Lakers’ Luka Doncic exits loss with hamstring injury, MRI scheduled

This is not the way the Lakers wanted to start April.

Luka Doncic exited Thursday’s 139-96 loss to the Thunder early with a strained left hamstring and did not return. He’s scheduled to undergo an MRI on Friday to determine the severity, per ESPN.

And yeah, it didn’t look great.

Doncic appeared to tweak the hamstring late in the first half, then aggravated it again in the third while driving against Jalen Williams. He planted, stopped, and immediately doubled over before going down along the baseline.

Teammates gathered around as he stayed down with his hands over his face.

He eventually walked off under his own power, though gingerly, with 7:39 left in the third and the Lakers trailing big. Head down. Clearly frustrated.

This also isn’t new. Doncic missed time before the All-Star break with a similar hamstring issue.

Before exiting, he had 12 points on 3-of-10 shooting, along with four rebounds, seven assists and six turnovers. The Lakers were outscored by 25 in his 26 minutes.

All of it coming just days after a dominant March that saw Doncic average 37.5 points and earn Western Conference Player of the Month honors.

Now there’s real concern.

Thursday marked his 64th game of the season, meaning he needs one more to qualify for MVP and other awards. The Lakers have five games left. His status for those, suddenly, is very much up in the air.

And as for the game itself, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander handled business with 28 points, seven rebounds and seven assists as Oklahoma City rolled.

For the Lakers, it was a blowout. And potentially something more.