The Los Angeles Lakers pulled off arguably the most shocking trade in sports history when they landed Luka Dončić from the Dallas Mavericks in a blockbuster that seemed to materialize out of thin air.
Now in his second season with the franchise, it looks like the Slovenian superstar has embraced the city and team. But while revisiting the trade, Lakers minority owner Jeanie Buss admitted that this wasn’t a love-at-first-sight type of story.
Luka Dončić Initially Didn’t Feel Connected to the Lakers Like the Mavericks
First drafted to the Mavericks in 2018, Dončić spent seven years with the team, making them a perennial contender in the Western Conference. Dončić was blindsided by the Mavs’ decision to trade him, as he has indicated that he expected to finish his career in Dallas. As a result, the love between the player and the city was hard to replicate.
Dončić had taken the Mavericks to the NBA Finals and achieved many life milestones in Dallas while becoming one of the best players in the NBA. The five-time All-NBA selection clearly had a ton of memories and relationships in Dallas, so when he was first traded to the Lakers, his reaction was different than most players who put on the purple and gold.
“In my experience, welcoming players to the Lakers organization, I often hear, ‘This is my dream. I always wanted to be here. To play where Magic, Kobe, Shaq, and Kareem,'” Buss said to tennis legend Maria Sharapova. “Luka didn’t come into the Lakers like that. He was trying to figure out why this was happening.
“You could see he left his heart in Dallas, and it was going to take him time. It’s kind of like if your boyfriend breaks up with you, it’s ok to go out and get a new dress and try to make him regret he ever did that.”
Dončić seems much more comfortable in Year 2 in Los Angeles. It makes sense that it took him some time to acclimated to a new city and get over the heartbreak associated with the Mavericks trade after spending nearly a decade in Dallas. Now, he has become a fan favorite in Los Angeles, and Lakers fans are hoping he can return at some point during the second round to help the Lakers take on the defending-champion Oklahoma City Thunder.
