There has been some chatter of Los Angeles Lakers superstar Luka Doncic playing through a left elbow injury. However, The Athletic’s Dan Woike, a beat writer for the Lakers since 2011, has refuted the rumors.
“FWIW, my sources say this is inaccurate,” Woike wrote on X, in response to a report from Lakers Daily’s Ashish Mathur, which claimed that Doncic was banged up.
Doncic has been relatively healthy in his first full season with the Lakers, having played 25 of the 32 games thus far. He missed three games in late October with a lower leg contusion and another game on Dec. 23 with a left leg contusion. Besides that, Doncic missed two games in early December to be in Slovenia for the birth of his second daughter, Olivia, with his fiancée Anamaria Goltes.
Luka Doncic Injury Rumors
Lakers Daily reported on Saturday that Doncic was playing through “a lot of pain” and “nagging” pain in both his legs, shortly after the Slovenian dropped 34 points in his team’s 128-121 victory over the Memphis Grizzlies.
“Doncic has been undergoing “around-the-clock” treatment to suit up for the Lakers, sources said,” Mathur wrote. “The 26-year-old doesn’t want to sit out, though, sources said, since Los Angeles is already without Austin Reaves, Rui Hachimura and Gabe Vincent.”
Mathur’s report highlighted that Doncic was relying more on his jump shots over his last few games rather than attacking the paint. There may be truth to that claim. Doncic, who leads the NBA in scoring with 33.6 points, has attempted 10.7 threes per game over his last three contests — a slight increase from his season average of 10.5. Furthermore, he has attempted only 2.3 shots from the 10-14 FT range over his last three games, a sizeable dip from the average of 4.5 shots earlier in the season.
“Many fans and pundits may have noticed that Doncic is relying on his jumper more than usual lately. That’s because the future Hall of Famer is dealing with “sharp” pain in his legs, sources said, preventing him from exploding to the basket with ease.”
Lakers Injury Woes
If Mathur’s report turns out to be true, it’d be the last thing the Lakers need right now. JJ Redick’s men have been without Gabe Vincent (back) and Rui Hachimura (calf) since Dec. 14 and Dec. 28, respectively, and will be without Austin Reaves (grade 2 calf strain) and Adou Thiero (MCL) for at least another month.
Due to the injuries, Redick has been forced to deploy 17 different starting combinations through 32 games — the second most of all teams in the NBA this season.
After a loss to the Detroit Pistons on LeBron James‘ 41st birthday, Redick admitted that he and his coaching staff haven’t been able to implement their schemes due to injuries.
“The flow of lineups and rotations and all that has been challenging for everybody, not just the coaches,” Redick said after the last game of 2025.
“It’s just a challenge for the players, and building an identity is difficult. If you think about our team last year, this team is different, and our identity will eventually be different, but we didn’t get that identity till late January, it felt like. And then we had to shift again. So, I don’t think it’s unnatural.”
Doncic is currently third on NBA.com’s KIA MVP Ladder.
Major Update on Lakers’ Luka Doncic Playing Through ‘A Lot of Pain’