PORTLAND — Luka Dončić will miss the Los Angeles Lakers’ game against the Portland Trail Blazers on Thursday as he continues to manage a left calf injury.
The Lakers lost 100-97 to the Charlotte Hornets on Wednesday, and with Thursday’s contest being the second night of a back-to-back, they are taking a cautious approach to recovery, team sources confirmed to The Athletic. The team expects Dončić to be available to play on both ends of back-to-backs soon. NBA reporter Marc Stein was first to report the Lakers’ reasoning for resting Dončić.
After suffering a left calf strain on Christmas, Dončić missed nearly six weeks — 22 straight games — the longest absence of his career.
Dončić has struggled by his standards in his return and in a new offensive system, turning the ball over five-plus times twice and shooting under 36 percent twice. Both coach JJ Redick and star LeBron James insist that the Lakers aren’t worried and are confident they will figure out the optimal way to acclimate Dončić within the offense.
“It’s his third game since Christmas,” James said Wednesday. “And it’s his third game in the sense of just trying to, he still doesn’t know all the plays, he doesn’t know all the defensive coverages, all the signals, and things that we’ve built since September. So obviously, we’re trying to fast-track it on the fly. He’s coming back from his injury. He’s getting back into form. So, we’re all working through it together.”
Dončić said he spent the All-Star break away from basketball as he continues processing the shocking trade that sent him from Dallas to Los Angeles.
“Honestly, I was getting my mind off basketball a little bit,” Dončić said Wednesday. “But, I’m just excited to come back and play. I missed a lot of time. I’ve never missed this much time. So, it’s something new to me. But I was just excited to get back to playing.”
This season, Dončić is averaging 26.5 points, 8.1 rebounds, 7.5 assists and 1.8 steals in 34.6 minutes per game. As a Laker, he’s averaging 14.7 points, 6.7 rebounds, 5.3 assists and 0.7 steals in 26.7 minutes per game. The Lakers (32-21) are 1-2 when Dončić plays.
Lakers forward Jarred Vanderbilt will also miss Thursday’s game due to right foot surgery management. Vanderbilt, who also played Wednesday, had surgery on both of his feet this past offseason and missed the first 42 games of the season. He sat out the second game of the Lakers’ last back-to-back on Jan. 27 in Charlotte and Jan. 28 in Philadelphia.
James (left foot injury management) is questionable against the Trail Blazers. He and coach Redick have said over the past two days that James’ foot injury is something he and the team are going to have to manage for the rest of the season.
The Lakers are tied with Phoenix for the most difficult remaining schedule in the NBA, according to Tankathon.
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