The Luka Doncic experience has been everything the Los Angeles Lakers could have dreamed of when they shockingly managed to trade for him.
Doncic’s arrival has reinvigorated the Lakers franchise because of how his status as a legitimate first option for a championship team and his age. The post-LeBron James seemed murky at best, but with the 26-year-old superstar in tow, it’s easy to envision Los Angeles competing for titles for years.
Doncic’s tenure with the Lakers got off to a slow start as he recovered from a calf injury that sidelined him for over six weeks. The past week or so, though, he has begun to look more like himself offensively and has fully taken control of Los Angeles’ offense.
The guard put on a masterful scoring performance in the loss to the Milwaukee Bucks, finishing with 45 points and setting a new high with the Lakers. However, after the loss Doncic didn’t care for his huge scoring night and expressed his disappointment with the loss, via Spectrum SportsNet:
“It was OK. But nothing matters if we lose the game. At the end of the day, it’s a team sport and you gotta be all together. Whatever somebody does it great, but at the end of the day you gotta win and we didn’t do that tonight.”
While Doncic looked great offensively, he admitted he’s not 100 percent back yet after recently missing so much time with a calf injury:
“I mean, obviously not there yet. But like I said, every day, a little bit more. But still not there. I gotta get some things off my body to feel better and be ready.”
As far as his rhythm goes, Doncic believes winning would help him more than scoring points:
“I don’t know if it helps or not. I would say winning helps and we’re not doing that right now. Getting back to the winning stages I think will help it more.”
With James out, Doncic has been forced to assume even more control of the offense though against the Bucks he resembled the superstar the Lakers hoped they were getting. He came out of the gates red-hot from the field, scoring 16 points in the first quarter thanks to his outside jumper.
The Bucks eventually countered by sending more help toward Doncic, but he still founds ways to score and keep the offense afloat. Unfortunately, outside of Austin Reaves, Doncic didn’t have much help on the offensive end while the defense completely succumbed to a 3-point barrage.
This is now the third-straight loss for the Lakers and things don’t get any easier for them and Doncic as they face off against the Denver Nuggets on the second night of a back-to-back.
Southwest Airlines trolls Mavericks over Luka Doncic trade
When news of the Luka Doncic trade broke, the entire basketball world couldn’t believe it. Since then, it’s clear that the Lakers won the trade as Doncic has begun rounding into form.
The Dallas Mavericks have been constantly ridiculed for the trade and Southwest Airlines even got in on the trolling.
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