The Los Angeles Lakers continued their strong form in their return from the All-Star break on Thursday night with a 111-102 win over the Minnesota Timberwolves. They will be back on the court on Friday night against the Los Angeles Clippers, but they may not have their new star point guard Luka Doncic at their disposal.
Doncic’s slow start with his new team continued against Minnesota, as he scored 21 points but shot just 6-20 from the floor in L.A.’s latest win. He did hit an incredible three-point shot off one leg while falling out of bounds late in the fourth quarter, leading to an eye-opening reaction from him after the game.
“It’s crazy, I can’t make a normal shot and I make that shot … I’m playing horrible, so I gotta get back to it,” Doncic said to Mike Trudell of Spectrum SportsNet
As if changing teams midway through the season wasn’t hard enough, Doncic is still shaking off the rust after he missed six weeks while dealing with a calf injury. While Doncic is no longer on a minutes restriction, the Lakers are being cautious with him on back-to-backs, as he is set to be a game-time decision for their contest on Friday.
“Luka Doncic will be a gametime decision tonight against the Clippers, a source familiar with his plans told ESPN,” Dave McMenamin of ESPN reported in a post on X.
Doncic has struggled since joining the Lakers, as he’s averaging just 19.3 points per game while shooting an abysmal 36.5% from the field. While his 9.7 rebounds per game would be a career-high, his assists per game are also down to just 6.7 per game.
It’s a small sample size, but Doncic knows he needs to improve.
