LOS ANGELES — Before the Los Angeles Lakers tipped off Monday night and Luka Doncic made his debut for the franchise that traded for him then waited — along with a fervent fan base — more than a week for the 25-year-old basketball prodigy to appear in the lineup, LeBron James had a message to deliver.
“Luka, be your f—ing self,” James said during the pregame huddle, picked up by the ESPN telecast. “Don’t fit in, fit the f— out. Be yourself.”
When asked about the moment, having booked a 132-113 win over the Utah Jazz his first time wearing the purple and gold uniform for game action, Doncic was sincere.
“For him to say something like that just feels amazing,” Doncic said after scoring 14 points in 24 minutes, playing for the first time since Christmas Day when he was with the Dallas Mavericks. “It gives me confidence. And after that speech, it was chills. I was just happy to be a part of it.”
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He wasn’t the only one smiling.
There was a euphoric atmosphere at Crypto.com Arena, with the sold-out crowd finding 18,997 gold No. 77 T-shirts lining their seats and Doncic’s preferred Serbian music pumping out of the sound system while he launched deep pregame 3s and fans held up their phones to record his every move. Doncic’s former Mavs running mate Dirk Nowitzki, whose last season in the league coincided with Doncic’s first, made the trip to support him, sitting in the stands with Doncic’s father, Saša.
“He came out … and obviously the place went crazy,” Austin Reaves said. “It was awesome. I thought the energy from that point forward was great. His introduction in the starting lineup was one of the loudest I’ve heard since I’ve been here.”
James propped up his new teammate there, too, texting the 6-foot-6 guard earlier in the day to say he would do whatever Doncic wanted. And so, when Lakers public address announcer Lawrence Tanter rattled off L.A.’s starters, he saved Doncic for last, a gesture usually reserved for James.
“He let me have my moment, so I really appreciate it,” Doncic said. “I mean, today, he lent me this one. But from now on, he’ll be the last.”
It didn’t take long for Doncic to impact the game, finding center Jaxson Hayes for an alley-oop dunk just 50 seconds in, playing for the first time in nearly seven weeks because of a strained left calf muscle.
“I was a little bit nervous before,” Doncic said. “I don’t remember the last time I was nervous before the game. But once I stepped on the court, it was fun. And just being out there again felt amazing.”
While his shot was rusty — he went 5-for-14, including 1-for-7 from 3 — and he was on a minutes restriction, there was an instant chemistry between Doncic and his new teammates.
L.A. punctuated a dominant first half with a half-court outlet pass from Doncic to James that set up an easy layup and put the Lakers up by 22 points.
“I thought our three main guys did a nice job of playing off of each other,” Lakers coach JJ Redick said, referencing James, Doncic and Reaves. “Sometimes you can have agendas in a game. I felt like this for our group was a no agenda game beyond winning a basketball game and playing the right way.”
Reaves scored 22 points with 9 rebounds and 4 assists. James led all scorers with 24 points, adding 8 assists, 7 rebounds and 7 turnovers. He exited the game early in the fourth quarter after a collision in the lane and did not speak after the game, other than to tell a few reporters he would see them in Salt Lake City for the Lakers’ next game Wednesday.
Redick said “the plan” would be for both Doncic and James to play in that game, L.A.’s last before the All-Star break.
Preview Of What’s To Come?
The Lakers finished +17 with Luka Doncic and LeBron James both on the floor Monday night.
| Jazz | Lakers | |
|---|---|---|
| Points | 40 | 57 |
| FG | 16-37 | 20-32 |
| FG pct | 43% | 63% |
| 3-pt FG | 5-18 | 7-15 |
| — ESPN Research | ||
L.A. didn’t let the fanfare of the night or the task of integrating Doncic into the lineup slow down its momentum, leading by as many as 34 points and winning for the 12th time in the past 14 games to leapfrog the Houston Rockets for No. 4 in the Western Conference standings.
“Since I came here, I just wanted to play with them,” said Doncic, who watched from the sidelines as the Lakers beat the Clippers, Golden State Warriors and Indiana Pacers while he finished rehabbing his calf strain. “Every game I saw, they played amazing, very connected, and for me, it was just I want to be there with them.”
