Luka Doncic

Lakers Notes: Doncic, LeBron, Reaves, Buss, Davis

March 5th, 2025 at 9:53pm CST by Arthur Hill

Luka Doncic‘s elite playmaking skills can take time to get used to, writes Khobi Price of The Orange County Register. Doncic has brought a new dynamic to the Lakers‘ offense since being acquired from Dallas last month, but it took a while for his new teammates to adjust to the unexpected passes he sometimes delivers.

“There’s a non-cadence to the way Luka plays, if that makes sense,” coach J.J. Redick explained. “A lot of offensive players have pre-programmed reads. He just does [expletive] that you’re like, ‘What, why did you do that?’ There was a blitz against our bench in the second half. Could have made one read, could have made another read, made the read that I would have picked last and we ended up getting the layup on it.”

The Lakers have scored 122.8 points per 100 possessions over their last three games as the team gets more comfortable with Doncic in charge of the offense. The biggest beneficiary has been LeBron James, who has averaged a team-high 27.2 PPG in the 10 games he has played alongside Doncic.

“In order for us to be the team ultimately we need to be, the ball needs to be in Luka’s hands,” James said. “And then when Luka sits down, the ball can be in my hands or be (Austin Reaves’) hands when he gets back. But I’m very comfortable playing off the ball and finding my spots, running the floor, getting the outlet pass from Luka, being on the backside of the defense if he’s either being blitzed in pick-and-rolls or switched in pick-and-rolls. He attracts so many eyes and bodies. I’ve been very blessed to be able to be adaptable to whatever team I’ve been on throughout my career, to be able to change. And this is another instance and I’m looking forward to that.”

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James reached another career milestone Tuesday night, becoming the first player in league history to score 50,000 combined points in the regular season and playoffs, per Dave McMenamin of ESPN. James accomplished it on his first shot of the night and went on to score 34 points in a victory over New Orleans. “It’s a hell of a lot of points, and I’m super blessed to be able to put that many points up in the best league in the world with the best players in the world over my career,” James said in a post-game interview with Spectrum SportsNet. “It’s pretty special.”
Reaves is listed as probable for Thursday’s matchup with New York after missing the last two games with a right calf strain, McMenamin tweets. After leaving Friday’s game early due to the injury, Reaves underwent an MRI on Saturday that didn’t reveal any serious damage.
In a discussion of the Doncic trade during an NPR interview, Lakers owner Jeanie Buss referenced Anthony Davis‘ distaste for playing center and the team’s recent playoff frustrations as reasons for the deal. “We gave up a lot to get Luka Doncic. We’re happy we have him,” Buss said. “We have lost the last three years in a row to the Denver Nuggets in the playoffs, and we really didn’t have anything that was going to look different going into the playoffs again. Anthony Davis was complaining about where he was being played and he wasn’t happy. So I think this was a positive for both teams. They got what they were looking for; we got what we were looking for. And I didn’t realize it was going to be international news like it was, but that’s the power of the Laker brand and its ability to draw big names who want to write their own chapter in Lakers history.”

Lakers Notes: Doncic, Redick, Goodwin, Jemison, Reddish, Len

March 4th, 2025 at 7:52am CST by Luke Adams

Facing the Clippers on Friday and Sunday for the first times since his Mavericks eliminated them from the playoffs last spring, Luka Doncic picked up right where he left off, leading the Lakers to a pair of hard-fought victories over their Los Angeles rivals.

Doncic scored 31 points in Friday’s win, then put up 29 points, nine assists, and six rebounds on Sunday. In that second victory, the Lakers were a +19 in his 37 minutes on the court and were outscored by 13 points in the 11 minutes he didn’t play. Head coach J.J. Redick loved what he saw from his newest star, as Dan Woike of The Los Angeles Times writes.

“It just seemed like throughout the game, when we needed a bucket, when we needed him to draw a second, third defender at times, he was able to make the right play — minus the six turnovers. But he played fantastic,” Redick said after Sunday’s win. “And again, it was that verve and that spirit of competition. But also just something that is — maybe it’s an inner demon, I don’t know — but it comes out and it’s fantastic for us when it does.”

