Luka Doncic Injury Update, Timeline for Lakers Return Updated by Insider After NBA Playoffs Win

Even though the Los Angeles Lakers have bought themselves more time to get Luka Dončić back from his hamstring injury after eliminating the Houston Rockets from the postseason on Friday night, his return is still going to take more time.

Appearing on SportsCenter with Scott Van Pelt after the Lakers' Game 6 win over Houston (starts at 1:55 mark), ESPN's Brian Windhorst explained that Dončić is "not close" because he hasn't even progressed to three-on-three practices yet.

"I have no idea how Luka is going to be 14 days from now, but most likely you're not going to see Luka Dončić at the front end of this series, maybe at least for another week to 10 days on the minimum," Windhorst said.

Dončić was diagnosed with a Grade 2 hamstring strain after suffering an injury in the Lakers' loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder on April 2.

Typical recovery time for a hamstring strain can range anywhere from three to eight weeks, depending on the severity.

Saturday marks exactly one month to the day that Dončić went down. The Lakers get an extended break with three days off before playing Game 1 of the Western Conference semifinals against the Thunder on Tuesday.

The series could stretch out until May 18 if it goes to a Game 7. That would mark more than six weeks from the time of the injury for Dončić to get back on the floor.

Dončić missed three weeks earlier in the season with a hamstring injury, but that was much less severe issue because the MRI did not show any significant damage.

The last time Dončić missed a playoff game due to injuries was the 2021-22 season. He sat out the first three games for the Dallas Mavericks in their first-round series against the Utah Jazz due to a calf strain.

Los Angeles did get a boost late in the series against the Rockets when Austin Reaves returned for Game 4 after missing four weeks due to an oblique injury.

Given that Dončić is slowly progressing in his recovery, the Lakers will have to rely heavily on Reaves and LeBron James to keep them competitive against the Thunder with the hope they can extend the series long enough to get their All-Star point guard.

Another scenario is the Lakers are able to quickly end the series against Oklahoma City and get Dončić ready for the start of the Western Conference Finals.

The Thunder swept the four head-to-head games against the Lakers during the regular season, with three of the four wins decided by at least 29 points.

Dončić led the Lakers in scoring average (33.5 points) and assists (8.3) in 64 starts during the regular season.