NEWNow you can listen to Pak Gazette articles!
Pro wrestling legend Ric Flair gave Los Angeles Lakers star Luka Doncic another chance before the team’s Game 4 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder on Monday.
Flair criticized Doncic for missing games with a hamstring injury and doubled down on his comments in an interview on “Yahoo Sports Daily.”
ZERO BS. ONLY DAKICH. TAKE THE DON’T @ ME PODCAST ON THE ROAD. DOWNLOAD NOW!
Ric Flair attends the 44th Annual Sports Emmy Awards at Frederick P. Rose Hall, Jazz at Lincoln Center in New York City on May 22, 2023. (Arturo Holmes/Getty Images)
“I’m not being hard on Luka. I’m having fun, I’m a big Laker fan, and I honestly think, of course, I don’t know anything about the extent of the injury, but the first time I saw it… I did the same thing to the 49ers quarterback a couple years ago. I told him, ‘Get back in the game, man,'” Flair said.
“You know, I had cortisone shots, I struggled with a broken ankle, so I don’t have much sympathy for the hamstring. But you know, they’re protecting the future and I don’t blame them for that. They’re guaranteed money.”
CLICK HERE FOR MORE SPORTS COVERAGE ON PakGazette.Com
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)
Flair has remarkably overcome injuries during his professional wrestling career.
He suffered a broken back in three places while surviving a plane crash in North Carolina in 1975. He was told he would never fight again before beginning a career that would make history. He also suffered an injury while working for Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) in 2011. Flair also revealed in 2016 that he was struck by lightning.
Last week, Flair asked the Lakers to trade Doncic if he wasn’t going to fight back from the injury.
Luka Doncic of the Los Angeles Lakers watches the game against the Oklahoma City Thunder in the second half of Game 2 of the second round of the NBA playoffs on May 7, 2026 in Oklahoma City. (Nate Billings/AP)
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE Pak Gazette APP
Doncic’s hamstring injury cost him the final five games of the regular season and each of the Lakers’ playoff games.
