Playing for the first time since suffering a left calf strain on Christmas Day, Luka Doncic made his Lakers debut on Monday, helping to guide the team to a comfortable 132-113 victory over Utah. It wasn’t the best game of Doncic’s career – he had just 14 points on 5-of-14 shooting in 24 minutes – but he told reporters after the victory that it was a “special” one, per Jovan Buha of The Athletic.
“The way they received me, everybody, it was amazing to see,” Doncic said. “I was a little bit nervous before. I don’t remember the last time I was nervous before the game. But once I stepped on the court, it was fun. And just being out there again felt amazing.”
As Buha and Dave McMenamin of ESPN write, the Lakers went out of their way to make their newest addition comfortable in his debut. Every fan in attendance received a Doncic t-shirt jersey, the Lakers played Serbian music during pregame warmups (a staple during Doncic’s days in Dallas), and he was the last Lakers starter introduced, temporarily taking the spot typically reserved for LeBron James.
In a pregame huddle captured on ESPN’s broadcast, James told Doncic, “Luka, be your f—ing self. Don’t fit in, fit the f— out. Be yourself.” Doncic said it felt “amazing” to hear that and added that the speech gave him “chills.”
“I didn’t play in a long time, first of all,” Doncic said. “It’s a new team. New everything. But like the way they helped me, teammates, (general manager) Rob (Pelinka), (owner) Jeanie (Buss), it was just a lot of support for me. You could see when I came to the arena, I saw all the Luka jerseys. It was just a surreal feeling.”
The Lakers’ victory, their sixth in a row and 10th in 11 games, moved them into fourth place in the Western Conference standings.
Meanwhile, in Dallas, the Mavericks lost for the 15th time in their last 23 games and are now clinging to a play-in spot, just one game ahead of the 11th-seeded Suns. As Tim MacMahon of ESPN details, multiple Mavericks fans – upset about the trade that sent Doncic to Los Angeles in a package headlined by Anthony Davis – were ejected in the second half of a one-point overtime loss to Sacramento and team governor Patrick Dumont was loudly booed by fans.
[RELATED: Anthony Davis Expected To Miss Multiple Weeks]
At one point in the game, former Mavs majority owner and current minority stakeholder Mark Cuban yelled at two fans to “shut the f— up and sit the f— down,” MacMahon reports. Cuban told ESPN the fans were chanting “fire Nico” (ie. general manager Nico Harrison) while the Mavs were shooting free throws and again during a critical late-game possession. They were later ejected.
Head coach Jason Kidd didn’t speak to reporters after Dallas’ loss, a violation of NBA rules.
“I mean, yeah. I saw,” Doncic said on Monday when asked about the reaction in Dallas to the trade that ended his Mavs tenure. “Obviously, I saw the fans. Obviously, I really appreciate it. I’ve been there seven years — almost seven years — and it was amazing to experience those fans — the love for me. I’ll always appreciate that. But now I think we should focus on the next step. And the way Lakers fans received me here was amazing.”
The Jazz have 2 bigs which should of caused the Lakers a headache…
Instead the Lakers small ball dominated… Vando is undefeated this season, he and Hayes are a solid front court defence…
The script has been completely flipped on Luka lol. He’s now in great shape, a media dawling
Probably because everyone who saw him could immediatley tell that Nico and Dumont were full of crap about him being out of shape. He wasn’t in perfect shape (which, duh, nobody is after a month and a half absence), but there’s no damn way he was 270 lbs the way they were claiming.
To be honest, Luka does look pretty fat. I didnt watch the game so I cant give you an updated take, but lately his face was really looking like a cookie
The yellow/gold jerseys def aren’t slimming either lol
Having watched the game, he doesn’t look like his 230 lbs listed weight, but he absolutely doesn’t look like he’s 270. 250, I’ll give you. That’s still not great. But 270 was always nonsense. He’d look like fat-suit Harden but worse at that point. Even just look at the photos of the game. He looks like himself after an injury layoff. A bit heavier, still getting his legs under him, but not like he went on a six-week bender.
Guys are always a little more pudgy after coming back from a leg injury, since they can’t do as much cardio. Probably put on a few extra lbs.
How heartwarming.
Only thing that is sure is Luka will not be reaching free agency in 2026 he will extend for at least two years this summer
To be frank every team counting on free agency in 2026 and 2027 is gonna be severely disappointed in who’s actually available when the time comes!
Nobody goes to free agency anymore bc they can take the money on bird rights and ask for a trade later ! Paul George is the biggest name to reach free agency since the wild 2019 class and hc wouldn’t have if clippers maxed him ! Only old slightly past their prime stars will reach free agency
But isnt the whole Lakers ordeal that they will get players in Free Agency to pair up with Luka since they dont have assets anymore?
Well the Williams trade falling through helped them there ! By 2026 they will have half their traceable first back ! Ausitn reeves will be signed and tradable ,
They always seem to be more than alright even with shaky ownership and management!
Really this is more for clippers and heat who seem to be counting on landing two max free agents in 2026!
By the time it comes around there won’t be a single free agent either team will want to give one max contract to let alone two !
If they want stars they need assets not cap space ! Heat have then clippers don’t
Shoutout to Jordan Goodwin for playing his heart out in the past two games. Suns did him dirty last year (was a solid bench player and the Suns had a 13-10 record in his games, then he had two subpar games back-to-back and they immediately demoted him from the rotation and flipped between playing him five minutes and DNPs), and he got hurt with the Grizz (not that they were competitive at that point in the year), but he deserved a chance to ball out again. Glad the Lakers are giving him a shot.
