EL SEGUNDO, Calif. (AP) — Just over three weeks after the trade that stunned the sports world, Luka Dončić and his Los Angeles Lakers will host the Dallas Mavericks on Tuesday night (10 ET, TNT).
Dončić’s new teammates and coaches all believe he’ll be ready and eager for this quick showdown with the team that abruptly shipped him out of the city where he earned five All-NBA selections, where he led last season’s squad to the NBA Finals after winning the scoring title — and where he expected to spend the rest of his career.
“I think he’ll be fine,” Lakers coach JJ Redick said. “Every day that he’s been with us, it’s becoming just a little bit more normal. I’ve been there. The first time you play your old team, particularly this close in time duration, it’s going to be weird. But he’ll be able to handle it.”
Major life events have been coming at Dončić awfully quickly in February, so the speed at which this monumental matchup arrived on the Lakers’ schedule is just another challenge for the Slovenian superstar. Aside from the trade’s upheaval, Dončić is still working his way back into top shape after missing 6 1/2 weeks with a strained calf.
Dončić declined to speak to reporters Monday after the Lakers’ practice, which he ended by making a half-court shot following a 3-point shooting drill with Dorian Finney-Smith, his former teammate in Dallas. Both veterans ended up with the Lakers this season in separate trades.
“I think he’s going to be excited, but everybody in the locker room is excited,” Finney-Smith said. “We’ve got his back. It’s going to be a hard-fought game. I know (Mavs coach Jason) Kidd is going to have them ready to come in here and compete, so we’ve just got to match their intensity.”
This matchup unfortunately won’t feature both headlining players in the blockbuster trade.
Anthony Davis, the big man who teamed up with LeBron James to lead the Lakers to the 2020 championship, is out at least two more weeks with a groin injury sustained in his first game with the Mavs.
Davis, who is on the road with his new team, is beloved in Los Angeles as Dončić is in Dallas. He is likely to feel that passion from the Lakers’ sellout crowd — and so is Max Christie, the Lakers’ former second-round pick who blossomed into a starter this season before the trade to the Mavs.
A full on-court reunion will have to wait until at least April 9, when the Lakers visit Dallas.
Dončić , who turns 26 on Friday, has played in only four games for the Lakers since getting healthy enough to return to the court. But he took a major step toward full strength with a stellar performance at Denver last Saturday night.
He put up 32 points with four 3-pointers, 10 rebounds, seven assists and four steals in the Lakers’ 123-100 blowout win over the Nuggets, who had been a brutal matchup for Los Angeles in recent seasons.
“When he made the first 3, I was like, ‘OK, he’s on it tonight,’” Lakers forward Rui Hachimura said with a grin. “I don’t know how much he’s 100% healthy, but he’s started to get back to his rhythm, so I’m happy for him.”
After Dončić’s first two games with the Lakers were played on a minutes restriction, he struggled in his third appearance, going 5 for 18 and hitting just one 3-pointer on nine attempts in the Lakers’ embarrassing loss to Charlotte. The NBA’s hot-take factories chugged into production on concerns about Dončić’s game.
The Lakers said they weren’t worried in the slightest — and after Dončić took one game off in Portland to manage his injury recovery, he delivered in Denver.
“I knew it was going to come,” Finney-Smith said. “Luka, I shoot with him all the time, so I knew there was nothing wrong with his shot. He just hadn’t played for a while. He ain’t played since Christmas, and guys want him to come back and be 30, 10 and 10, but it takes time for him. I’m just happy he’s finding his rhythm.”