The Lakers’ defense has been a revelation during their recent hot streak — the team ranks first in the NBA with a 107.5 defensive rating since January 15 and has won 18 of 22 games during that time. But Doncic’s recent play has shown just how dangerous the team can be an offense as well.

“You’ve got a guy in your corner going Super Saiyan, for lack of a better word,” Lakers guard Gabe Vincent said. “And making great plays, hitting shots, it’s a lot of fun. It can give us a lot of life and we’ve been creating a lot of energy on the defensive side. And when he gets hot offensively, we feel like we can’t be stopped in that regard.”

Here’s more on the Lakers:

Doncic briefly left Sunday’s game after being kneed in the right knee, explaining after the game that he has taken multiple shots to that area within the past week. “Third straight game, the same spot,” he said (Twitter link via ESPN’s Dave McMenamin). “So, I was kind of struggling on that right leg. But I’m good.”
Only two teams in the NBA – the Cavaliers and Thunder – have a better home record than the Lakers’ 23-7 mark, which is why it’s encouraging that they’ve climbed into the No. 2 seed in the Western Conference, writes Dylan Hernandez of The Los Angeles Times. If they hold that spot, they’d have home-court advantage for at least the first two rounds of the postseason. After Sunday’s win, Doncic referred to the atmosphere inside of Crypto.com Arena as “unbelievable.”
In a separate column for The L.A. Times, Hernandez writes that Redick has been everything the Lakers could have hoped for when they hired him as a first-time head coach. The Lakers players are buying what Redick is selling, according to Hernandez, who says the new coach has successfully instilled a positive culture and identity more effectively than any of his recent predecessors.
Cap expert Eric Pincus breaks down the Lakers’ options for promoting Jordan Goodwin and Trey Jemison from their two-way contracts to the standard roster, noting that giving them standard deals will be necessary if the team wants to have the duo available for the playoffs. While Cam Reddish seems likely to be the odd man out if just one of the two is promoted, it’s unclear who else might be waived if the Lakers want to elevate both — Pincus suggests recently signed center Alex Len, who struggled in limited minutes and quickly dropped out of the rotation, could be a release candidate.
Pincus also points out that the Lakers wouldn’t be able to sign a new two-way player to replace Goodwin or Jemison unless a promotion occurs today, since March 4 is the deadline for two-way signings.

Stein’s Latest: Mavericks, Luka, Edwards, Knicks, Kessler, Budenholzer

March 3rd, 2025 at 12:40pm CST by Luke Adams

Sam Amick of The Athletic reported last week that the Mavericks reached out to the Timberwolves to inquire about a possible Luka Doncic/Anthony Edwards swap earlier this season before pivoting to the Lakers and Anthony Davis. Veteran Milwaukee-area reporter Gery Woelfel has reported that the Mavs made a similar inquiry with the Bucks about Giannis Antetokounmpo.

Addressing those rumors, NBA insider Marc Stein of The Stein Line (Substack link) says he has consistently heard that the Mavericks only discussed Doncic by name with one team: the Lakers.

While Dallas did talk to Minnesota and Milwaukee, according to Stein, those discussions have been described to him as “very brief in nature and intentionally broad and vague,” with no conversations about Doncic specifically.

Here are a few more items of interest from Stein:

Following the expiration of Moses Brown‘s 10-day contract, the Mavericks can’t fill the 15th spot on their standard roster until April 10 due to their hard cap. Promoting two-way player Kessler Edwards, who has played a rotation role in recent weeks and can only be active for 10 more NBA games, is one option Dallas is considering for that final week of the season, league sources tell Stein. However, the team’s decision will depend in part on its health and roster needs as of April 10, Stein notes. While the Mavs have a serious frontcourt shortage right now due to injuries, that may not be the case in five-and-a-half weeks.
The Knicks were “right there” with the Lakers before the trade deadline in trying to pry third-year center Walker Kessler away from the Jazz, league sources tell Stein, who says Utah made it clear to both clubs that it didn’t want to seriously entertain pitches for Kessler during the season. The big man will be eligible for a rookie scale extension during the 2025 offseason.
Although Stein can’t confirm if Mike Budenholzer‘s job in Phoenix is any actual jeopardy, he says the topic has generated “heightened whispering and curiosity” in coaching circles. The Suns parted ways with Monty Williams in 2023 when he still had three years and $20MM+ left on his contract and let go of Frank Vogel in 2024 just one year into his five-season, $31MM deal. Budenholzer reportedly received a five-year contract worth in excess of $50MM when he was hired by Phoenix last May. His Suns have a 28-33 record and are four games back of the final play-in spot in the West.
In case you missed it, Stein also reported that the Wizards gave real consideration to the idea of reacquiring Bradley Beal from the Suns prior to last month’s trade deadline. However, the teams couldn’t agree to terms and it seems unlikely that Beal would have waived his no-trade clause to return to D.C. anyway.