Lakers vice president of basketball operations and general manager Rob Pelinka embraced Doncic after the game as he made his way from the tunnel to the locker room. Pelinka’s triumph of a trade with the Mavs got Doncic to L.A. in the first place.
“It’s a new team. New everything,” Doncic said. “But the way they helped me, teammates, Rob, [Lakers chief executive officer and governor Jeanie [Buss], it was just a lot of support for me. You could see when I came to the arena, I saw all the Luka jerseys. It was just a surreal feeling.”
DALLAS — With emotions from the Luka Doncic trade still raw, multiple fans were ejected in the second half of the Dallas Mavericks‘ 129-128 loss to the Sacramento Kings on Monday at the American Airlines Center due to violations of the NBA’s code of conduct, according to a team spokesperson.
Each instance prompted boos from the crowd. Mavericks governor Patrick Dumont, whose family purchased the majority share of the franchise from Mark Cuban last season, also was loudly booed when he returned to his courtside seat with 2:56 remaining in the third quarter.
Two of the fans held large poster board signs that read, “FIRE NICO” — a reference to Dallas general manager Nico Harrison. One of those men was seen mouthing “fire Nico” on the arena video screens earlier in the game before the camera quickly panned out.
“In the first incident, the guest brought in a sign that broke the following rule included in the NBA Code of Conduct: Clothing, garments or signs displaying explicit language, profanity or derogatory characterization towards any person(s),” Mavericks vice president of corporate communications Erin Finegold said in a statement released to reporters.
Harrison has been subjected to harsh backlash since agreeing Feb. 2 to the shocking blockbuster deal that was built around sending five-time first-team All-NBA selection Doncic, 25, to the Los Angeles Lakers and bringing 10-time All-Star big man Anthony Davis, 31, to Dallas.
Approximately 1,000 people protested outside the American Airlines Center before Saturday’s home win over the Houston Rockets. “Fire Nico” and “sell the team” were common themes for chants and T-shirts.
Harrison, who did not attend Saturday’s game, was in the arena Monday night but did not sit in his usual seat in the lower bowl of the stands.
Arena security has been strictly enforcing NBA rules limiting the size of fans’ signs since the trade.
Two men, including one who wore Doncic’s Slovenian national team jersey, were ejected late in Monday’s contest after a shouting match with Cuban, who was in his regular baseline seat by the Mavericks’ bench.
“Shut the f— up and sit the f— down!” Cuban yelled, according to footage a fan showed to ESPN.
Cuban told ESPN that the fans, whose seats were approximately 20 rows behind him, were yelling, “Fire Nico!” while the Mavericks were shooting free throws and again during a critical possession late in regulation. Cuban said he did not curse until the fans pointed and shouted at him, although he did not know what they said.
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“In the second incident, the fan wore a T-shirt that also broke the rule [cited] and was also intoxicated, disruptive and uncooperative, all listed in the NBA Fan Code of Conduct,” Finegold said in the statement.
Other fans told ESPN that one of the ejected fans wore a T-shirt that depicted a woman’s face with a clown nose. They could not clearly identify the woman.
Mavericks coach Jason Kidd did not hold a postgame news conference, as required by league rules.
Dallas guard Klay Thompson said he could “understand [fans’] frustration because Luka was that great and he was homebred here.” Thompson said he did not notice the fans being ejected but that their emotional reaction to the trade does not bother him.
“It’s not our job to get deflated because people are upset,” Thompson said. “Our job is to convince them that there’s really great days ahead, not just for this year but for the next few years.
“I mean, people are going to say stuff, and that’s understandable. I was a fan, still a fan. If I didn’t agree with a trade, I’d probably voice my opinion too. That’s the beauty of sports. You go there to yell and be rambunctious sometimes.”
Mavericks star Kyrie Irving said he felt that Dallas fans have “graduated from hate to anger to the cycle of emotions … and then the passion.”
“You just got to give everybody grace,” Irving said. “To see the emotions come out like that over basketball, that just shows you that basketball is not just a game to certain people. It’s a spiritual experience. It’s a connector piece, and they watch their favorite players and they want to see them forever. So, I run the side of just understanding where people are coming from.”
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