Doncic injury: out of MVP and awards due to the 65-game rule. But there is an exception

The Lakers are in trouble. The verdict of the MRI that Luka Doncic underwent was disheartening: the Slovenian suffered a muscle strain in his left flexor against Oklahoma City, his regular season has already ended, even with five games still on the calendar for Los Angeles. And his availability for the playoffs that start on April 18, the Lakers are third in the Western Conference, 50-27 record, with Denver and Houston one and two games away in the wake, becomes a question mark. There are no set recovery times, Doncic is out of action indefinitely. A big problem, indeed.

the injury

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– The 27-year-old from Ljubljana was injured on April 2 against the Thunder, in the 3rd quarter, with the Lakers already down 58-90 in a game they then lost by 43 points. Luka touched his flexor and immediately stopped, desperate, realizing the seriousness of the injury. The diagnosis leaked by the Lakers speaks of “grade 2 strain”, the intermediate muscle injury, the one between 1, the contracture, and 3, the muscle tear. It usually takes a few weeks to recover, more than a few days, in these cases. About a month, usually. Doncic will probably try to force the timing, to return perhaps not from the beginning of the yellow and purple’s 1st round playoff series, but as the work progresses. As a lifesaver. The fact that he was not declared unavailable for the playoffs, that there is no talk of the season being over, is a good sign, but with muscle injuries the relapses are the order of the day and trying to reduce the days off as standard procedure is always a risk. Furthermore, this season Doncic has already suffered a muscle injury in his left leg, which had cost him four games of absence before the 2026 All Star Game. Upon the release of the news, in the Italian night, which gives more defined contours to Luka’s stoppage, the Lakers’ share of the NBA title collapsed from 30-1 to 100-1 according to DraftKings Sportsbook.

64 GAMES AND PRIZES

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The stop is even more mocking because it comes when the Slovenian only had one match left to play to reach the 65 (out of the 82 on the calendar) needed to be eligible for the individual seasonal awards. Doncic, in his first full year with the Lakers after the exchange that took him from Dallas to Los Angeles in February 2025, is among the candidates for the MVP, the best player award of the season, thanks to the 33.5 points scored, the league’s leading scorer, the 8.3 assists dished out and the 7.7 rebounds pulled down on average per game. Luka was named March West Player of the Month with 13 straight games of at least 30 points, including seven of at least 40, including a 60-point effort against Miami. In short, the Balkan guard was performing his best basketball before the injury suffered at the Paycom Center in Oklahoma City against the Western Conference leaders.

exception

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So to add insult to injury: Doncic was almost certain to be selected in the first All NBA quintet of the season, at least. And Luka is not resigned to losing those honors. His agent said that to still be considered for individual end-of-season honors, he will ask the league to apply the “extraordinary circumstances” exception to the 65-game rule as a minimum eligibility requirement. In detail, he will ask for the two games that Doncic missed due to the birth of his second daughter born in Slovenia on December 4th to be “condoned”. The Lakers winger had flown to Europe then, with the Lakers’ permission, missing two games in Los Angeles. You will therefore be asked to consider the extraordinary nature of the family reasons that caused those absences and deduct them from the total. The appeal is declared, but everything remains to be verified as a possibility of success. Will the NBA agree to set a precedent?

LEBRON, REAVES AND THE WOLVES

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Meanwhile, without Doncic, James and Austin Reaves will have to fend for themselves. The Lakers, who have already conquered the Pacific Division, will play tomorrow in Dallas, then in the city of angels again against OKC, then in San Francisco with Golden State, who finds Steph Curry again, then at home against Phoenix and finally they will close the season in front of their fans against Utah. Currently, third-seeded Los Angeles’ playoff pairing would be with the sixth-seeded Minnesota Timberwolves. Not impossible on paper, but it would be very complicated without Doncic on the floor. Ant Edwards would suddenly become a bogeyman without Linus’ deck Slovenian to hold on to.