Is Luka Doncic Playing Tomorrow?

The Los Angeles Lakers surprised the world and upset the Houston Rockets in the first round of the NBA playoffs last week. LeBron James did much of the heavy lifting to get the Lakers into the second round, where they will now face the top-seeded Oklahoma City Thunder. The Lakers won the series against Houston in six games, including a decisive 98-78 victory on Friday to close the series.

The question all Lakers fans want answered is whether Luka Doncic will play in Game 1 of the series. Unfortunately, it's looking like the MVP-hopeful is still rehabbing his hamstring strain.

According to Shams Charania, Doncic will miss the start of the series against the Thunder. "It's still a slow path on Doncic's recovery. He's doing more and more on the court, but right now, he's still not full-fledged running or full-contact workouts."

There is no further update on Doncic's status right now. It sounds like the next step for him will be to actually get in a game or scrimmage scenario in practice. Once he gets to that point, it's more likely he'll be nearing a return for Los Angeles.

The Lakers may have won the last series against Houston without Doncic, but the Thunder are on a whole different level than the Rockets. Houston was also missing Kevin Durant for five out of the six games of that series. OKC has a much deeper team than the Rockets and will present challenges for the Lakers that are going to be hard to overcome without Doncic.

The Slovenian star was having one of the best seasons of his career before the injury. Doncic averaged 33.5 points per game (first in the NBA), along with 7.7 rebounds per game and 8.3 assists per game. He was a leading candidate for the MVP award this season and will likely be put on the All-NBA First Team.

The Lakers are in the second round of the playoffs for the first time since 2023. That season, they defeated the Golden State Warriors in the second round before getting swept by the Denver Nuggets.

This story was originally published by Men's Journal on May 4, 2026, where it first appeared in the News section. Add Men's Journal as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

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This story was originally published May 4, 2026 at 9:00 AM.