{"id":512823,"date":"2026-01-13T09:30:15","date_gmt":"2026-01-13T09:30:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/512823\/"},"modified":"2026-01-13T09:30:15","modified_gmt":"2026-01-13T09:30:15","slug":"luka-doncic-scores-42-but-is-hampered-by-injury-in-lakers-loss","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/512823\/","title":{"rendered":"Luka Doncic scores 42, but is hampered by injury in Lakers’ loss"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

SACRAMENTO\u00a0\u2014\u00a0Luka Doncic<\/a> scored 40 points through three quarters for the Lakers<\/a> against the Sacramento Kings on Monday night, going 15 for 21 from the field. He had seven assists and six rebounds and had played more than 30 minutes.<\/p>\n

But then he got his left thigh wrapped.<\/p>\n

After that, Doncic only made one of four shots, missing both of his three-point attempts in the Lakers\u2019 124-112 loss<\/a> to the hot-shooting Kings.<\/p>\n

Doncic didn\u2019t provide much clarity on what he might be dealing with, saying his ailment was \u201csomewhere\u201d in the inner thigh or groin area.<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, I was really uncertain. Before the game … I felt something,\u201d said Doncic, who was unsure if he would play before the game. \u201cBut tomorrow, we\u2019ll see how I wake up.\u201d<\/p>\n

Doncic finished with 42 points, eight assists and seven rebounds. He was two for nine from three-point range. He didn\u2019t let the injury be an excuse for his fourth-quarter struggles.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf I\u2019m out there, I\u2019ll try to go,\u201d Doncic said. \u201cSo that\u2019s never an excuse. I\u2019m good.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Lakers were down by 20 points in the third quarter and were forced to play catch-up the rest of the way. They got to within seven points in the fourth quarter before the Kings pulled away.<\/p>\n

\"Lakers <\/p>\n

Lakers star LeBron James, right, drives against Sacramento Kings forward Precious Achiuwa during the first half Monday. James finished with 22 points.<\/p>\n

(Justine Willard \/ Associated Press)<\/p>\n

They shot decently from the field, shooting 49%. But they were horrible from three-point range, making just 22% (eight for 36).<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s literally we can\u2019t make a shot,\u201d Lakers coach JJ Redick<\/a> said.<\/p>\n

The Kings shot 59% from the field and 65% from three-point range.<\/p>\n

\u201cDefensively, I mean, I think we played solid defense,\u201d LeBron James<\/a> said. \u201cI mean, they made a bunch of threes. We didn\u2019t make many, but I thought we played. We had our game plan. We executed our game plan. Tonight was just one of those cases where you didn\u2019t make shots.\u201d<\/p>\n

DeMar DeRozan torched the Lakers inside, scoring 32 points on 14-for-19 shooting.<\/p>\n

\"\" <\/p>\n

Malik Monk came off the bench and scored 26 points, going seven for nine from three-point range. Even Russell Westbrook torched the Lakers, scoring 22 points in making four of his eight three-pointers.<\/p>\n

When the Lakers got to within 112-104, the Kings put the game away with a DeRozan jumper and three-pointers from Monk and Precious Achiuwa.<\/p>\n

Redick pulled his starters with 1:53 left.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe faced a hot-shooting team tonight,\u201d Redick said.<\/p>\n

Rui Hachimura was in uniform but didn\u2019t play after missing the previous six games with right calf soreness. There\u2019s a good chance he will see playing time against the Atlanta Hawks on Tuesday night at Crypto.com Arena.<\/p>\n

LeBron loves his \u2018super cool\u2019 patch \"LeBron <\/p>\n

LeBron James wears a special patch on his jersey commemorating his unprecedented 23rd NBA season.<\/p>\n

(Justine Willard \/ Associated Press)<\/p>\n

James, who scored 22 points, wore a patch on his jersey commemorating his unprecedented 23rd NBA season in the city where he played his first NBA game. It features a silhouette of his pregame chalk toss and three colored stripes that represents the three franchises he has played on \u2014 the Lakers, Cavaliers and Heat.<\/p>\n

He will wear the patch for the remainder of the season. After each game, the patch will be removed from his jersey for that game, dated and shipped to a Topps\u2019 production facility to be authenticated and inserted into a pack of trading cards.<\/p>\n

\u201cSuper cool. Super surreal. Super humbled, blessed,\u201d James said. \u201cI walked in here and saw it for the first time. It was like an emotional moment as well. Just think about the journey thus far and have an opportunity to be here where it kind of all started obviously, but in this city.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd it\u2019s been a heck of a journey and people have followed my career and my fans have followed my career to get an opportunity to be a part of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lakers fans might not get the chance to see James and his patch up close on Tuesday night. There\u2019s a good chance he will not play in the second game of a back-to-back.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll see how he feels in the morning,\u201d Redick said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SACRAMENTO\u00a0\u2014\u00a0Luka Doncic scored 40 points through three quarters for the Lakers against the Sacramento Kings on Monday night,…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":512824,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5123],"tags":[38124,1582,276,1910,12356,21132,2961,8604,3363,224,5337,5948,3365,28881,178567,9323,449,5950,38272,229164],"class_list":{"0":"post-512823","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles","8":"tag-assist","9":"tag-ca","10":"tag-california","11":"tag-game","12":"tag-jersey","13":"tag-king","14":"tag-la","15":"tag-lakers","16":"tag-lebron-james","17":"tag-los-angeles","18":"tag-losangeles","19":"tag-loss","20":"tag-luka-doncic","21":"tag-malik-monk","22":"tag-patch","23":"tag-player","24":"tag-point","25":"tag-season","26":"tag-third-quarter","27":"tag-trading-card"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115887094415611550","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/512823","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=512823"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/512823\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/512824"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=512823"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=512823"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=512823"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}