SAN FRANCISCO — Luka Doncic is back. The Los Angeles Lakers removed their superstar guard from the injury report on Thursday, clearing him to return Friday night against the Golden State Warriors at Chase Center in the teams’ NBA Cup group-stage opener.
Doncic missed Wednesday’s 103-87 win over the Los Angeles Clippers with back tightness, sitting out the second night of the Lakers’ first back-to-back of the season. Head coach JJ Redick called the decision precautionary as the team heads into a stretch of five games in seven nights, and the Lakers were not concerned about a long-term issue. Without him, Quentin Grimes led Los Angeles with 23 points and Collin Sexton added 21 in the win over the Clippers.
Friday’s rematch carries plenty of edge. In the season opener on October 21, the Lakers routed Golden State 127-105 at Crypto.com Arena behind 28 points, eight rebounds and seven assists from Doncic in under 30 minutes, plus a perfect 12-for-12, 26-point Lakers debut from Walker Kessler and 23 points from Austin Reaves. Doncic spent much of that night trading words with Warriors rookie Yaxel Lendeborg, who took a technical foul during their exchanges and later said he had lost respect for the Slovenian star after seeing what he called whining and complaining. Doncic answered with a half-court bank shot at the halftime buzzer, pointing and laughing at the rookie on his way to the locker room.
Golden State has won its last two since that opener, at Denver and 119-114 at Minnesota, where Stephen Curry scored 44 points and Lendeborg added 26. The rookie has 57 points and 21 rebounds across those two wins, and Friday is his first meeting with Doncic since their opening-night clash. The Lakers enter at 4-1; the Warriors are chasing revenge in front of their home crowd.
Los Angeles still has questions elsewhere on the report: forward Ziaire Williams is questionable with left foot soreness after also sitting out Wednesday, while Adou Thiero and Cameron Carr remain out. Tip-off is scheduled for 10 p.m. ET (7 p.m. PT) on Friday, with both teams opening their NBA Cup group-stage campaigns.
Photo: BZFilms / @bzfilms83
Photo: BZFilms / @bzfilms83
Photo: BZFilms / @bzfilms83
Source: Athlon Sports, October 29, 2026; Sports Illustrated, October 30, 2026; Reuters, October 30, 2026
Redacción LAMomentum
