Luka Doncic Discussion: Lean Mean Slovenian Scoring Machine

Yah you know the last one was kidding since I was the chump that was “That Guy”.

 

Yeah, usually the Lakers are really, really cautious. Hoping they're prioritizing the long-term future here.

 

Los Angeles Lakers star Luka Doncic might not be on the court for the start of the NBA playoffs this weekend, but he will be with his team.
Doncic is returning to Los Angeles on Friday after spending the last week in Spain, where he received multiple injections for his Grade 2 left hamstring strain, sources told ESPN's Shams Charania on Monday
https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/48477183/doncic-return-spain-friday-status-unknown

 

Good leadership

 

Not a great run for our dollar general medical team.

 

at least we won't be rushing him back and risking an even more serious injury. though i'm not at all loving the sound of this right now.

 

Already have to wonder how long before he can even begin to approach the conditioning again he did last summer.

 

this is what i mean...and the potential for re-injury. could be worse, but i'm not currently having fun.

 

Retraction




Followed by some Twitter doc expected timeline update

 

lots of interesting ethical issues here, imo. one of which is that he's going overseas to use a banned substance for healing. is this something the cba addresses/is concerned with? like, i read that the peptide ban may be loosening/ending soon in the u.s., but what's the next thing that maybe scientists or government regulators aren't sure is safe? is the league supposed to protect players from themselves? is that not the spirit of the other banned substance rules? or is it all just about optics? what's the difference between this and steroids or whatever?

 

It's definitely... delicate.

On top of all that...
There's the matter of maybe it's something safe and better than what we have here but big pharma is blocking it for their own financial interests.

Then there's guys like Rogen who swear by all the pokes and prods and international treatments, he'll rant and rave for hours about stuff the MMA guys go south of the border and elsewhere to get addressed and all their magical results.

I don't know. If he's educated on it and if it's safe and if he doesn't put his body in any short or long term danger and if he's not doing it just to rush back to a buzz saw (OKC)... I'm all for it. But those are all multiple big ifs.

 

This kind of medical stuff is beyond me, about these kind of things I'm pretty much in the let adults be adults camp. Is it correct to say that Luka would still have to be cleared by team doctors?

 

this is my point, and this is why we develop rules that restrict these kinds of "personal freedoms". even if it doesn't confer a direct advantage that could lead to harming someone else, it could create an atmosphere where one must harm oneself to keep up. is that the same as just, like, overtraining and restrictive eating? i'd argue no.

if you can just put whatever you want into your body, why do we have so many laws and regulations about these things?

i don't know that this specific case is that big of a concern, but it definitely made me think of some that could be.

 

It's a very cultural topic.
Big Pharma are a big topic in the US. Health Science isn't the strongest suit of the US.
In Europe there's more freedom and optionality (damn, just used a Pelinka term)

 

I’m not sure what if any peptides he took. That’s all conjecture and we won’t know because they’ll be cleared out of his system by the time he is back.

The stem cell treatments are more important in my opinion anyway. Peptides can’t work in a week. The stem cell stuff is banned by a mix of big pharma and religious pro life stances in the US.

 

None of us (I think?) are doctors or healthcare professionals.

I have faith that the Lakers team along with Luka's team, which he most certainly has an army of, getting various opinions, are doing their due diligence.

The only one I am worried about is Reaves. He's due for a near max contract. A lot will come into play of whether he will play or not. Isaiah Thomas played for the C Bags when being hurt on a contract year and they basically gave up on him once he suffered a significant injury. Cost him probably $150 million.

All of this will depend on what the Lakers can do in the first round... if they are 2-2 heading into game 5, I can see Luka+Reaves coming back. If they are 0-3, just shut them down.

Also with how the schedule is so far, it seems they'll get about 4 weeks of rest by game 5. Maybe it's enough? Who knows. Reaves was out there shooting 3's. I think he's not ruling it out.

 

@abeer3 Ethically I think the difference is that the treatment Luka is receiving is regenerative, with the sole purpose of healing to baseline health, whereas PED's/steroids artificially boost human performance beyond natural capacity. Any sort of healing process (from injury, not fatigue) is OK in my book.

 

This is also my very uninformed understanding and I also completely agree here. If the purpose of a procedue is only to heal faster, I have absolutely no issue with it.