Is Luka Doncic Playing Tonight? (Injury Update, Betting Impact for Raptors vs. Lakers)

Los Angeles Lakers star Luka Doncic sat out the front end of a back-to-back on Saturday night, and the Lakers lost to the Portland Trail Blazers to fall to 24-16 this season.

Los Angeles holds the No. 6 seed in the Western Conference heading into Sunday's matchup with the Toronto Raptors, and Doncic's status for that game remains up in the air.

The Lakers have yet to release an injury report for this game since it is a back-to-back, but Doncic reportedly had an MRI on his groin prior to missing Saturday's game.

According to Lakers head coach J.J. Redick, the results on the MRI were good, and Doncic missed Saturday's loss mainly because the team is in the middle of a stretch of three games in four nights.

JJ Redick said the MRI was good on Luka Dončić (groin), and that his missing tonight’s game was more an accumulation of his playing 3 games in the previous 4 nights.

He’s day-to-day moving forward.

Ayton (knee) is also day-to-day.
— Mike Trudell (@LakersReporter) January 18, 2026

That leaves the door open for Doncic to return on Sunday, but the latest betting odds suggest that the star guard is highly questionable for this game.

DraftKings Sportsbook has the Lakers set as 1.5-point home underdogs in this matchup with the Raptors, and that's interesting since Toronto is down at least two starters with RJ Barrett and Jakob Poeltl out and Immanuel Quickley listed as questionable.

Doncic has missed just eight games this season, and he did play in both ends of a back-to-back earlier in the week. Still, there's a chance the Lakers star could miss this game, and the fact that the team is an underdog is a major concern on Sunday.

This season, Doncic is averaging 33.6 points, 7.7 rebounds and 8.7 assists per game while shooting 46.8 percent from the field and 33.4 percent from beyond the arc. He's led the Lakers to a 20-12 record in the games he's played in, but the team is just 4-4 when he sits.

If Doncic is ruled out, it is likely that the Lakers will close as even bigger underdog on Sunday.

Odds refresh periodically and are subject to change.

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