Jeanie Buss Explains Lakers’ Approach To Luka Doncic Trade

February 28th, 2025 at 2:58pm CST by Arthur Hill

Lakers owner Jeanie Buss was one of the few people with advance knowledge of the trade talks with Dallas involving Luka Doncic, but she wasn’t sure the deal would get done until the last minute, writes Khobi Price of The Orange County Register.

Speaking at an event on Thursday to promote her new Netflix show, Buss told reporters that the front office proceeded cautiously throughout the process, making sure to prevent leaks that might have affected team chemistry if the deal had fallen through.

“I mean, not until (general manager Rob Pelinka) told me it was done and they had made the trade call,” she said. “Because these things fall apart all the time. It was really important to me that we didn’t blow up the team. If it had leaked out and the trade hadn’t happened, that would be really unfair to the progress that the coaching staff had made with the team. Because it’s a huge distraction. And the trade deadline is part of the business. It increases the level of stress for everybody. And I’m really proud that it didn’t leak out and that we were able to execute the trade in a way that still was surprising to all the parties involved. But that goes with this business.”

Buss compared the acquisition of Doncic with two significant deals from Lakers history, Price adds. She cited the 2008 trade with Memphis for Pau Gasol and the 2011 agreement with New Orleans for Chris Paul that was eventually overturned by then-commissioner David Stern.

As the Doncic trade edged closer to reality, Lakers officials were worried about any unexpected snags that might prevent it from being finalized.

“There’s always this concern there’s going to be some new ruling that, like, now what’s going to happen?,” Buss said. “But what I have complete confidence in Rob is that he knows how to walk a deal through step by step to make sure that everything is complete and buttoned up and that’s exactly what happened.”

Buss praised Pelinka and Mavericks general manager Nico Harrison for their discretion in keeping the deal quiet, according to Dan Woike of The Los Angeles Times. From the time the first discussions were held on January 7, they were able to operate in near secrecy, even though Utah had to be brought in as a third team to take the salary of Lakers guard Jalen Hood-Schifino.

Buss also compared the trade to the type of deals her late father, Dr. Jerry Buss, used to make when he built the Lakers into one of the NBA’s premier franchises.

“He’d be very proud. When you get a player of that stature, you have to give up a lot. My dad was such a great poker player, and he said that he always wanted me to remember that poker was a game of patience,” she said. “That you had to wait for the right cards, but once you got the cards, you had to go from zero to 100 and play the cards and not be afraid to play them. So, it was difficult because we were not looking to trade Anthony Davis or Max Christie. But it was a deal that he would’ve made, and we had to go for it.”

Mavs Inquired About Anthony Edwards Before Trading Doncic To Lakers

February 28th, 2025 at 7:51am CST by Dana Gauruder

The Lakers were not the only team that Mavericks president of basketball operations Nico Harrison reached out to regarding a possible Luka Doncic trade. According to The Athletic’s Sam Amick, the Mavericks had informal discussions with the Timberwolves regarding a possible Doncic-Anthony Edwards swap in the weeks leading up to the blockbuster deal with Los Angeles.

Those discussions didn’t go anywhere because Minnesota had no interest in trading its All-Star guard. However, the Timberwolves brass was stunned that Dallas was even considering the idea of trading Doncic, sources tell Amick.

From a salary standpoint, the numbers would have matched up pretty neatly — Doncic is making $43MM this season and Edwards is pulling in $42.2MM. Edwards is in the first year of a five-year, max extension that currently adds up to $244.6MM. Recall that the main motivation for Dallas to trade Doncic is that the front office didn’t want to give him a five-year, super-max extension worth a projected $345MM.

