Now several weeks removed from the blockbuster deal that sent Luka Dončić to the Los Angeles Lakers, team owner Jeanie Buss couldn’t help but laugh.
Seeing her new star mesh well with LeBron James in the early days of their partnership is a great sign.
“I think it’s working,” Buss said with a smile.
Buss spoke about the stunning trade on “The Rich Eisen Show” on Tuesday, hours before Dončić and the Lakers host the Dallas Mavericks — which will mark their first meeting since the trade went down. Anthony Davis, the piece the Mavericks received in exchange for Dončić, will miss that matchup due to a groin injury.
Buss said Dončić is settling in well with his new franchise and that the team is doing everything possible to make it an easy transition. When the deal was being discussed initially, however, Buss said she and her team were doing everything they could to keep it as quiet as possible.
They weren’t looking to give up Davis — she called him their “rock-solid player” — and they didn’t want word of such a deal to get out if it didn’t go through.
“The conversation started a couple weeks before the trade was executed … We did not want any part of it to leak out because it’s very disruptive to a team that’s trying to focus on getting better … The idea of blowing something up midseason to make a trade like that, if it didn’t go through would have repercussions,” Buss said. “It was really tight-lipped and each step of the way was discussed, and we were able to make a deal that both sides were comfortable with.”
Dončić has averaged 19 points, 7.5 rebounds and 5.8 assists in four games since he landed with the Lakers. He put up 32 points in their 123-100 win over the Denver Nuggets on Saturday. The Lakers will enter Tuesday’s game against Dallas with a 34-21 record, which has them in fourth in the Western Conference.
The Luka-Kobe connection
Another thing Buss brought up is Dončić’s connection to former Lakers star Kobe Bryant, who was killed in a helicopter crash in 2020.
The last time Buss saw Bryant alive was when he and his daughter Gigi came to see Dončić play.
“I look back, and the last time I saw Kobe alive was about a month before he passed,” Buss said. “He had brought Gigi to the Lakers game to see Luka play, because Luka was Gigi’s favorite player. Just the idea that Luka is now a Laker, I know how happy that would make Kobe and Gigi.”
One of the first things Dončić said to Buss after meeting her post-trade was that he wished Bryant were there.
“That was, like, a very important relationship. Kobe really took him under his wing and was supportive of him,” Buss said. “I think he feels that, even without Kobe present, that there’s that kind of feel with our organization.”
