When Luka Dončić initially went down with his hamstring strain, the Lakers ruled him out indefinitely, putting no clear timetable on his return.
While some people speculated that a Grade 2 hamstring strain meant he could return after a month or so, none of them were privy to his MRI results. In the end, Luka missed the next five and a half weeks of Lakers games and never came back.
In an article written by Dan Woike ofThe Athletic,which was released on Tuesday morning after the Lakers were eliminated, he reported that Luka’s injury was even more serious than originally believed.
Dončić didn’t play again after suffering his hamstring injury. While an MRI conducted in Dallas originally showed a Grade 2 lower hamstring strain, further medical evaluation in Spain showed a deeper and more severe hamstring injury, according to a league source.
The Lakers tried to win enough games for him to return, but that didn’t happen. Now, as Woike reports, Luka will hit the ground running with his offseason regimen.
He’s already begun the same strict offseason diet he undertook to transform his body last summer and is currently pain-free in the hamstring, positive signs for his long-term health.
While his hamstring strain was more serious than originally thought and it cut his season short, it’s not the kind of injury that will interrupt his offseason training.
The expectation is that he won’t be limited in his offseason preparation for next year, the Lakers’ top priority in a good position to lead whatever roster the Lakers put alongside him.
The timing of Luka’s injury robbed him and the team of finding out just how far they could’ve gone had he been available. That’s unfortunate, but the good news moving forward is that he can have a successful offseason, and this injury, while worse than anyone originally knew, shouldn’t derail Dončić‘s career or his summer.