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Pro wrestling legend Ric Flair pulled no punches when it came to the absence of Luka Doncic from the Los Angeles Lakers on Tuesday night.
The Lakers fell to the Oklahoma City Thunder in their second-round series game, 108-90. Doncic missed the first round of the playoffs with a hamstring injury. Los Angeles has seen Austin Reaves return to the lineup in the latest series. He played 36 minutes against the Thunder, but only scored eight points.
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Ric Flair exclaims his signature ‘WOOO’ at his Last Match press conference at the Fairgrounds in Nashville, Tennessee on June 23, 2022. (Abbey Cutrer/The Tennessean/USA TODAY NETWORK)
Flair wrote in X that Doncic needed to get back in the game and that he hoped the Lakers decided to trade him.
“Luka, please get in the game! Take a cortisone shot and deal with the pain! They’re paying you 50 million a year, and you’re not there! WTF! I hope @JeanieBuss trades you next year. Nobody wants a lame duck on their team!” Flair wrote in his rant.
Flair made it clear in an interview with Pak Gazette Digital in 2023 that he pays attention to all sports, not just what’s happening in professional wrestling.
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Lakers guard Luka Doncic greets Rockets forward Jeff Green after game six of the first round of the 2026 NBA Playoffs at the Toyota Center in Houston, Texas, on May 1, 2026. (Erik Williams/Image Images)
In particular, he found it disgusting that players were resting due to “load management”.
“These basketball players who complain and do shit, they’ve taken a big part of the sport away from me,” he said at the time.
Flair compared wrestling through his own injuries to NBA players who sat out due to injuries he felt they should be able to overcome.
“They go to work hurt,” Flair said of professional wrestlers at the time. “That’s what bothers me today about these basketball players stubbing their toes. No, shit. How do you think I feel knowing that I struggled six months after I broke my back in a damn plane crash? ‘I broke my thumbnail. Whoa, whoa, whoa.'”
Lakers players Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves chat while sitting on the bench during the second half of Game 1 of the first round of the NBA playoffs against the Rockets at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles, California on April 20, 2026. (Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)
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In any case, Doncic’s hamstring injury cost him the final five games of the regular season and each of the Lakers’ playoff games.
