the Charlotte Hornets on Saturday.

Maxey missed the past 10 games with a sprained right pinkie. Oubre hadn’t played since he went off for a season-high 30 points versus the Memphis Grizzlies on March 10. He had been dealing with a left elbow sprain.