The Los Angeles Lakers saw their season come to an end at the hands of the Oklahoma City Thunder and one player who played a huge role in that was guard Jared McCain. The Lakers were without superstar guard Luka Doncic throughout their postseason run, but it doesn’t take away from the fact that McCain was a thorn in their side as they put forth so much effort to stopping MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.
McCain actually has a lot of love and admiration for Doncic, who is one of his favorite players. In fact, the two did a jersey swap in a previous game and McCain admitted he was shocked that the Lakers superstar even asked for his jersey back.
“I got Luka’s, which is kind of crazy because, I don’t think he hit the game-winner on us, but he had a really good game against us and he gave me the game worn one, and signed it and asked for mine back,” McCain told Cllc TV. “Which is crazy, I was like, ‘why do you want mine? It’s OK, you don’t have to ask for mine.’ So I gave it to him and he gave me his. That’s a really cool one. Luka’s one of my favorite players, too.”
As a young player in the league, McCain was likely just hoping to get a nice gift from one of his favorite players so being asked for his own jersey in return never even crossed his mind. But now he has that memory with Doncic forever and that jersey is clearly one he cherishes above most.
These days, Doncic would likely prefer for McCain to calm down the next time the Lakers and Thunder take the court against one another. McCain averaged 11.5 points per game in the second round playoff series while shooting a ridiculous 63.2% from 3-point range. He scored in double digits in three of the four contests while knocking down at least three 3-pointers in three games as well.
Luka Doncic approves of Lakers’ offseason moves?
The Lakers are hoping to be able to compete with the Thunder and the rest of the championship contenders next season and the front office is still trying to fill out the roster. They have already made a bunch of moves though, and according to reports, Doncic is in lockstep and approves of what they have done to improve the roster to compete in the West.
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