PORTLAND — The Los Angeles Lakers announced Friday that star guard Luka Doncic will miss Saturday’s game against the Trail Blazers due to groin soreness in his left leg.
The Slovenian’s absence from Portland will be his eighth game of the season. Doncic played in 32 games, averaging a league-high 33.6 points, 8.7 assists and 7.7 rebounds per game. The Lakers are 4-3 when he’s not in the lineup.
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At this point, after the first two rounds of voting, Doncic leads the Western Conference All-Star voting.
Doncic has played in three straight games this season and set his second-highest total of the season with 39 points and six 3-pointers in the Lakers’ loss to the Charlotte Hornets on Thursday.
“I want to win every game, so winning or losing doesn’t matter. So I just want to win every game because obviously we got off to a great start and then we kind of fell off,” Doncic said after the home loss to Charlotte.
The Lakers have lost four of their past five games and currently have a record of 24 wins and 15 losses, ranking fifth in the Western Conference.
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It was also reported that backup big man Jackson Hayes will not be able to play in Portland due to left hamstring tendinopathy. He has missed the last two games. Starting center Deandre Ayton was listed on the injury report, with left knee soreness also putting his performance in Portland into doubt.