The Los Angeles Lakers had spent the past month or so looking like a team that could contend in the Western Conference–until Luka Doncic went down.

Dončić will miss at least the rest of the regular season after suffering a hamstring injury early in the second half of the Lakers’ crushing 139–96 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder. The blowout loss to the reigning champions was made all the more demoralizing by Doncic’s injury and could very well be remembered as the flashpoint of this Laker season as the timing of it all could hardly be worse.

The Lakers have zoomed up the standings to third in the West (50–27) and are still clinging to third place in the West. They lead the fourth-place Denver Nuggets by one game and the fifth-place Houston Rockets by two with only five games left on their regular season schedule. Until this loss, Los Angeles had gone 15–2 since March 1 and was beginning to look like a legitimate threat to make a deep run. Oklahoma City emphatically reminded the Lakers how far they still have to go, and Dončić’s injury only deepened the blow.

The play itself was ominous.

With a little over seven minutes remaining in the third quarter, Dončić pulled up near the free-throw line after being double-teamed and immediately grabbed at his left hamstring. He stayed down on the floor for a while before eventually leaving the game. The diagnosis that followed—Grade 2 hamstring strain—only confirmed initial concerns about the injury’s severity.

What makes this even more painful is how it affects the broader context of Dončić’s season.

He has been playing at an MVP-worthy level, averaging 33.5 points, 7.7 rebounds, 8.3 assists, and 1.6 steals per game for the Lakers this season. He has done so while shooting a rather efficient 47.6 percent from the field and 36.6 percent from three while carrying one of the league’s heaviest offensive burdens. He was squarely in the middle of the MVP discussion and practically a lock for an All-NBA nod.

Now, his season ends with his games played tally just one short of the NBA’s 65-game minimum for end-of-season award eligibility.

Dončić’s camp is expected to challenge the rule under extraordinary circumstances, arguing that his season still merits consideration given the level he reached and the unusual factors behind part of his missed time. Whether that effort goes anywhere remains to be seen, but the fact that it has become necessary to do so only adds to the frustration surrounding this injury.

There is immediate concern for the Lakers as a whole too.

They still have five regular season games left and a narrow hold on third place. The hope now is that Austin Reaves and LeBron James can keep the team afloat long enough for Dončić to make it back at some point in the postseason. That is far from guaranteed, but it is the only realistic path forward if Los Angeles still wants this season to amount to something more than promise.

The Lakers had been rounding into form at exactly the right time. Now, everything feels far less certain.