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Lakers adjust to life without Luka Doncic with 5 games left

April 4, 2026

DALLAS — The sun rose over Dallas on Saturday morning and the Lakers were introduced to their stark new reality.

Luka Doncic suffered a Grade 2 left hamstring strain on Thursday in the Lakers’ loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder and is out indefinitely and will miss the remainder of the regular season, the team announced Friday. Doncic is also unlikely to play in the first round of the NBA playoffs, considering the average time of recovery for a Grade 2 strain. Five games remain on the schedule, and Lakers coach JJ Redick doesn’t have much of a choice.

Starting with a Saturday afternoon practice at Southern Methodist University, it is time to figure out and tinker with a roster that thrived with Doncic as the face of the three-star operation.

Those changes could start with LeBron James again becoming the face of the Lakers’ schemes, just weeks after the team churned out a 15-2 record in March when the 41-year-old spent time making the smaller effort-based plays in the shadow of Doncic’s Western Conference Player of the Month display.

“It’s a challenge for us,” James said. “It’s always got to be a next-man-up (mentality). But there’s no way you can replace that type of impact.”

Redick admitted that a priority at Saturday’s practice was making sure his team was in the “right frame of mind.” Forward Rui Hachimura said the practice was an opportunity for a reset. With Doncic’s injury and losing to the Thunder by 43 points, the Japanese forward said the Lakers (50-27) “needed” the pair of off days to refocus.

Indefinitely playing without Doncic is a hurdle that the Lakers, who are holding off the Denver Nuggets for the third seed in the Western Conference by just a game in the standings, couldn’t have expected, predicted or prepared for, especially with their start of the playoffs exactly two weeks away. From a strategic standpoint, Redick said, the Lakers have no choice but to play differently. That means playing through James, Hachimura, center Deandre Ayton and bench swingman Luke Kennard, he said.

James said he expects his role on the team to change going forward; and that when his role changes, it does require a mindset change. No matter how the Lakers go about rotations in the final five regular-season games, James is clear: There’s no replacing a player such as Doncic.

“It’s no filling it,” said James, who is averaging 20.6 points per game across 56 games this season, the third-best mark on the team behind Doncic and Austin Reaves.

“I mean, you got a guy who’s averaging 35 plus (points) and eight (assists) and seven (seven rebounds) and doing the things that he’s doing. You don’t replace that or try to even fill that. I think it’s up to all of us – whoever is in the lineup – to pick up our play.”

The Lakers’ present offensive options don’t even include the likes of Reaves (23.3 ppg) and Marcus Smart, whose statuses are to be determined for Sunday’s game against the Dallas Mavericks (24-53), Redick said.

Smart is still dealing with ankle soreness from when Orlando Magic center Goga Bitadze fell on the Lakers’ veteran guard two weeks ago, and has missed six consecutive games since. Reaves, who briefly left Thursday’s game against the Thunder with an intercostal/ribs issue in his left side, received a second MRI on Saturday morning after his first MRI was conducted on the wrong area.

“I don’t know where the chain of command lies with Dallas imaging, but they they scanned the wrong area, so not on our end,” Redick said. “We we made it explicit what was supposed to be scanned, but they scanned the wrong area.”

James on Memphis, NBA cities and hotels

While golfing in a video released earlier this week on the Bob Does Sports YouTube channel, James criticized the city of Memphis when discussing road trips that teams take to face the Memphis Grizzlies. He mentioned his disdain for the hotel that NBA teams stay at, as well as inferring that the team should relocate to Nashville, Tennessee’s capital city where the NFL’s Tennessee Titans and NHL’s Nashville Predators are based.

Memphis Mayor Paul Young, ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith and Kendrick Perkins, and other media personalities chimed in on James’ comments about Memphis.

When asked about if he had anything to clarify over his remarks, James added Milwaukee, and his hometown, to the list.

“I’m 41 years old, there’s two cities I do not like playing in right now,” he said. “And that’s Milwaukee and that’s Memphis. What is your problem with it? I don’t like going home (Akron, Ohio) either, … and I’m from there. People are ridiculous. They also get mad at my son being on the team, too. So, what are we talking about? People need to figure out other ways to put their energy to other things that’s important.”

James continued: “Like, seriously? I’m not talking about the city, like the people in Memphis. I don’t like staying at the Hyatt Centric. What’s wrong with that? Nothing. What are we talking about? What are we talking about? People need to chill the hell out.”

James is hardly the first NBA player to speak about their dislike for Memphis hotels. Most recently, Minnesota Timberwolves star Anthony Edwards and Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green have shared remarks about the road living conditions when playing the Grizzlies.

Lakers at Dallas

When: 4:30 p.m. PT Sunday

Where: American Airlines Center, Dallas

TV/radio: NBA, Peacock/ESPN LA 710

Orange County Register

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Lakers adjust to life without Luka Doncic with 5 games left

James on Memphis, NBA cities and hotels

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