Locked On Lakers - Daily Podcast On The Los Angeles Lakers - How Much Risk Should the Lakers Accept With Luka Dončić's Push to Return?

Episode Date: April 8, 2026

The Lakers are in dire straits right now, no question.  And to his credit, Luka Dončić crossed an ocean to try and get back to help give them a chance in the postseason. But even with the cutting edge treatments available to him in Europe, there is still a recovery period required for his injured hamstring, and a risk of recurrence should he come back to fast. But how big a risk, exactly? And how big a risk is too big?  Especially if the Lakers slide to the fourth or fifth seed in the West, setting themselves up for a second round matchup against the Thunder?  On the one hand, a setback that puts him back at square one -- where Luka was after the game in which he suffered the injury -- likely doesn't impact his offseason all that much. Anything bigger, however? That could really mess with his ability to train this summer and maintain all the work he did last offseason.  Anything that threatens his offseason program should make Lakers fans nervous.  Meanwhile, Deandre Ayton caught some flak in Tuesday's aggressive press conference from JJ Redick... ironically for not catching stuff when thrown to him.  But LA has a real problem right now -- they need Ayton to perform, but lost the two guys who execute pick and roll sets with him best, and otherwise find ways to get him the ball. So what now?    HOSTS: Andy and Brian Kamenetzky    Everydayer ClubIf you never miss an episode, it’s time to make it official. Join the Locked On Everydayer Club and get ad-free audio, access to our members-only Discord, and more — all built for our most loyal fans. Click here to learn more and join your team’s community: https://lockedonpodcasts.com/everydayerclub   Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors! TurboTax This year you’re getting a major upgrade — Intuit TurboTax now has in-person locations nationwide. Visit http://TurboTax.com/local to book your appointment today. QuoMake this the year where no opportunity - and no cutsomer - slips away.Try Quo for free plus get 20% off your first 6 months when you go to http://Quo.com/lockedonnba. PrizePicksDownload the PrizePicks app today and use codeLOCKEDONNFL to get $50 in lineups after you play your first $5 lineup.Click Here: https://prizepicks.onelink.me/LME0/LOCKEDONNBA BetterhelpThis episode is sponsored by BetterHelp.Sign up and get 10% off at http://BetterHelp.com/LOCKEDONNBA. Indeed Listeners of this show get a $75 Sponsored Job Credit to help give your job the premium placement it deserves at http://Indeed.com/podcast WayfairGet last-minute hosting essentials, gifts for all your loved ones, and decor to celebrate the holidays for WAY less.Head to https://Wayfair.com right now to shop all things home. Wayfair. Every style. Every home.  Gametime Today's episode is brought to you by Gametime. Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDON for $20 off your first purchase. Terms and conditions apply. FanDuel Today's episode is brought to you by FanDuel.Right now new customers can bet just five dollars and get two-hundred and fifty dollars in bonus bets if your first bet wins.Visit https://FANDUEL.COMto get started — Play Your Game.   FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

While Luca tries to get well in Europe, the Lakers have to figure out how to elevate things at home. We'll explain next. You are Locked-on Lakers. Your daily Los Angeles Lakers podcast, part of the Locked-on Podcast Network, your team every day. Thanks, everybody for joining Locked on Lakers. Brian Komenetsky with Andy Kamenetsky. Plenty to get into this afternoon in the wake of Tuesdays, not entirely. unsurprising blowout loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder for the Lakers,

but they are looking forward trying to figure out exactly how to handle everything going on and make themselves as playoff ready as possible, no small feat given the major injuries. So we'll talk about a little bit about DeAndre Aiton, who wasn't the focus, Sandy, I would say, of most of the post-game attention. That was between JJ and Jared Vanderbilt. But he did, there were some, you know, caught a couple strays in terms of his catching ability that we'll talk about. But you were out while all this stuff broke with Luca and the plan to head to Spain to

see the LeBron James of Hamstrings. and presumably for injection therapies and things like that that are not as readily available in the States. I talked to Harrison about this, and a little bit with DeAndre too while you were gone. Just like, is this a good idea? Like, what do you, what was your reaction when you saw Luca head off to Europe to try to come back fast? I want to know what the risk of this is in terms of it becoming a worse injury. I'm not even talking necessarily about a recurrence of the same injury. Like, he undergoes what everybody widely assumes. It'll never be confirmed. But the widely assumed

procedures are PRP, plate spinning, all of that stuff. It's very common for athletes to platelet spinning. Well, it feels like plates. It does feel like plate spinning right now, to be honest. There's PRP. There's stem cells. There's all kinds of stuff going on. It's stuff that is legal in Europe, plenty of athletes in American-based leagues go there. Luca will get this done and presumably repair, strengthen the hamstring. The biggest concern I would have would be the risk of this becoming worse, like re-injuring it in a way that is significantly worse. I'm not even concerned necessarily about a recurrence because a recurrence just feels like

