It was always going to take some time for superstar guard Luka Doncic to adjust to his new surroundings after being acquired by the Los Angeles Lakers in a blockbuster trade at the beginning of February. Doncic has often spoken about how he thought he would spend his entire career with the Dallas Mavericks and adjusting to a new team, while also having to uproot his family to a new city, is not easy.
Now after about six weeks, Doncic is beginning to feel more comfortable in Los Angeles, both on and off the court. The success of the Lakers has been great and he and his family have settled in as well so at this point it is pretty safe to say Luka is happy with the Lakers.
Doncic himself spoke about it after the Lakers’ victory Monday night over the San Antonio Spurs. Speaking in his native Slovenian, Doncic said he feels amazing with the Lakers, adding that everyone has accepted him, translated by Luka Updates on X:
One thing the Lakers know how to do better than any franchise is make their stars feel beloved and welcomed. This franchise prides itself on how it treats its stars and how they have made Doncic feel since the trade is yet another example.
It’s a difficult situation to be traded in the middle of the season and there are a lot of things that many don’t see or even think about that players have to figure out while still needing to play at a high level with brand new teammates in a new scheme. Luka’s transition from Dallas to Los Angeles has been outstanding and the Lakers deserve a lot of credit for how they have handled everything and making Doncic feel right at home.
Luka Doncic praises Lakers coach JJ Redick for offensive schemes
In terms of on the court, the Lakers’ offense with Luka Doncic has been borderline unstoppable when the team is healthy and he praised head coach JJ Redick for the schemes and plays he puts together that ultimately makes things easier for himself.
“It makes my life easier,” Doncic said of Redick’s schemes. “Those actions that he puts, there was one ATO today that we ran twice, and it was just for an alley-oop, so that explains JJ’s [Redick] mind. The way he sees basketball, it’s amazing,” Doncic said. “But just me and AR [Austin Reaves] calling off the ball, it helps me and him and everybody else because we do it with pace, and it’s hard to stop us.”
