Luka Doncic is making progress in his recovery from a left hamstring strain, but the Lakers superstar still isn’t close to a full return.
Doncic revealed he has started running again but has not yet been cleared for contact work, speaking to reporters in Oklahoma City for the first time since suffering the injury late in the regular season.
“Yeah, I’m running. Right now I’m running, but I haven’t done any contact,” he told reporters in Oklahoma City.
The injury has already sidelined Doncic throughout the Lakers’ playoff run, and while there was early optimism he could potentially return at some stage during the postseason, that timeline now appears increasingly unlikely.
Doncic admitted this recovery process has been very different from the hamstring issue he dealt with earlier in the year.
“I’m feeling good. Obviously this is a different injury than I’ve ever had,” Doncic said. “It’s my second time with the hamstring, but the first one was obviously way less at the end of January. So recovery has been a little bit longer. But I’m feeling good, working out every day and trying to come back.”
The Lakers are expected to remain cautious with their franchise cornerstone given the long-term importance of Doncic to the organization. Even so, Doncic made it clear he’s doing everything possible to speed up the recovery process without risking further damage.
“I’m just doing everything I can, like I said, every day I’m doing stuff I’m supposed to do… The doctors said eight weeks at the beginning of the first MRI,” he said. “So I’m just going day by day and I feel better every day.”
Part of that recovery process included a lengthy trip to Spain for specialized treatment, something Doncic explained in more detail on Wednesday.
“I went to Spain to do PRP,” Doncic said. “Obviously everybody knows that it’s one of the best countries to do that. And obviously we talked with the Lakers doctors, everybody agreed for me to go there. Obviously I know a lot of people in Spain that I used to work with before.”
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