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Pro wrestling legend Ric Flair didn’t mince words when it came to Luka Doncic’s absence from the Los Angeles Lakers on Tuesday night.
The Lakers fell to the Oklahoma City Thunder in Game of their second-round series, 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 last series. He played 36 minutes against the Thunder, but only scored eight points.
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Ric Flair exclaims his trademark ‘WOOO’ at his Last Match press conference at the Fairgrounds in Nashville, Tenn., on June 23, 2022. (Abbey Cutrer / The Tennessean / USA TODAY NETWORK)
Flair wrote on X that Doncic needed to get back in the game and that he hoped the Lakers decide to trade him.
“Luka, Please Get In The Game! Take A Shot Of Cortisone And Deal With The Pain! They Are 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 clear in an interview with Fox News Digital in 2023 that he keeps an eye on all sports – not just what’s going on in pro wrestling.
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Lakers guard Luka Doncic greets Rockets forward Jeff Green following game six of the first round of the 2026 NBA Playoffs at Toyota Center in Houston, Texas, on May 1, 2026. (Erik Williams/Imagn Images)
Particularly, he found players resting due to “load management” loathsome.
“These basketball players that whine and b—h, it’s taken a lot of the sport away from me,” he said at the time.
Flair contrasted wrestling through his own injuries to NBA players sitting out through injuries he felt they should be able to play through.
“They go to work hurt,” Flair said about pro wrestlers at the time. “That’s what p—-s me off today about these basketball players that stub their toe. No s—. How do you think I feel about that knowing I wrestled six months after I broke my back in a f—ing airplane crash? ‘I got a torn thumbnail. Whoa, whoa, whoa.’”
Lakers players Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves chat while sitting on the bench during the second half of Game 1 in the first-round 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 event, Doncic’s hamstring injury cost him the last five games of the regular season and each of the Lakers’ playoff games.
Fox News’ Scott Thompson contributed to this report.