ESPN announced an update to its 2024-25 NBA regular-season schedule. On Monday, February 10, the Utah Jazz and Lauri Markkanen will visit the Los Angeles Lakers and newly-acquired star Luka Doncic in his expected Lakers debut at 7:30 p.m. PT on ESPN, ESPN+ and Disney+. All ESPN games are also available to stream via the ESPN App.
The game will also be broadcast on Spectrum SportsNet, the TV home of the Lakers.
This isn’t the first game that ESPN has picked up in anticipation of Doncic’s debut as they did the same for the Lakers’ game against the Indiana Pacers on Saturday. Doncic wasn’t quite ready to go yet at that point, but all indications are that he will play on Monday against Utah.
People watching the Lakers’ game against the Pacers on ESPN were still treated to a great performance as Austin Reaves dropped a career-high 45 points to lead his team to another win.
Monday should be even more special though with Reaves, Doncic and LeBron James sharing the floor for the first time, so it’s no surprise that ESPN wanted the rights to that as well.
Rick Carlisle expects Luka Doncic and LeBron James to fit well together
Some people have expressed concerns about how Luka Doncic and LeBron James will fit together, but one person who thinks it will work great is Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle, who coached the former in Dallas.
“I don’t see any world in which it doesn’t work, right? As I’ve thought about all these events of the last few days, a couple things strike me. We’re talking about two guys who really, when they simply came into the world and started playing basketball, were expected to be guys that would have statues built for them. The level of expectation on these two guys is just hard to fathom. As I was around Luka more and more, I became much more aware of the kind of pressure that must be on him. He has such charisma, ability, skill, he goes into a game and just decides how the game is going to be played. And LeBron James does the same exact thing.
“These two guys are surgeons, the way that they dissect games. They’re really both impossible to gameplan for. You have to decide how you’re willing to lose, that’s what it comes down to. This is the Lakers, a larger than life legacy franchise. So this is an amazing opportunity for Luka. And I think certainly LeBron and him have an affinity for each other that really goes back to Luka’s first year in the league. The whole thing is an amazing string of events.”
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