NBA
Lakers Beat Pistons 121–116 as Luka Dončić Misses Second Game
Lower-back tightness will keep Dončić out at Detroit. Both absences this season have come during back-to-backs. Here’s how the Lakers listed each one.
The Los Angeles Lakers beat the Detroit Pistons 121–116 on Sunday without Luka Dončić. Los Angeles ruled him out with lower-back tightness, according to the NBA injury report. It was his second absence of the season.
Dončić scored a season-high 53 points in the Lakers’ 124–118 win over Portland on Friday. He shot 17 for 33 and added five rebounds and five assists in just over 38 minutes. Austin Reaves scored 25 points.
Dončić made a jumper in the lane with 28 seconds left to help Los Angeles close out the win. It was his second 50-point game of the season. He has scored at least 40 in four consecutive appearances, according to NBA.com’s Saturday roundup.
Los Angeles improved to 9–2. Dončić has played in nine of the Lakers’ 11 games and is averaging 40.1 points, 7.8 rebounds and 7.7 assists. He missed the Clippers game in October with back tightness. The Lakers won that game 103–87.
Austin Reaves scored 40 points against Detroit as the Lakers won their fifth straight game.
How many NBA games has Luka Dončić missed?
Dončić has missed 129 NBA regular-season games through Nov. 8, 2026. He has played in 523 of the 652 games his teams played while he was on their rosters. His highest total was 34 missed games in 2024–25, the season a left calf strain sidelined him before his trade from Dallas to Los Angeles.
| Season | Team games | Played | Missed |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2018–19 | 82 | 72 | 10 |
| 2019–20 | 75 | 61 | 14 |
| 2020–21 | 72 | 66 | 6 |
| 2021–22 | 82 | 65 | 17 |
| 2022–23 | 82 | 66 | 16 |
| 2023–24 | 82 | 70 | 12 |
| 2024–25 | 84 | 50 | 34 |
| 2025–26 | 82 | 64 | 18 |
| 2026–27 through Nov. 8 | 11 | 9 | 2 |
| Career | 652 | 523 | 129 |
The count uses Dončić’s season totals and each team’s actual schedule. Dallas played 75 and 72 games in the two shortened seasons. In 2024–25, the count includes 49 Dallas games before the trade and 35 Lakers games after it. The table excludes preseason and postseason games.
Luka Dončić’s Load Management and Missed Games
The Lakers have now held Dončić out of one game in two different back-to-back sets this season. He missed the second night against the Clippers and missed the first night of the Detroit–Atlanta set. Both reports cited back tightness. The Lakers have used an explicit injury-management designation for other games, including two while he was coming back from his 2024–25 calf injury.
| Date | Opponent | Listed reason and schedule |
|---|---|---|
| Feb. 20, 2025 | at Portland | Left calf injury management |
| March 14, 2025 | at Denver | Left calf injury management and a right ankle sprain |
| Nov. 3, 2025 | at Portland | Lower left leg contusion injury management |
| Oct. 28, 2026 | at LA Clippers | Back tightness. Second night of a back-to-back. |
| Nov. 8, 2026 | at Detroit | Lower-back tightness. First night of a back-to-back. Listed out. |
The career table counts absences for every reason. It includes the games he missed with the calf strain in 2024–25 and the five regular-season games he missed with a hamstring strain in April 2026. Los Angeles is scheduled to play at Atlanta at 7 p.m. ET Monday.
Our October column on the NBA’s Las Vegas promotion looked at Dončić’s availability after the Lakers rested him for a preseason game against Golden State.
Sources and notes
- https://ak-static.cms.nba.com/referee/injury/Injury-Report_2026-11-08_01_15AM.pdf
- https://www.nba.com/lakers/game/0022600032-blazers-vs-lakers-los-angeles-ca-11-06-2026/box-score
- https://www.nba.com/news/starting-5-november-7-2026
- https://thesportingpage.com/luka-doncic-out-against-clippers-with-back-tightness/
