LeBron James Has Brutally Honest Admission About Luka Doncic’s Illness

It was clear early in Game 3 that the Los Angeles Lakers were going to have a tough time. Star guard Luka Doncic was dealing with a stomach illness and wasn’t himself.

The Lakers are very reliant on Doncic, so not having him at 100% made things much more difficult. The team ended up losing to the Minnesota Timberwolves 116-104 and is now down 1-2 in the series.

This is the first time in LeBron James‘ career that he’s not the most important player on his team in the playoffs. Even though he had a 38-point performance, he knows that the Lakers are going to have trouble making it far without Doncic being 100%.

“Obviously, with his illness, it impacts our team,” James told reporters after the loss. “We understand what he brings to our team and what he’s done since the acquisition. It definitely took a big blow for our team.”

The Lakers get a day off before having to play in Game 4, so that should give Doncic the time he needs to fully recover.

JJ Redick Addresses Doncic illness

Even with the illness, Doncic still played 40 minutes. However, he seemed to hurt the Lakers more than help in multiple spots. Head coach JJ Redick gave some insight into the injury.

“He hasn’t been feeling well for the last 24 hours, so I don’t know how much he slept last night,” Redick said. “He didn’t feel well last night. His stomach was bothering him. He was vomiting all afternoon. I’m not sure what happened at halftime. I’ll find out, but he was really under the weather.”

Doncic looked so bad that some teammates didn’t think he’d be able to continue on. Dorian Finney-Smith, who has known Doncic for a very long time, was very concerned about Doncic’s status after the first half.

“I didn’t think he was going to come out (for the) second half,” Finney-Smith said. “Just because how he sounded. His body language. How he looked. He looked a little pale today. He probably needs to hydrate some more. But Luka’s tough.”

The Lakers now need to mount a comeback if they’re going to win this series against the Timberwolves. That’s not going to happen if Doncic doesn’t fully recover soon.

James Had Best Game of Playoffs

The good news for the Lakers is that James finally appears to be getting into a rhythm. He hasn’t been playing his best basketball since a March groin injury.

He was easily the Lakers’ best player in Game 3, and played great defense in addition to his offensive outburst. Redick spoke about James’ improvement.

“He’s moving better,” Redick said. “He seems like he’s getting healthier by the day. It’s typically a one-to-two-week injury. Believe it’s been two weeks tonight, if I’m mistaken, from the Houston game. Clearly he’s moving better.”

While James played well, he needs the team to start limiting the mistakes.

“In the postseason, there is no room for error,” James said. “… In the postseason, obviously, you’re not gonna play a perfect game. But the more that you make mistakes on top of mistakes, on top of mistakes, things that can be controlled, then it’s not gonna give you an opportunity to be in the best possible chance to win.”