Doncic (calf) sits out Lakers' loss to Nuggets
Written by I Dig Sports
DENVER -- Luka Doncic did not play in the conclusion of the Los Angeles Lakers' four-game road trip Friday against the Denver Nuggets, with the star guard managing a lingering left calf injury and a sprained right ankle.
Doncic joined a Lakers injury list already littered with names, as three starters in LeBron James (left groin strain), Rui Hachimura (left patellar tendinopathy) and Jaxson Hayes (right knee contusion) all left the trip early to undergo treatment back in L.A.
"Obviously, not there yet," Doncic said after scoring 45 points in the Lakers' loss to the Milwaukee Bucks on Thursday when asked if his play is meeting his expectations since being traded to L.A. "Every day, a little bit more. But still not there. Got to get some things off my body. Get them to feel better and then be ready."
The Lakers announced later Friday that Dorian Finney-Smith (left ankle), Gabe Vincent (left knee) and Trey Jemison III (illness) were all out against the Nuggets.
The Lakers finished 0-4 on their road trip after losing Friday's game to Denver, 131-126, and opened a brutal stretch of the schedule featuring six games in eight days with a blowout loss to the Bucks.
The Lakers have fallen from No. 2 in the Western Conference standings to No. 5, with the Houston Rockets and Memphis Grizzlies both a game ahead of them at No. 3 and No. 4., respectively.
L.A. returns home to host a back-to-back Sunday and Monday against the Phoenix Suns and San Antonio Spurs and then another back-to-back Wednesday and Thursday against Denver and Milwaukee.
Shooting guard Austin Reaves, who is not on the injury report even though he had a heavy ice wrap on his right wrist and hand after the Bucks loss, said Lakers coach JJ Redick addressed the team by reminding them that, "Everything was good a week ago," so now is not the time to lose faith.
"We were playing good basketball, we had won seven or eight straight or whatever it was," Reaves said. "And we've had some bad luck with injuries and stuff. People that are even playing still banged up a little bit. But like I said, nobody feels sorry for us. Everybody's going to want to beat us by 30. So, we got to figure out a way to not let that happen and go compete in games. There's no easy way around it. You just got to figure it out."