LeBron James, depleted Lakers face Mavericks

The Los Angeles Lakers head into the final week of the regular season with an opportunity to sew up home-court advantage for the first round of the NBA Playoffs, but they begin the final push Sunday at Dallas with Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves sidelined.

Doncic, a 2026 Most Valuable Player candidate and former Maverick, sustained a hamstring injury in Thursday's 139-96 blowout loss at reigning NBA champion Oklahoma City.

Reaves will be sidelined for the remainder of the regular season with a Grade 2 left oblique muscle injury, according to ESPN.

Doncic went into the matchup with the league-leading Thunder on a run scoring 41-plus points in the previous three contests, boosting his NBA-best scoring output to 33.5 points per game. Doncic is also averaging 7.7 rebounds and 8.3 assists per game, the latter a team-high for Los Angeles (50-27).

"We're not going to put a player at risk," Lakers coach JJ Redick said of Doncic being in the game in the third quarter, despite Oklahoma City holding a 31-point lead at halftime. "(The coaching staff) thought we'd give (the Lakers starters) about six minutes, and if we didn't cut into the lead, we were gonna pull them."

Doncic's injury came shortly before that six-minute mark in the third period.

Meanwhile, Reaves was enjoying a breakout season, averaging 23.3 points, 5.5 assists, and 4.7 rebounds across 51 games.

Their absence now looms with Los Angeles playing five games in the final eight days of the regular season and holding a half-game lead over fourth-place Denver.

After West-leading Oklahoma City and San Antonio, which are vying for home-court advantage throughout the Playoffs, the conference is a logjam. The third-place Lakers are separated from sixth-place Minnesota by just four games, with Denver and Houston between.

With Doncic and Reaves out, LeBron James is expected to shoulder a large workload. The 41-year-old, who posted a triple-double last Monday vs. Washington, is averaging 20.6 points, 6.9 assists, and 6.0 rebounds per game.

James leads the Lakers against a Dallas team that has dropped eight of its last nine, including the last three.

In their most recent outing, the Mavericks (24-53) fell to Orlando, 138-127, despite rookie Cooper Flagg's career-high 51 points.

The 19-year-old Flagg became the youngest player in NBA history to score 50-plus points, shooting 19-of-30 from the floor and 6-of-9 from 3-point range on his way to the milestone. Flagg is averaging a team-high 20.8 points per game, as he makes his case for 2025-26 Rookie of the Year.

"He should be Rookie of the Year," Mavericks coach Jason Kidd said. "It's unbelievable, the country is not watching the same thing that we get to watch on a daily basis."

Flagg is jockeying with his former Duke teammate Kon Knueppel for the award. Knueppel is averaging 18.8 points per game for the surprising Eastern Conference playoff contenders Charlotte.

Flagg has five games remaining to finish his case for Rookie of the Year, four of which pit Dallas against teams bound for the postseason, including the Lakers. Flagg missed the Mavericks' most recent matchup with Los Angeles, a 124-104 loss on Feb. 12.

The Lakers moved to 3-0 against Dallas on the season with that win and can complete the season sweep on Sunday. Los Angeles has won the past five meetings.

--Field Level Media