After losing Game 4 of their first-round NBA playoff series to the Houston Rockets116-95 on Sunday, the Los Angeles Lakers will have another shot at knocking the Rockets out of the playoffs when Game 5 takes place at Crypto.com Arena on Wednesday. They could get Austin Reaves back from the oblique injury that has caused him to miss over four weeks of action, and if he returns, it would undoubtedly give them a big shot in the arm.
Luka Doncic, who has been out since sustaining a Grade 2 hamstring strain on April 2, isn't nearly as close to returning as Reaves is. He recently started to ramp up his activity in practice a little bit, but he still appears to have a long way to go before he can even scrimmage against his teammates.
ESPN NBA insider Shams Charania went on "The Pat McAfee Show" and said that Doncic will not return in this series but that he could come back in the second round, if the Lakers make it there.
Jovan Buha, a journalist who covers the Lakers, gave a more specific estimate of what could be Doncic's return timeline during his "Buha's Block" podcast (h/t Heavy Sports).
Buha feels that Doncic could perhaps return somewhere in the middle of the second round of the postseason.
If the Lakers finish off the Rockets, they would then face the defending NBA champion Oklahoma City Thunder, who swept the Phoenix Suns on Monday, in the next round. They would almost certainly lose against Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and crew, but if they have both Reaves and Doncic back, even for part of the series, perhaps they would have at least an outside chance.
That could especially be true when one considers that forward Jalen Williams, who is arguably the Thunder's second-best player, is out with a hamstring strain of his own and is considered week to week.
This article originally appeared on LeBron Wire: Lakers insider estimates Luka Doncic's return timeline