you're back to square one. And there is not much time will have passed between when the injury took place, when he would come back presumably to play, when he would re-aggravate it for the same injury. And I think that matters just because were I to guess, it means the rehab process more or less goes along the same way. my concern would be the risk of it becoming a worsened different injury, like something that is, I guess, grade three or however many grades this thing goes up, something where the hamstring is

ripped off the bone, a thing like that. I think the next level is just tear, and that's like full tear, and that's three. Right. Like, what are the odds of that? If it feels less than 5%, then I would say it's fine to. do this. If it starts getting into 10, 15% that it could, I would say it's not worth it because in all likelihood, particularly without Austin available and Austin, by all accounts, is going to take longer. There's a, I think the odds of them advancing past a certain point are low anyway.

And I don't want to see a more severe injury take place where all of a sudden the rehab bleeds into the regular season. And then you're starting out the regular season. on the wrong foot and behind the eight ball. But if it's simply a recurrence of the same injury, then in all honesty, I'm not that concerned about it. And I'm cool with Luca trying. I'm fine with trying. I have no problem with trying.

I mean, you've got nothing better to do than to see if you can get yourself in a position to safely, in air quotes, relatively safely, give it a try. And like, you know, I, I understand what you're saying. saying and certainly with the timeline with Austin, which we could have been shorter,

but like, you know, with this theoretically accelerated thing, maybe he does get back faster than AR. It's a little bit hard to. But neither one of them seem likely to be able to get back before, you know, midway through the first round or something like that at the high end. I will say, though, I given that they're probably going to be a four, four or five. So if they do advance, it looks like they're going to play Oklahoma City. Oklahoma City, while they played them tight last year, has kicked the bleep out of them now three times.

I mean, granted, one of them was with a G-League roster, essentially, but they still beat the snot out of them. I am far less confident the Lakers could push them this year than I was last year, just based on the on-court matchups this year. I am really concerned about Luca having to spend the first 10 weeks of the off season, two months, three months, especially if you make it worse, four months, five months, functionally unable to work out. He has spent so much time and so much effort and energy to remake his body. And the difference in this year coming in to the season and what he did the season before with Dallas,

where he was banged up after the finals run, was really hurt going into the season, didn't have a chance to really get his body together, and he was hurt the whole year. That's what I'm concerned about, is removing the off season from Luca and his ability to train in the way that got him into the shape that he was in for this year.

Well, I mean, for what it is worth, and obviously this is not my scientific view on this, I'm not a doctor. What I'm envisioning in terms of acceptable risk and just the way I'm envisioning this in general, just because if Luca came back and just re-aggravated this back to square one, my guess is however long he has to spend rehabbing

during the off-season versus, working out, that's baked into the cake no matter what. Like, we're not talking about much of a timeline between when he would have started rehabbing this thing the first time around versus the second time. Right. If he tries to come back three weeks later, then it's three weeks later. Exactly. Right.

Again, in terms of what I'm talking about as acceptable risk, I don't see it as much of a difference. If Luca was going to have to spend the entire offseason, essentially, having this thing and neither one of us knows that's the case, but just worst case scenario. If that's the case, that was the case regardless of whether he tries to come back or not. Disagree. Because, you can make it, you can make, I don't think right now the rehab for this would extend like the rehab, like where you're sitting, you're waiting, you're doing it as opposed

to when you can actually like really get back into it. This shouldn't interrupt really most of his offseason. I think it would be very easy to come up with an injury theoretically that would. And if you do make it worse, like a hamstring tear, hamster, like these are things that could sideline them that have a month. And so everybody gets together and they're defaulting to being as safe as you can in a situation like this. and everybody, including the people who are concerned for and are sort of responsible for making sure that Luca doesn't do stupid things in the name of competitiveness, if those people are on board, then I'm okay. I would have a severely low risk tolerance. I have an extremely low risk tolerance, very low because I just don't think what they're trying to.

come back. They, in a different circumstance, they could stay at the two in the three. Like there was scenarios here before where it might have. I just, my risk tolerance for this is extraordinarily low because hamstrings can be a plaguing type thing. Unfortunately, and this is glass half full, glass half empty, depending on how you look at this, that part I'm not concerned at all about because I think Luke is already susceptible to this no matter what. I I think this is actually who he is at this point. Maybe, but I think if you set yourself up for, I, you can make it, I think you can make it worse.

I don't think it's a six and one half dozen the other. I could be wrong, but I just, I definitely think you can certainly make it so you are, you're potentially turning something into something more chronic and I do not want to do that with, with, I am, unfortunately, I am guessing considering the amount of hamstring injuries that Luke has had over the course of his career, that were already there. Possibly. Let's talk next about DeAndre Aiton, who again caught a couple strays about his hands in the wake of JJ and Jared Vanderbilt getting into it on Tuesday night. So we'll talk about what the Lakers need from Aiton next. Lockdown Lakers is brought to you by Fandul. The NBA playoffs are here. Every possession matters. Every matchup is magnified. Every game can swing a series.

