Almost immediately after word broke earlier this month that the Mavericks were sending Luka Doncic to the Lakers in the most shocking trade in recent NBA history, a steady flow of reports questioning Doncic’s weight and conditioning began leaking out of Dallas.
Although Doncic never publicly responded to those leaks, a source close to the five-time All-NBA guard tells Dave McMenamin of ESPN that they’ve been a motivating factor for Doncic as he settles into his new home.
“A beast was awakened inside him,” the source said to ESPN.
On Tuesday, Doncic will have the first opportunity to exact some level of revenge on the organization that traded him, as the Lakers tip off a six-game home stand by hosting the banged-up Mavericks. The Lakers are expecting it to be an emotional reunion, according to Jovan Buha of The Athletic.
“I think he’ll be fine,” head coach J.J. Redick said of his newly added star. “Every day that he’s been with us it’s becoming a little more normal. I’ve been there. The first time you play your old team, particularly this close in time duration, it’s going to be weird. But he’ll be OK.”
While the matchup will mean more to Doncic than to the rest of the Lakers, his new teammates are all excited for it and will have his back as he faces his old team, according to Lakers forward Dorian Finney-Smith, who used to play with Luka in Dallas.
“I’m excited, man,” Finney-Smith said. “I know (Doncic is) gonna be ready but I try not to put too much pressure on him because at the end of the day, we just want to get the win. We get the win, I know he’s gonna be happy.”
Doncic didn’t look like his usual self in his first three games as a Laker after returning from a lengthy layoff due to a calf strain. He averaged just 14.7 points on 35.6% shooting in those three outings. But he showed on Saturday in Denver why the Mavericks’ decision to trade him was so stunning, going off for 32 points, 10 rebounds, seven assists, and four steals in a 23-point win over a Nuggets team that has repeatedly stymied the Lakers in recent years.
Doncic’s former Mavs teammates are fully prepared to see that version of Luka on Tuesday, according to Mike Curtis of The Dallas Morning News.
“I expect him to bring his A-game,” Mavs forward P.J. Washington said. “Knowing just the player he is, the mentality he brings to the game, I know he’s going to be ready as soon as we get out there. We can’t wait to compete against him. We miss him, but at the end of the day, he’s our brother and we’re always going to love him but we just gotta go out there and compete against him.”
“I would love to get into the emotions after the game, but before the game it’s just about having fun and making sure that we lock in and have a deep focus,” Dallas guard Kyrie Irving said. “They’re going to come in and be ready to play against us. Luka’s obviously going to have a lot of confidence in that game. He played well the last game so he’s feeling good. We just have to be aware.”
Will Luka break a scoring record tonight?
No
Just my opinion
Top 5 players are
Jokic
Luka
SGA
AD
Butler
You can make a case for all of them except Butler. He’s good but he’s not top 5 in the league.
If you are unlikely to win MVP, you will be traded?
Example
Durant is available for trade
Top 4 Players are all not from the United States. Injuries to Embiid and Wemby only thing keeping International players from holding the top 5 slots. Steph Curry has taken a slight step backward this year. Anthony Edwards and Anthony Davis next USA candidates.
Jokic
SGA
Giannis
Luka
Giannis LeBron not in the top 5 of your list?
Jokic
Giannis
Luka
SGA
Lebron
Jimmy Butler isn’t even top 15
Weird for what??? Mavs didn’t appreciate you, you drop a 40 piece. Simple!
So, the Mavs hired a team specifically to help him get in shape. This didn’t motivate him.
Then he hires his own team (nutritionist, physio, strength coach) to get in shape. This didn’t motivate him.
Then the Mavs give him 11 days off to get in shape, while making up a “wrist injury” excuse so the public wouldn’t find out, and protect his feelings. This didn’t motivate him.
But reports about all of this, and the public finding out, suddenly “awakens a beast in him”.
Even the most passionate of critics of the trade, can surely see the red flags here.
Nah…
Its just human nature…
It’s very easy to be lazy when you make that much money…
Sometimes you need a shock to the system…
Dude still lead a team to the finals who had no business making the finals.
Feels like the bigger red flag is that a guy with supposed conditioning issues played 25% more minutes than anyone else on the team last year. How bad is the Mavs overall conditioning that “Fat Luka” could play 600 more minutes than any of them?
This should be a fun game to watch. I hope Luka unleashes all his disgruntled fury on the Mavs. Too bad it’s not in Dallas. With Nico watching. Just the first of many chances he will have to humiliate his old team for the next several years. This is why most GM’s don’t make trades with their division rivals. It can be haunting for many years. Guess Nico did not think of that when plotting this secret trade with his buddy Pelinka.
People have been questioning Luka’s conditioning and defensive effort for years. Lets not pretend it just started a few weeks ago.
Not sure, but that’s probably cuz he’s kinda fat.
triple double by halftime
Don’t see the need for a blow up game, Id take a well measured 22/7/8 line from him tonight. Get Hayes a couple easy dunks, set up some open 3’s
Im normally against this sort of stuff but it would be awesome if Nico Harrison is there and Luka runs into the stands to fight him