Luka to seek care in Europe, aims for playoffs

DALLAS -- Los Angeles Lakers star Luka Doncic will fly to Europe to seek specialized treatment on his Grade 2 left hamstring strain, his agent, Bill Duffy of WME Basketball, told ESPN on Sunday.

Doncic made the decision after consultation with Lakers doctors and his own medical team, after suffering the injury in Thursday's 134-96 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder.

While Grade 2 hamstring strains typically involve a monthlong recovery process, Duffy said Doncic is motivated to return to the Lakers' lineup during the playoffs -- which is a shared goal for Austin Reaves, who is out with a Grade 2 left oblique muscle injury, and shared motivation for the team, according to coach JJ Redick.

"Both those guys are going to try to come back, and it's our job to extend the season so that they can come back," Redick said Sunday.

While Doncic was finalizing his treatment plans, the Lakers played their first game after a devasting 48 hours during which they were blown out by the defending champs and lost two of their top players to significant injuries. L.A. lost 134-128 to the Dallas Mavericks.

L.A. allowed 41 first-quarter points with Mavs rookie standout Cooper Flagg scoring 19 of his 45 points in the opening frame. The Lakers trailed by as many as 22 before attempting a comeback but never cut the deficit closer than five.

"I think everybody felt like they were in a good rhythm," said LeBron James, who scored 30 points on 12-for-22 shooting with 15 assists and nine rebounds. "But in order for us to play to the capabilities that want to play at, it's going to be on the defensive end."

All five Lakers starters scored in double digits, including Luke Kennard notching his first career triple-double with 15 points, 16 rebounds and 11 assists, and backup center Jaxson Hayes added 23 points off the bench, but the Mavs also put five players in double figures and shot 52.3% from the field and 43.8% from 3 as a team.

The Lakers' starting lineup of James, Kennard, Deandre Ayton, Rui Hachimura and Jake LaRavia had not played a minute together all season, much less started a game. The lineup L.A. started the second quarter with -- James, Jarred Vanderbilt, Hayes, Maxi Kleber and Kobe Bufkin -- hadn't played a minute together either before that.

It was emblematic of the scramble mode the franchise found itself in after processing the Doncic news Friday, followed by the Reaves news -- with his oblique expected to sideline him for 4-6 weeks, sources told ESPN -- a day later.

"I took my nap after practice and I woke up with that news, it was like another shot to the [head]," James said of learning about Reaves' MRI results Saturday. "It was a shot to the heart, obviously, and to the chest and to the mainframe with Luka. ... But we kind of got that news kind of quick, and AR ... we knew he was going to get an MRI, but I woke up from my nap yesterday and then saw that news and I was like, 'S---.' That was literally my tone."

While James led the Lakers in points and field goal attempts, Redick said before the Mavs game that it will be "all hands on deck" for L.A. with Doncic and Reaves out.

"The burden's not going to just be on LeBron to create all the offense," Redick said.

The Lakers followed with 36 assists -- tied for their second-most in a game all season - to give themselves a chance.

"Obviously, we ran some lineups that they haven't seen all year," Kennard said. "And when we were down, we stayed together, something we've been doing."

L.A. (50-28) is still in the No. 3 spot in the Western Conference, holding the tiebreaker against the No. 4 Denver Nuggets (50-28) with four games remaining. The No. 6 Minnesota Timberwolves' 122-108 loss to the Charlotte Hornets on Sunday ensured that the worst the Lakers can finish is fifth -- the spot currently occupied by the Houston Rockets (48-29).

Their next game is Tuesday against Oklahoma City.

Before looking ahead to the rematch, Redick looked back at Thursday's debacle and defended his decision to keep Doncic and Reaves in the game in the third quarter and risk injury when L.A. trailed by 30-plus points.

"I've been in those situations a million times, and as a coach, you go on the information you have," Redick said. "[Doncic] was medically cleared. When Austin came back, I asked directly, 'I thought he was hurt?' [I was told], 'No, he's medically cleared.'

"The group wanted to go for it in the second half. Talked about it at halftime. And for both those guys, the nature of playing heavy minutes [making them susceptible to injuries] ... there was nothing leading into that game that would suggest either those guys were 'running hot,' as we call it."