Here is all you need to know about how Los Angeles has embraced Luka Doncic: There is already a Kobe Bryant and Luka Doncic mural up in West Hollywood (based on a photo of them greeting years ago after a game).
Tuesday night, Dallas — and its angry and still-hurting fan base that had their favorite player ripped away from them without warning — will see Doncic up close in the purple and gold as the Lakers host the Mavericks (10 p.m. ET on TNT).
This has the potential to be a massive revenge game — we’ve seen in the past what a motivated Doncic can do to an opponent.
“We’ve got his back,” Doncic’s former Maverick and once-again teammate in Los Angeles Dorian Finney-Smith said of the team’s motivation for the game.
Doncic should be plenty motivated — he has admitted he was “blindsided” by the trade, just like everyone else.
“I mean, everybody was surprised, so you can imagine how surprised I was,” Doncic said of the trade at his introductory press conference. I was almost asleep, so when I got a call, I had to check it was, [if] it was April 1. I didn’t really believe it at first. It was, it was a big shock. It was hard moments for me. [Dallas] was, it was home…
“I thought I was going to spend my whole career there, because I think loyalty is a big word for me, and I was trying to stay by that. But this, for me, is your fresh start.”
More than just trading Doncic away, the Mavericks leaked rumors about his lack of conditioning and commitment to winning on the way out the door — an odd thing to do to a guy who led this team to the NBA Finals just last June. Mavericks GM Nico Harrison said the players they acquired in the trade matched the “vision and the culture that we want to create” and that “defense wins championships.” Add that fuel to the fire.
That trade also cost Doncic millions of dollars: Dallas could have offered him a five-year $346 million supermax contract this summer but balked at that number, the most the Lakers can offer is four years at $229 million (although that contract will have an opt-out in the summer of 2029, when Doncic reaches 10 years of service, so he can re-sign for 35% of the salary cap compared to the 30% the Lakers can offer).
This game would have been a homecoming for Anthony Davis, the center who helped lead the Lakers to the 2020 title, however, he is out injured due to an adductor strain. Dallas is also without its two other centers, Dereck Lively II (right ankle stress fracture) and Daniel Gafford (right knee sprain). This has forced P.J. Washington to play the five, but he is questionable with an ankle sprain.
It all sets up for a massive Doncic revenge game. He looked comfortable in his new home — and like his calf was fully healed — playing like his vintage self against Denver, scoring 16 in the first quarter and finishing with 32 points.
That could just be the appetizer for what happens Tuesday at Crypto.com Arena.