He has been beyond awesome, I personally think they should convert him a day before Mar 1 to be playoff elig
Someone who can guard 1/2’s is just as important as a bu 5 imo today, possibly even more as the small ball 5 in house option is probably just the way to go considering the 5 market
Hes half the equation, they can make 2 adds by cutting 2 of Kief/Cam/ or Wood. Think they have half the equation already in tow here
** Its not hard to tell who actually watches games in here, nice analysis spot on
I really liked Goodwin in his first summer league. It’s just really hard for guards to stay in the nba, especially certain types of guards, even those that can defend…like if you’re mostly just a 1, and on top of that you can’t consistently knock down shots, it’s going to be hard for you, even if you can be a disruptive defender and be a facilitator. This is definitely a good fit though, as was probably Phoenix, but that’s the other thing some teams have done the last few years that have hurt them…bringing in too many guards they don’t need, or too many redundancies
Agree Forms, see Bulls lol
Yea If you got 5 guards already hard for Goodwin to see the floor but currently Goodwin just has to unseat Shake Shack so its easy for him to get in a nice shift per half giving it all on D
With so much offense they wont need much from him there
The Hornets should receive a Lakers pick for this crap. This is usual what happens
Luka trade is The Worst in the history of sports
Brooklyn trading for PP, LilKG and someone else. Boston traded to Brooklyn
Pippen draft rights for Olden Polynice draft rights
Bill Russell’s draft rights traded from Atlanta to Boston
Yes the Luka trade
D Wilkins from Atlanta to the Clippers
Pau Gasol traded from Memphis to Lakers
Anyone else have anymore basketball ones ? These are off the top of my head
Paul George going to LA for Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Danilo Gallinari, five first-round picks and two swaps.
PP,KG trade to Brooklyn got Boston Tatum and Brown but not the worst trade
Yeah that LA deal was bad for them. Good for OKC
Vlade Divac for Kobe
If that was the lineup/rotation they’re mostly going to use, they’re going to be really good, even for the rest of this year, assuming they can remain healthy…
If they add another option at the 2/3, preferably defense/someone that can also guars the guard spot, and potentially a depth big, they’re in a strong spot
That being said, not having been able to add a big kind of forced them to use people in spots they should be…Jackson Hayes is had potential in the past defensively, as a pick and roll defender and hopeful rim presence, and then Hachimura behind him, I’ve always felt is better defensively at the 5 next to certain people, or LeBron or Vanderbilt also playing minutes there at the 5 could be great for matchups, if they’re willing to do it
Again, still think they could use another 2/3 and a depth big, but I think they’re better immediately than realized, if they’re going to use rotations like this…Luka defending wings isn’t that awful, when he has guys around him that can pick him up
Dallas made an extremely ballsy move. I think the thought process/goal makes sense, but at the same time, you absolutely have to know what you’re going to end up with moving forward, and you absolutely have to take advantage and win asap, but you’re relying on guys it’s hard to rely on to be around, and I think the Lakers aren’t going to be withholden to using Luka a certain way, b/c of how they got him, so I think it gives them a chance to build around him differently, and use different strengths, and hide his deficiencies in different ways
Agree but they need a 1/2 (defense first) guard not 2/3 Imo
A healthy Melton would fit this team like a glove
He also wouldn’t have been traded though
I’d argue both, or someone that can do both, but it’s hard to get at this moment…richardson…
Yea def, just theoretical, just someone that can guard 1/2’s at a high rate
TBH Goodwin is kinda the perfect poor mans Melton currently
Didn’t have enough time to finish editing…Richardson can play 1-3, but he historically can sometimes have issues defending small, quick guards…
Id love him (JRich) like 2 years ago but idk how much juice that lemon has left – Tbh Think Goodwin is just fine for the G spot
Other spot a bu 5 , in which I have ZERO good candidates for currently and don’t think one arises from the ashes before Mar 1
People have been speculating Nance but I dont see why ATL would cut him or why Nance would ask to be cut (his bird rights probably his best chance at bigger payday) Atl also owns Lakers pick so it behoove them to not cut him as he would probably go to Lakers rather quickly
The only point to be made is this… THIS decision was 100% about money. The Mavs knew how it would look and did it anyway because there is an underlying principle that from a business and competitive standpoint, the amount of dollars on these guys is laughably beyond justifiable. Arguably. Cost/benefit analysis, etc.
They know their business side of it better than we do, obviously. MAYBE, just maybe, it was time that one of the owners had to take a stand. They are OWNERS, not GOVERNORS! Keeping Luka meant being forced to give him this contract that he is not worth. There was no negotiation. They had no leverage. It was 70 mill per. The only guys ever worth that kind of money were MJ and LBJ. But they had to pay it… with A GUN to their head.
They could not negotiate with multiple teams and drive up his value because the fans never would have allowed the trade to come off. Again… gun to their head, 70 mill per. They got AD, they got Max, a first, and FREEDOM from the contract. Not bad all things considered.
We’ll see how it goes. VERY interesting.
They’re going to lose for decades tho and that should make their profits less during that time. Nba teams still have to give insane $ weather they win or lose and now they’re paying a little bit less $ to lose A LOT more games. Mavs future looks awful. AD and Kyrie are done in 5 years. They have absolutely nothing to build a team with by the time they get that Lakers pick and it’ll be a terrible pick with a young star there now to build around in Luka. LA got Gasol for cheap and Luka for 1 pick and damaged goods.
I get it. We’ll see! Unbelievable gamble. That said, ownership should have taken the burden of outrage off of Nico. They hung that guy out to dry when, in the end, this was 100% their decision.
And people were saying the Mavs got better after trading Doncic lmao