Luka Doncic made his long-awaited preseason debut for the Los Angeles Lakers on Tuesday night and the superstar did not disappoint. In just 22 minutes, Doncic knocked down 7-of-15 from the field and 4-of-8 from 3-point range to finish with 25 points, seven rebounds and four assists in the Lakers’ loss to the Phoenix Suns.
It was the first live action from Doncic since leading Slovenia to the quarterfinals of the FIBA EuroBasket 2025 tournament and he looked just as dominant here as he did on the international stage.
The Lakers have been being cautious with Luka because of his participation at EuroBasket, not wanting to put too much on him before the start of the regular season. But following his first preseason action, Luka said he felt great and was just happy to be back on the court, via Spectrum SportsNet:
“I feel great. I felt great. It was probably better than I expected. You know those first games are kind of rusty, but I was just very happy to be out there again.”
There were certainly some things to correct for Doncic such as his five turnovers, but as he noted, there’s always gonna be a little rust to kick off in the first game. It was also noticeable how happy Luka was as he was smiling throughout the contest and the Lakers superstar admitted how amazing it was to be back on the court:
“It felt that way. Just getting out there playing basketball for me is amazing. I missed it, I think you can see that… I’m just happy to be on the basketball court again.”
That level of joy is infectious and spreads to the rest of the team. Doncic is the leader of this Lakers squad and, especially with LeBron James out to start the season, there will be a lot on his shoulders.
There will still be some things to work out as the regular season nears, but Luka is in the right mindset to help the Lakers get off to a strong start and if this game was him kicking some of the rust off, the rest of the league is in for a long season in trying to slow him down.
Jarred Vanderbilt happy to get Luka Doncic back in the lineup for Lakers
Jarred Vanderbilt was one of a handful of Lakers to sit out Tuesday’s game against the Suns so he wasn’t able to share the court with Luka Doncic in his preseason debut. But the defensive ace was still happy to get the superstar back in the lineup regardless.
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