The Los Angeles Lakers had a player from the Luka Doncic trade on the court in crunch time as they tried to prolong their season against the Oklahoma City Thunder.
The problem is that it wasn't Luka. It was Maxi Kleber, seemingly in the game out of nowhere to set a screen. In the end, L.A. didn't have enough, OKC completed its sweep, and Doncic ended the campaign in street clothes.
The layers of irony were stacked upon each other as this season came for an end for Luka, with Kleber serving a bit as the ironic cherry on top.
Doncic's health is the big thing, of course. He appeared on the cover of Men's Health magazine in the offseason.
After being shockingly traded by the Dallas Mavericks, Doncic seemed motivated to get his body into better shape, and he seemingly did so. That didn't stop the hamstring strain that turned out to have ended his season prematurely.
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It's hard to know whether Doncic's journey of physical improvement had anything to do with his hamstring strain. The reality is that it was probably just bad luck.
There's also the LeBron James layer here. All season long, James learned how to play second fiddle to Doncic. But when the games mattered, Doncic wasn't available, so the King had to put on his crown once again.
All told, it wasn't the season Doncic wanted to have in his first full campaign with the Lakers. Last season was supposed to be about adjustments. This one was supposed to be about dominating.
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The Lakers couldn't stay healthy at all, though, with James and Doncic and Austin Reaves all missing significant time with injuries even before this sad ending note.
And now there are questions. Lakers head coach JJ Redick basically said in his postgame press conference that he knows they aren't good enough to win a title right now, and that this offseason has to work toward solving that.
Doncic will clearly be the center of whatever the Lakers do in the future. They'll just have to hope it's actually him on the floor when the games matter next season and beyond.
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