Shipped out of Dallas and dropped into Hollywood, Dončić has responded with a leaner body, a louder voice and a growing command of the Lakers’ post-LeBron future
It’s been nine and a half months since the trade that rocked the sports world was broken via a Shams Charania tweet. It was such a shock that the majority of his followers assumed he’d been hacked. Fresh off of a trip to the NBA finals, the young Slovenian superstar Luka Dončić was shipped off in the middle of the night to the Los Angeles Lakers for Anthony Davis, and the NBA as we know it was changed for ever. The fallout from one of the most shocking trades in sports history is still evolving: disgraced Mavericks general manager Nico Harrison, who spearheaded the transaction, was let go by the team last week, in a move Mavericks fans have been loudly clamoring for since news broke that their homegrown franchise player was being abruptly cast out to sea. But on the other side of the coin was a mixed blessing and a new beginning: Dončić, who had imagined spending his entire career in Dallas like his mentor Dirk Nowitzki, suddenly found himself recast as the face of the NBA’s most famous franchise under the bright lights of Hollywood. And, as it turns out, the future is now.
While Dončić’s breakup with the Mavericks was both very public and very messy (the Mavs were not shy about vocalizing their reasoning for the move, and painting the 26-year-old in an unflattering light in the process), the silver linings showed themselves quickly. Dončić might not have considered himself suited for the Los Angeles spotlight, but with his flair for the dramatic and a feel for the sport’s theater, playing for such a high-profile franchise has proved an unexpectedly good fit. And it couldn’t have worked out better for the Lakers: the team had been staring at an uncertain future, with the retirement of 40-year-old LeBron James looming, and Davis’s injury history creating a cloud of doubt around his ability to be the No 1 option in the eventual aftermath. Enter Luka stage right: a ticket to franchise salvation, equipped with the newfound motivation that can only be borne from being publicly and mercilessly dragged through the mud.
