Luka Doncic was shown no sympathy by Stephen A. Smith on national television after suffering hamstring injury in the Lakers’ Thunder demolition. The Lakers suffered a truly embarrassing 139-86 loss to the Thunder on Thursday. On a night when Doncic and the Lakers needed everything to go right, just about everything went wrong. Not only did he suffer an injury, but it may have also dented his MVP chances.
Before the game, the Lakers were on fire, winning four straight games and 13 of their previous 14. However, they could not translate that success against the Thunder and suffered one of the worst losses in franchise history.
As expected, fans were outraged by the result and performance. Not to mention, Smith, who has been outspoken about Luka Doncic and the Lakers, delivered his own damning verdict and slammed their no-show against the Thunder.
“We are sick and tired of the damn noise,” he said on ESPN’s First Take on Friday. “Let’s pump the brakes and understand there’s a difference between who the hell we are and who the hell they are. The Lakers were down at the half by 30, getting their a** whipped. I mean, it was a stomp.”
SAS also had little to no sympathy for Luka, who was forced to leave the game midway through the third quarter after suffering a non-contact hamstring injury while going for the basket.
“It’s a good thing that Luka actually got hurt and had to get taking out in the third quarter because when we saw him holding his hamstring in the first half a lot of was like, wait a minute now that wasn’t happening when you were dropping 30 plus the last 12,13,15 games. But suddenly now your damn hamstring is hurt.”
Doncic has been the main reason behind the Lakers’ surge to the third seed. The 27-year-old Lakers sensation is finally showing glimpses of his full potential while playing healthy. He had been averaging 37.5 points last month and entered the game off a 42-point outing against Cleveland, but the ESPN pundit was “looking at it with a raised eyebrow.”
“Because an a** kicking will do that to you,” Smith said, referring to Luka limping and having a hard time throughout the game. “It will make you humble, it will make you run for cover, it will make you run to the locker room, it will make you pretend that you got to use the bathroom, it will make you pretend that something might be a family emergency or anything just to get away from those confines.”
It is hard to disagree with Smith’s assessment of the Lakers, but not so much about Doncic. It was a bad night for him in all areas. He had a game-high six turnovers and finished with 12 points, seven assists, and four rebounds. His MVP rival, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, recorded 28 points along with seven assists and seven rebounds.
As fans still worry about how serious Doncic’s injury is, the Lakers will now look to redeem themselves against his former team, the Dallas Mavericks, on Sunday at the American Airlines Center.
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