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That's QUO.com slash lockdown MBA. Quo, no missed calls, no missed customers. Quick note, the Warriors played Sacramento on Tuesday night after the game. Steve Kerr said he was not sure yet if Steph would play on Thursday. Christopps Porzingis did not play in this game, but Kerr seemed to indicate that that was more maintenance than anything else. So still not sure if we'll see Steph, obviously that makes a big difference in terms of the winnability of that game for the Lakers, one that they would like to hold on to

if they want to hold on to that four seed and have a chance to host the first round of the playoffs. So we'll try to get to do Thero as well, but if not in this show, we'll talk about him for Thursday. But it's worth noting when all these guys got hurt, one of the players that everybody looked at and said, the Lakers are going to need some stuff from this guy. Is DeAndre Ait, two games without Luca and AR.

Aiton has not been particularly noteworthy. He wasn't great. Well, he's noteworthy in the sense that he wasn't very good. Right. He wasn't, I meant noteworthy in a good way. Well, but I'm saying it actually is noteworthy. True. That he really was not good.

And, you know, JJ was asked about this on Tuesday, and he was clearly not in a particularly good mood. but he was not in a mood to be charitable to his team. JJ obviously feels like he needs to drive some of these guys to get them to elevate before the playoffs start. If they have any chance to win, we can debate the wisdom of that. We'll see how he treats guys for the rest of the regular season,

what it looks like going into the playoffs, all that. But he was asked about Aiton and noted that part of the issue is, you know, some passing, you know, passes may not be right there. timing and all this other stuff. But also, he's having trouble catching the ball. He's just having trouble catching. That was one of those things that was like,

that stuck out to me. It's like, hmm, he's not wrong, by the way. Aidan's dropped a lot of balls. He's actually done that a lot through the season, even when he's playing well. It's going to be hard,

Andy, without Luca and Reeves around for the Lakers to find ways to make Aiton the type of player they would like him to be in the postseason, because Luke Kinnard just isn't the pick and roll partner that Aiton needs, neither is Marcus smart, and they don't want LeBron handling the ball on every possession. I mean, during this period without Marcus too, it becomes exacerbated.

Like Luke Kinnard nor him is the perfect option for this, but if I had to pick the guy that I would, if nothing else, rather be doing this stuff with DeAndre just because he's played with him longer this season, it would be Marcus Smart. So you just right now have everything so disjointed, in particular when it comes to not just lob passes for eight and or like pick and roll sequences, but just entry passes.

And if you don't have right now the requisite shooting, which isn't going to be there without Luca and Austin, as not just guys who can operate these possessions and run and run the offense, but also when one guy has the ball, the other one is a legitimate threat. You know, in this particular game, it was a threat from outside in this particular game. LeBron may not be shooting the ball from three particularly well this season,

but you're never going to ignore LeBron. There's a lot right now that without taking an onus off Aiton, because DeAndre simply has to be better, there is a lot right now in terms of who, is and is not available that is, if not setting him up to fail, because again, there's an onus on him, it's setting up for things to be a hell of a lot harder. Yeah. And I think too, if I had to pick somebody who is most likely to be damaged, not just by the change in personnel, which he is, I think, easily at the top of the list of guys who suffer the most without Reeves and Luca. If I had to

somebody who'd kind of be damaged most by the change in vibes, he'd be that guy too. Like I think this run, this run that they were on where the spirits were high and everybody was like they were everybody's contributing. And, you know, there were a lot of ways and opportunities for Ait and to feel good. Even in those games where like, you know what, Jackson's getting a little more minutes here. Like JJ's mixing and matching. Like DeAndre was feeling it. Like he was part of that, you know, and it was, it was really felt good, you know, as good as it had since November, really. And, you know, that Dan Wakey asking JJ about kind of the vibe shift, just mentally what what it's like to kind of go from that high to holy bleep, we're screwed. Like, you know, we're all professionals.

We keep playing blah, blah, blah. everyone knows what's happening here. Like the Lakers went from expected to get through the first round, punchers chance against the two best teams. Maybe you got a Western Conference finals running you somewhere. Like a lot of stuff to play for, feeling really good about themselves, to this in three days.

Like, actually it was more like two and a half because I think they probably knew that both Luca and probably Austin were going to be out a little while. That kind of thing is, I think, is significant. Lakers can't figure it out. So we'll get to Thero. I think by, I don't think this Vando, JJ thing, at least among Lakers fans,

is going to die down between now and Wednesday night. So we'll keep an eye on that as well. Certainly the Vando hive on social media is out in four. on Tuesday night. So we'll keep an eye on all those things. We get you ready for Thursday's critical game against Golden State. Lockdown Liquors on YouTube is where you can hang out

with over 38,000 subscribers. We'll see everyone later.