Shams on Luka: "He spent the last week in Spain from my understanding, the majority of time in Spain, he underwent multiple injection treatments in that hamstring. My understanding is he'll be back in the states on Tuesday and they're gonna reevaluate him" On Austin: "The earliest for him (to return) is gonna be that first week of May"
Rockets need to end this quickly with Lakers health. FIVE games DEN, SA, and OKC all beat them, short series. Refs be damned.
The longer we can keep him over there, the fatter he will get. I am sure he is shoving his face crying over his wife/gf/mistress leaving because he is a tool.
It would represent a step forward for this group to win a playoff series, and a major disappointment if they can't beat a Lakers team that lacks depth because of injuries.
I’m offended… it is NOT KU that’s freaking Kansas… Kentucky is UK also, they are really really overrating their bench
So Luka’s going to try and go? Dude, that would suck for us but good for the future of grade 2 sprains if he found some miracle cure.
Might be good for the future if he creates a worst injury that makes him get fat again in the off-season.
Eh. One more year... It will be very difficult to blow it up this summer without trading FVV and I don't know if you get value for him this summer. Re-sign Tari if reasonable and go from there... See what you have at the trade deadline... and see what the 2027 draft pool looks like at that time as well.
My own personal theory is that Luka WILL come back and play most of the series and this whole thing is a game played to get some favorable betting lines for Lakers. Houston better take opportunities early in the series and not leave the door open for Luka to come back and expose this team's average team defense because that narrative is going to destroy some ceilings/careers if LA comes back and advances - Ime and Stone are probably gone after something like that, guys like Reed, Amen, and Alpi probably get the "never going to be good enough to win" moniker applied to them. It would absolutely destroy everything about the premise of this team if that happens.
It is a hard thing to say - because Luka has not taken care of his body until very recently, so we don't really know how quickly he heals. It would seem unlikely but not impossible that Luka is back for the last 2-3 games in the series, and if he is even at 85% - that is likely enough for the Lakers to win the series. The Lakers still have LeBron James, who will likely win them a game in the series - while he is old, he is still one of the 3-4 greatest players ever at a minimum. Deandre Ayton is also capable of giving the Rockets fits with his scoring too. I don't think a loss in this series destroys Amen or Reed or even Alpi. I think it hurts KD's legacy - and depending on how it goes down, could really harm one of Udoka or Stone, depending on which one has more say in the organization.
Except that the Lakers hold the tiebreaker over the Nuggets 2-1 and the Loss was also a 7 pt loss. Lakers and Thunder played the Nuggets well this season at least. That is why and how Denver could have dropped to 4th in the first place......and there is no doubt in my mind if Luka was healthy during the last 5 games, the Lakers would have clinched 3rd Seed again.