Had the Timberwolves been willing to trade Edwards for Doncic, the two franchises would have essentially swapped superstars entering or in their prime. Edwards is still just 23 years old, while Doncic is 26.

Instead, the centerpiece of the package the Mavs received was 31-year old big man Anthony Davis, an oft-injured perennial All-Star who suffered an adductor strain in his Dallas debut and has yet to return. The deal has been extremely unpopular with Mavericks fans but they might have had a different reaction if the team essentially replaced one high-scoring play-maker with a younger one.

Thus far, the Lakers are 4-2 in the games that Doncic has played since the trade, including a 111-102 win over the Timberwolves on Thursday.

Mavs Notes: Davis, Doncic, Irving, Marshall, Thompson

February 27th, 2025 at 8:17am CST by Luke Adams

Anthony Davis wasn’t able to play on Tuesday in the Mavericks‘ first game against the Lakers since the blockbuster trade that sent Davis from Los Angeles to Dallas. But he was in the building and told Broderick Turner of The Los Angeles Times that he appreciated the tribute video the Lakers made for him and the love that the fans in L.A. showed him.

Davis also spoke about the experience of being traded without having any idea it was coming, a rarity for player with his résumé. Davis had been traded once before in his career, but in that case he asked the Pelicans to move him and knew for months that a deal was likely coming. After learning about the blockbuster sending him to Dallas, the big man immediately FaceTimed longtime teammate LeBron James, he told Turner.

“When it happened, I honestly didn’t know s–t,” Davis said. “(LeBron)’s been my running mate for six years … so the first thing I wanted to do was call him.

“… Obviously, I know there are going to be a lot of political things in the front office when they talk to me. The front office has to do what it has to do and obviously they’re going to do what’s best for the organization. So I don’t know if I ever got the ‘real’ about any of it. I don’t know what’s true or what’s not, coming from upstairs. So, my thing is, I’m gonna go to my counterpart who I’ve been running with and see what’s going on, get his reaction and that’s all it was. We had a conversation. That was it.

“Everybody’s saying nobody knew and all this other s–t. I just don’t believe it. But, hey man, I’m past that. I’m ready to move forward with Dallas, try to get a championship there with these guys. First off, getting back on the floor and get ready to compete. All the emotions, that s–t lasted that night when it was just a shock.”

Davis, who is currently on the shelf with an adductor strain, is scheduled to be reevaluated on March 6.

Here’s more on the Mavs:

As Sam Amick of The Athletic writes, there are a number of people in Dallas who are predicting Luka Doncic‘s “basketball demise” in the coming years due to his health history and social habits that include “a taste for beer and hookah.” But Doncic showed in Tuesday’s Lakers win over Dallas why the decision to trade him could age horribly, according to Amick, who says most people around the league continue to think that the Mavs made a “grave mistake.”
After having been teammates with Doncic for two years, it was “awkward” but “fun” to face him as an opponent, Kyrie Irving told reporters after Tuesday’s game, per Mike Curtis of The Dallas Morning News. Irving spoke at length about his bond with Doncic and said it’s “one of those lifetime things” that goes beyond basketball. The Lakers’ newest star agreed. “Kai is my hermano,” Doncic said. “We go way beyond basketball. So, it was good to see those guys. Like I said, we went to the wars together, and it was really fun to see them all.”
Mavericks forward Naji Marshall acknowledged in a conversation with Mark Medina of Sportskeeda that it has been a challenging few weeks for the team, which has had to deal with the aftermath of the Doncic trade and a series of injuries that have decimated the frontcourt. However, he remains bullish about the Mavs’ chances of contending this season. “I think we’re all still locked in,” Marshall said. “Everyone is still focused and not letting the outside noise derail the goals that we made up at the beginning of the season. And it’s still very possible to accomplish those. So I think that we’re in a great spot. … Stay tuned. It’s a long season. We are not done yet. Stay tuned.”
Following Sunday’s game in Golden State, Mavericks sharpshooter Klay Thompson presented Dr. Richard Ferkel, who repaired Thompson’s Achilles tear in 2020, with a 2022 Warriors championship ring, as Amick relays (Twitter video link). Kalan Hooks of ESPN has the full story.

