It was always going to take some time for Luka Doncic to get comfortable following his trade from the Dallas Mavericks to the Los Angeles Lakers as the deal came as an absolute shock to everyone, himself included. But one good thing the Lakers had going for them was that the team had recently acquired veteran wing Dorian Finney-Smith.
Not only was Finney-Smith a former teammate of Doncic’s with the Mavericks, but the two were very close and had a great relationship. Finney-Smith understood exactly what the Lakers were getting as he saw how Doncic completely changed the culture when he arrived in Dallas which is why he was happy to see the reaction Doncic received in his return, as seen on Spectrum SportsNet:
“Well deserved… I was sitting in that locker room when we were struggling, I would say tanking to get him. And I saw the transformation back into being a winning culture due to him. Obviously I’d say I had a little part in that, but Luka being Luka, he brought the excitement back to Dallas.”
It was a very emotional night, especially for Doncic, who had to wipe away tears while watching the tribute video the Mavericks played for him pregame. And Finney-Smith admitted he and other Lakers got emotional as well seeing that:
“Coming in today, I knew I was gonna pass him the ball a lot because just him being the competitor he is, I knew he was gonna come with a mindset to try to get this win. It was emotional seeing him go through that before the game, a lot of people on the team got a little emotional seeing that. That’s why at the end of the game we started celebrating, it felt good.”
It was definitely the right move to pass Luka the ball because he was on fire all night long and finished with 45 points, eight rebounds, six assists and four steals in the Lakers’ 15-point win. But that performance from Doncic was nothing that Finney-Smith hasn’t seen before:
“That’s who he is. I’ve seen it, seen him hit big shots, seen him in playoff games where he’s put on unbelievable performances just like tonight. So like I said, happy we got the win. Luka got us going at the beginning and then LeBron took over.”
It is games like this why the Lakers were willing to move what they had to in order to bring Luka to L.A. He is a generational talent and even with so many emotions going, he was able to put that to the side and get the job done.
Luka Doncic thanks Lakers teammates for having his back in return vs. Mavericks
The entire Lakers team rallied around Luka Doncic on this very emotional night and the superstar guard was thankful for their support.
Doncic felt this was huge for the team’s chemistry overall and said everyone from the players to the coaches had his back on this night. He added that the Lakers are trying to build something special while also focusing on how this win accomplished a big team goal of avoiding the Play-In Tournament.
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