The Los Angeles Lakers were eliminated from the Playoffs in the first round on Wednesday night, falling to the Minnesota Timberwolves in five games. That means Luka Doncic gets eliminated in the first round after making the NBA Finals last season with the Dallas Mavericks, meaning Nico Harrison is probably smiling somewhere.
Doncic mostly played well in the series, outside of Game 3 where he was dealing with a stomach issue, scoring 37 points in Game 1, 31 in Game 2, and 38 in Game 4. His defense and conditioning were a major critical point for pundits, but the Lakers had a flawed roster that wasn’t really built around Doncic.
The Lakers had no frontcourt presence, playing Rui Hachimura and Dorian Finney-Smith against Minnesota’s frontline of Rudy Gobert, Naz Reid, and Julius Randle. Maxi Kleber came back late in the series for his first Lakers appearance, but he’s not on that level anymore. LA tried to give him a rim-rolling lob threat like the Mavs had with Daniel Gafford and Dereck Lively II, but they’ll have to do that over.
Dallas missed the playoffs after getting Anthony Davis and Max Christie in return for Doncic, giving the Mavs a severely flawed and injured roster. They’ll have to retool this summer after building a perfect roster around Doncic, something the Lakers will hope to recreate..
Doncic will hopefully use this summer to get 100% healthy and get in better shape. He hasn’t had a summer off in a long time, and he could use the break to get over the calf strain and ankle injuries he’s been dealing with.