Lakers Notes: Doncic, LeBron, Mavs Win, Defense

February 26th, 2025 at 11:44am CST by Luke Adams

Luka Doncic scored just 19 points in his first game against the Mavericks on Tuesday, but he also contributed 15 rebounds and 12 assists, registering his first triple-double since joining the Lakers and becoming the third player in NBA history – along with Russell Westbrook and teammate LeBron James – to post triple-doubles against all 30 teams, writes Dave McMenamin of ESPN.

Most importantly, Doncic and the Lakers picked up the win, defeating his former team by a score of 107-99. After the game, the star guard sounded more relieved than triumphant, according to McMenamin.

“It was just a lot of emotions and not much sleep,” Doncic said. “I can’t even explain (it). It was a different game. … Sometimes I don’t know what I was doing. And I’m just glad it’s over, honestly.”

While the scene wasn’t as charged as it figures to be on April 9 when the Lakers visit Dallas for the first time since the trade, Doncic said getting his first game against the Mavs out of the way will “definitely help me,” though he added that it will take “a while” to feel like he has closure on that era of his career.

“Obviously there’s a lot of emotion that goes in when you give so much to a franchise and you sacrifice for a franchise and you have that type of love and respect for a franchise — throughout all the journeys,” James said, per McMenamin. “(Doncic and the Mavericks) went to the Finals, all that stuff. He’s grown from being an 18-, 19-year-old kid to now a 25-year-old man with a family. … And when you move on or they move on from you, it’s very emotional, obviously. It’s very taxing.

“It’s probably a lot of things that were going on in his head that probably didn’t even involve the game itself. And with that said, I thought he handled it tremendously.”

Here’s more on the Lakers:

Within an interesting behind-the-scenes look at how the first few weeks of Doncic’s time in Los Angeles have played out, ESPN’s McMenamin notes that James has expressed a willingness to defer to his new superstar teammate on offense. “I’ve worked on my outside shot and my catch-and-shoot game for quite a while now to be able to sync up with someone like Luka,” LeBron said. “… I believe that in order for us to ultimately be the team that we want to be with him here, he has to have the ball, he has to be able to put us all in position, he has to be him. The seven years that we’ve seen in the NBA with Luka, we want that Luka.”
Mavericks president of basketball operations Nico Harrison was on the court during warmups on Tuesday, but Doncic didn’t acknowledge Harrison and stated after the game that he didn’t see him, as ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne writes.
Shelburne also provides a few more details on Doncic’s first game against the Mavericks, such as Mark Cuban‘s admission that he “hated” rooting against his former franchise player. According to Shelburne, Doncic jokingly told Cuban to “shut up” after the Mavs’ former majority owner made a point of booing him.
Since January 15, the Lakers own the NBA’s best record (15-4) and No. 1 defensive rating (107.4), as Jovan Buha of The Athletic observes. While their roster has undergone significant changes during that time, the Lakers’ defensive rating during that time isn’t being buoyed by Anthony Davis‘ play — since his last game with the team on January 28, L.A.’s defensive rating is a league-best 105.9. Head coach J.J. Redick praised the Lakers for being “committed” to playing team defense and told reporters on Tuesday that James has been playing at “an All-NBA defense level” in recent weeks, according to Buha.

Mavericks, Doncic’s Lakers Ready For ‘Weird’ Matchup

February 25th, 2025 at 1:35pm CST by Luke Adams

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.”

Mavericks Notes: Kidd, Doncic, Nowitzki, Washington, Thompson

February 24th, 2025 at 8:30pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Mavericks guard Jason Kidd can relate to how his former star point guard Luka Doncic feels. Kidd was an All-Star entering his prime when Dallas dealt him to Phoenix in 1996.

“It shocks you because you don’t know about that side of the business,” Kidd told Christian Clark of The Athletic. “But you have to grow up fast. It is a business.”

Doncic never saw the trade to the Lakers coming, thinking he’d be signing a super-max extension after the season with Dallas.

“You believe you are going to be with the franchise forever,” Kidd said. “But the business of basketball sometimes gets in the way. Teams change. I’ve been involved in quite a few sales of the team. Any time there is a sale, there could be change. It just happens.”

