Luka Doncic to miss Lakers-Raptors tilt for personal reasons

The Los Angeles Lakers recently fell back down to Earth, losing in blowout fashion at home to the Phoenix Suns in a game that was largely uncompetitive. The Lakers will now hit the road for an East Coast swing beginning on Thursday evening vs the Toronto Raptors, and they recently got some bad news on one of their star players’ availability for that game.

“Luka Doncic (personal reasons) will be OUT for Thursday’s game against the Raptors, the Lakers announced,” reported ClutchPoints on X, formerly Twitter.

Doncic has been playing at an MVP level this season for the Lakers and is currently leading the NBA in scoring, meaning the Lakers will have to step up by committee to replace his impact on the court.

Making things a bit more complicated for the Lakers is the fact that the team is on the front end of a back to back in this game, with a road matchup against the Boston Celtics looming on Friday night from the TD Garden.

With this being the case, it wouldn’t appear particularly likely that LeBron James would play both ends of a back to back at this stage of his career and having recently returned from injuries, so it will be interesting to see what his availability is for the game in Toronto, once known as LeBronto during his Cleveland days, as well.

In any case, the Lakers and Raptors are slated to tip things off on Thursday evening at 7:30 pm ET from Toronto.

The post Luka Doncic to miss Lakers-Raptors tilt for personal reasons appeared first on ClutchPoints.