Luka Doncic believes the trade that sent him from Dallas to the Lakers last year put him in a better position to compete for championships, writes Grant Afseth of Dallas Hoops Journal (subscription required). After making a brief appearance in Sunday’s All-Star game, Doncic conducted an interview with Slovenia’s SportKlub in which he was asked to compare the two teams.
“I think the organization here is better,” Doncic replied. “The Lakers are a truly legendary club, and the organization is legendary too.”
The Lakers have won 17 NBA titles and are regularly filled with star power, so there’s plenty of history to back up Doncic’s claim. The Mavericks reached the Finals with Doncic in 2024, but have gone sharply downhill since the trade and appear likely to miss the playoffs for a second straight season.
Sources close to Doncic told Afseth that it’s unlikely he’ll ever consider returning to Dallas. Doncic and other members of his camp were unhappy with negative comments from the Mavs regarding his conditioning and other internal rationale for the trade. Afseth states that Doncic remains close to some of his former teammates and staff members, including interim co-general manager Matt Riccardi, but points out that he hasn’t embraced Dallas coach Jason Kidd since being dealt.
There’s more from Los Angeles:
- It’s not easy to determine if the Lakers are legitimate contenders this season, states Law Murray of The Athletic. L.A. entered the break at 33-21 despite only having Doncic, LeBron James and Austin Reaves together for 10 games. All three of their stars have been sidelined for extended stretches, with 12 missed games for Doncic, 18 for James and 26 for Reaves. Despite being 12 games over .500, the Lakers have a negative point differential and have relied on a league-best 15-3 record in clutch games to build their winning record.
- Deandre Ayton was briefly detained but not arrested Tuesday at an airport in the Bahamas on suspicion of being in possession of a small amount of marijuana, according to Jasper Ward of Reuters. “The investigators saw that the actual very small amount of marijuana wasn’t in Deandre’s bag, but they still went through their investigations and he was released expeditiously,” said Ayton’s attorney, Devard Francis, who added that the substance was actually in someone else’s luggage.
- President of business operations Tim Harris told staff members Monday that this is his last season with the team, per Dan Woike of The Athletic (Twitter link). Woike notes that Harris has been with the organization for more than 35 years and describes him as the “driving force” behind the Lakers’ “massive” local TV deal with Spectrum SportsNet.
Doncic better stay in LA since the league jumped through some hoops to get him there by rigging the draft as payment to Dallas.
And the earth is flat
Much better chance of the former being true, rather than the latter, Pizzaboy.
I’d argue that if one believes the first they believe the second. Space cadets
Why would the Mavs owners want to give up $100s of millions of dollars? The number 1 pick ain’t worth it.
People have such a need for theatrics that they find it absolutely impossible for Nico to just be an unchecked idiot
Houston, Lakers, Minnesota and Phoenix are all pretenders, no shot of making the Finals. The Warriors are underrated and all their criticisms are massively overblown. Good luck in the second half to everyone, regardless!
Houston isn’t a pretender. That Ukoda effect in the playoffs should not be underestimated.
“That Ukoda effect in the playoffs” what effect is that? Winning no rings? He lost to Kerr last year – YIKES.
Houston are soft as butter and have no main playmaker. They are getting rolled by GSW again if they face them.
Minnesota are pretenders? The team that has made the last 2 conference finals, knocking out the Warriors in the process last year? Yeah, righto champ.
The main criticism I have for the Warriors is that their team is structured around having several old and a few really old players be fit in the play-offs. If you think that criticism is massively overrated, good luck to you pal.
Rockets obliterated the Lakers on Christmas Day, and yet they haven’t figured out how to distance themselves from such a flawed team in the standings through almost two-thirds of the season. Bad sign for Houston fans, TunaNoCrust. I wouldn’t quite put them up there with Knicks, in terms of teams you woulda expected several more wins by now than they currently have – but they’re close.
@The Chosen Dud
You forgot to change to your Davey J handle.
Last year isn’t this year guys and the playoffs are not the regular season. They’ve got the defense and coaching to make a good run.
GSW on the other hand will be lucky to make the play in tournament.
“GSW on the other hand will be lucky to make the play in tournament.” lmao they are the #8 seed and everyone else is tanking, try again.
Why is everyone so low on GSW? They are 29-26 and like 20 of those losses were totally winnable, with horrific scheduling and injuries, and after all that, they’re still 29-26. You are all talking like they are cellar dwellers. Weirdo stuff. You are wrong. Stay wrong.
Man I’m just doubting their ability to hold it together for a run. If they do anything can happen. But from what they’ve shown so far even if they make the play in they could easily get bounced out.
The made the 2nd round last year and were hurtling towards the Finals til the hamstring tear. Nothing you are saying holds water, they are a good team that for some reason everyone is acting like the worst team in the NBA, its such an overshoot and horrible analysis.
They had Jimmy and a healthy Steph last year. This year they have neither.
Who flys with Marijuana in their luggage? 🤔
Evidently DeAndre Ayton. LOL Can’t help but wonder how long it will take The Lakers to figure out what The Suns, n Blazers already know. Ayton is Extremely Talented, but is a bit of an Underachiever. It’s a Shame that One as Gifted as he is, doesn’t have The Drive to Utilize the Gifts that he has been given to reach his full potential.