{"id":521935,"date":"2026-01-17T04:19:13","date_gmt":"2026-01-17T04:19:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/521935\/"},"modified":"2026-01-17T04:19:13","modified_gmt":"2026-01-17T04:19:13","slug":"lakers-get-tough-news-on-luka-doncic-before-blazers-game","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/521935\/","title":{"rendered":"Lakers get tough news on Luka Doncic before Blazers game"},"content":{"rendered":"

Lakers get tough news on Luka Doncic before Blazers game<\/a> originally appeared on The Sporting News<\/a>. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Los Angeles Lakers<\/a> received unfortunate injury news ahead of Saturday’s game against the Portland Trail Blazers<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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Luka Doncic won’t play due to left groin soreness. Austin Reaves (left calf sprain) and Adou Thiero (right MCL sprain) are also out.<\/p>\n

Deandre Ayton (left knee soreness) and Jaxson Hayes (left hamstring tendinopathy) are questionable.<\/p>\n

The Blazers may also be without a star player. Forward Deni Avdija (lower back strain) is doubtful. Avdija is averaging a team-high 26.1 points and could be named an All-Star this season.<\/p>\n

Doncic had 39 points, three rebounds and four assists Thursday in the Lakers’ 135-117 loss to the Charlotte Hornets<\/a>. He has scored 30+ points in seven of his past nine games, including a 42-point effort Monday against the Sacramento Kings<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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More:<\/strong>ESPN NBA analyst rips Lakers after recent blowout loss<\/a><\/p>\n

Doncic is leading the NBA in scoring this season, averaging 33.6 points per night. He is shooting 46.8% from the field, 33.4% from three and averaging a team-high 8.7 assists. Saturday will be his eighth missed game of the season.<\/p>\n

Guards Marcus Smart and Gabe Vincent could see increased minutes in Doncic’s absence. Guard Kobe Bufkin, who was recently signed by the Lakers, could also see a bigger role. Bufkin played 17 minutes against the Hornets.<\/p>\n

LA will look to slow down the red-hot Blazers, who have won seven of their past 10 games. Portland defeated the Atlanta Hawks<\/a> 117-101 on Thursday.<\/p>\n

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The Lakers (24-15) are fifth in the Western Conference, 8.5 games behind the top-seeded Oklahoma City Thunder<\/a>. LA has lost four of its past five games, including three losses by double-digits.<\/p>\n

More Lakers news:\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Lakers get tough news on Luka Doncic before Blazers game originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":521936,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[40],"tags":[17377,3119,17378,3118,3372,57186,67077,6271,228738,123968,3141,3365,25873,1260,1268,3133,3143,62,232208,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-521935","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nba","8":"tag-adou-thiero","9":"tag-atlanta-hawks","10":"tag-austin-reaves","11":"tag-charlotte-hornets","12":"tag-deandre-ayton","13":"tag-deni-avdija","14":"tag-gabe-vincent","15":"tag-jaxson-hayes","16":"tag-knee-soreness","17":"tag-kobe-bufkin","18":"tag-los-angeles-lakers","19":"tag-luka-doncic","20":"tag-marcus-smart","21":"tag-nba","22":"tag-oklahoma-city-thunder","23":"tag-portland-trail-blazers","24":"tag-sacramento-kings","25":"tag-sports","26":"tag-the-blazers","27":"tag-united-states","28":"tag-unitedstates","29":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115908520525866254","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/521935","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=521935"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/521935\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/521936"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=521935"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=521935"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=521935"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}