Luka Doncic returned to the court on Sunday night to help lead the Los Angeles Lakers to a huge home victory over the Toronto Raptors. Doncic finished with 25 points and seven assists to send the fans home happy, but that will be the last time the Lakers play in front of their home crowd for a long time.
The Lakers are set to embark on their annual Grammy road trip, an eight-game trip that starts Jan. 20 in Denver against the Nuggets. The Lakers will then play the L.A. Clippers at Intuit Dome, but won’t be back home until they host the Philadelphia 76ers on Feb. 5. And this trip will go a long way towards setting the stage for the remainder of this season.
The Lakers have been struggling recently and are still dealing with injuries, but Luka doesn’t care about any of that. The Lakers superstar says this team must approach this trip a they do any other and not make any excuses, while also adding that he loves this.
“Same way. I mean, we’re getting paid to do this,” Doncic said. “Shouldn’t be any excuses. So I know it’s going to be a lot of traveling, but we get paid to do this. And I love it.”
That love of the game is what drives Luka to be the best day in and day out. He puts in the work and is really a leader for this Lakers team. If he is setting the tone that the Lakers can’t make any excuses than the rest will follow.
This will be a very difficult trip for the Lakers that also includes contests against the Cleveland Cavaliers and New York Knicks, as well as Doncic’s first game back in Dallas this season. With Austin Reaves still being out and others dealing with lingering issues, it would be easy for the Lakers to just chalk up an underwhelming trip to their ongoing injury problems, but Luka is not accepting that.
Oftentimes, these kinds of road trips can really bring teams together, and the Lakers have traditionally used this trip to really lock in ahead of the final stretch of the regular season. And with Doncic embracing this kind of mindset, this could be the start of the Lakers turning things around and getting back on track like they were to start the year.
LeBron James says Lakers must right the ship while getting healthy
The Lakers’ other leader LeBron James also isn’t in the business of using injuries as an excuse for this team’s recent struggles and he knows that they must figure out a way to right the ship while they get healthy because no one will feel sorry for them.
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