We have more on the Mavericks:

Dallas legend Dirk Nowitzki was on vacation when news broke of the Doncic trade. Nowitzki didn’t see it coming either, he revealed on a Sportsradio 96.7 FM interview relayed by the Dallas Morning News. “I felt a little disappointed and sad for him. He obviously didn’t see this coming, so he invited me to come out to his first game in LA, and I felt like I had to support him,” Nowitzki said. “I felt like, I played with him in my last season, we’ve gotten close, I’ve tried to mentor him, I’ve tried to help him as much as I can the last few years and he’s a good kid. I felt like I had to go out there and support him in this new chapter, because I think and it was reported he was obviously pretty down and disappointed in how it went down. So I wanted to be there for him, I wanted to be there for his family and show support. But you guys saw my face, it was weird. It was surreal to see him play for the Lakers. I’ll never be a Laker fan, but I’ll always be a Luka fan.”
An ankle sprain limited P.J. Washington to one February game prior to the All-Star break. He came back strong on Friday with 24 points and seven rebounds against New Orleans. “He’s a budding star for our team, and he’s showcasing that,” Kyrie Irving said of Washington, per Grant Afseth of the Dallas Hoops Journal. “His numbers have showcased that. So I think it’s about time we started furthering that conversation about P.J. Washington consistently doing these things and being a great asset for our team as one of our leaders and making money plays.” Washington added 17 points against Golden State on Sunday.
Klay Thompson’s technical foul on Sunday has been rescinded upon league office review, NBA Official tweets. Thompson was held to 11 points in the 24-point loss to Golden State.

L.A. Notes: Doncic, Goodwin, Leonard, Bogdanovic

February 23rd, 2025 at 9:01am CST by Arthur Hill

After a bumpy start to his Lakers career, Luka Doncic looked more like himself in Saturday night’s win at Denver, writes Jovan Buha of The Athletic. Beyond his 16-point first quarter outburst and the familiar stat line of 32 points, 10 rebounds, seven assists, and four steals that he put up in the battle of two of the West’s top teams, Doncic was more animated than he has been at any time since being traded.

“He was super dialed in,” LeBron James said. “He was very locked in on what he wanted to do out here on the floor tonight. Once he started hitting those step-back threes and got to yelling and barking, either at the fans or at us or himself. … He was just dialed in on what he wanted to do and how he wanted to execute his game plan individually.”

Coach J.J. Redick told Doncic before the game that he wanted to see “at least one blackout episode” where Doncic screams “at no one in particular.” Along with his unique talents, that fiery competitiveness is what has made Doncic one of the best players in the world. Doncic handled the ball more often on Saturday, Buha notes, repeatedly targeting Jamal Murray and Nikola Jokic in the pick-and-roll. Redick added that the plan moving forward will be to keep the ball in Doncic’s hands as much as possible.

“I think Luka needs to be the guy that controls the offense,” Redick said. “And (James) and (Austin Reaves), because we’re gonna stagger everybody, they’re gonna have their times to be on the ball. But all three of those guys are very intelligent basketball players, and we can create mismatches. We can get teams in the blender.”

There’s more on the Lakers:

Jordan Goodwin has been productive since signing a two-way contract with the Lakers earlier this month, and Eric Pincus of Bleacher Report suggests they may want to convert him to a standard deal by the end of the season to make him eligible for the playoffs (Twitter link). L.A. would have to open a roster spot first, with Pincus pointing to Cam Reddish as the most likely player to be released. Goodwin can be on the active roster for up to 19 games after signing on February 7, so the Lakers have some time to make a decision.
The Clippers added Kawhi Leonard to their injury report for today’s game at Indiana with soreness in his left foot, marking his first new injury of the season, tweets Law Murray of The Athletic. Leonard and Norman Powell are both listed as questionable, while Ben Simmons is expected to play today and sit out Monday’s contest at Detroit, according to Murray.
Simmons has quickly developed a chemistry with Bogdan Bogdanovic even though they’re both new to the Clippers and haven’t played together before, Murray adds (Twitter link). Bogdanovic said building the on-court relationship was easy because of their respective talents. “We are basketball players at the end of the day, so we just play,” he said. “It’s tough when you’re joining a new team, definitely tough because you have to learn plays, you have to learn tendencies of the guys, but we are both new so that’s kind of making the job a little bit easier.”

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