LUKA MUST WIN NBA CHAMPIONSHIPS (AND LOSE WEIGHT) TO PROVE DALLAS WRONG
It’s hard to believe Doncic is in El Segundo, holding a gold and purple jersey, when he still has no idea why the Mavericks traded him and denies having a weight problem that prompted history
It was not April Fools’ Day, as he originally thought. This was the first morning when Luka Doncic could see the Pacific Ocean, which he adores, and wonder why the Dallas Mavericks traded him to a team of 17 championships and multiple legends. He still can’t believe he’s in Los Angeles because he was too heavy and out of shape, because he eats and drinks too much, because his lack of conditioning strained his calf too often.
“That’s their decision. No comment on that. I don’t know why,” Doncic said.
Did he ever suggest he wouldn’t sign a $345-million supermax deal in Texas?
“Absolutely not,” Doncic said.
Why exactly was he here, by the way, in El Segundo? Why was he sitting beside new boss Rob Pelinka, who explained how Mavericks general manager Nico Harrison met him for coffee last month and sprung one of the wildest ideas in sports history? Does he need to lose 20 pounds on Muscle Beach, where a new mural of Kobe Bryant is posted? Hot yoga? Spanx with Kim Kardashian?
“It’s a motive. It’s not true,” Doncic said at a press conference. “It’s a motive. I came here. It’s a big motive for a championship run.”
But it IS true. Five times, he made the All-NBA first team. Last June, he directed the Mavericks to the Finals. There’s no doubt Doncic is “one of the top three players in the universe,” as Pelinka said. Still, he somehow is a 25-year-old underachiever who will be more reliable and a better player with improved training. He averaged only 67 games in his first six seasons and has missed 28 games this season, when a big body limped away on Christmas. Harrison was fed up with his weight changes and his chronic anger toward referees. He didn’t want to spend the year contract-squabbling with Doncic and his agent, Bill Duffy. He decided to acquire the size and defense of Anthony Davis, who is having a great season in the middle, and shipped an all-time player to a franchise that always has a superstar or two.
Why the Lakers? Why is it always the Lakers? Turns out Pelinka and Harrison have a relationship dating to their days with Bryant, which is why 28 franchises feel cheated. Without a future before last Saturday, Pelinka thanked the heavens for a wondrous “gift.” He called it “a seismic event in NBA history” and elaborated: “We have a global superstar to get on stage with the most popular and influential basketball brand on the globe. When those forces get together, it brings joy to the world. Think about kids in Barcelona or Buenos Aires or children in Shanghai or Sydney — they’re going to be wearing a No. 77 Lakers jersey. It’s a convergence of all those forces that the NBA and basketball never have seen before.”
True, so true. But Doncic still must drop pounds permanently so he can win the necessary championships and look good for the celebrities, who aren’t Joe Bob and his son from Fort Worth. Out here, you can’t be chubby. He’ll perform in his first five-on-five workout Wednesday. He might play Thursday or Saturday at Crypto.com Arena. Pelinka listed the weight-training therapists on his staff. Most important of all will be LeBron James, who is 15 years older than Doncic and can teach him about health and performance and would kill him in aerobics and bodybuilding classes. “Greatness is an evolution in a process,” said Pelinka, weighing his words. “If we’re striving for perfection, we’re gonna have challenges to make yourself better. That’s something to keep in mind.” Oh, we will.
Yes, stunning as it is, the Lakers now have Doncic and James, who has at least a half-season to make playoff waves. Has the sport ever had such a duo — one aging and in tremendous condition, one young and mocked by fans who poke fun — that will electrify the masses? James called Luka from a New York restaurant when the trade went down and has a $52.6 million player option he can execute next season. “It’s like a dream come true,” Doncic said of playing with James. “I’ve always looked up to him. There are so many things I can learn from him. It’s an amazing feeling. It’s a 10 to play with him — that’s my guy. We make our teammates better. Our IQ is very high.”
We can’t wait to see the collective intelligence quotient. We’re still trying to figure out why Doncic is in southern California. So is Patrick Mahomes, who wrote “Wait what?’’ when hearing about the trade and added, “I’m sick.” Never mind a Super Bowl that is supposed to dominate our sports senses. “Luka is such a franchise player. I know it hurt my heart as a Mavs fan,” he said. “It definitely hurts more than anything knowing Luka and the work that he put in and the time he's put in in Dallas and the city and how he's done so much for it. That's been the thing that's hurt me the most. But I'm excited for the future of the Mavs as well. Having AD and Kyrie (Irving) and all these guys they have, they'll have a chance to go out there and compete. But I'm excited for Luka too and to get to learn under LeBron and become even a better basketball player.”
So are superstars around the NBA, who realize owners have taken back the business from the whiners and resters and might trade any of them for any reason. “I thought it was fake news. It’s insane,” Giannis Antetokounmpo said. “This is the world we're living in. It's a business, you have to understand nobody's safe, nobody's safe. If a five-time All-NBA first-team, a 25-year-old, a guy that just made it to the Finals seven months ago, a guy that led the league in scoring, a guy that finished second or third in MVP voting, a guy that scored 70-something points one time, a guy that had a 60-point triple-double, a guy that knows how to play the game of basketball, I can keep going and going, an All-Star starter, a guy that averaged 34/9/10. But I'm not here to talk about Luka and how good he is. I think everybody in the world knows he's one of the best players in the league.”
He’s wearing purple and gold. The first night was difficult. The flight was weird. He wore a sweater on Tuesday and realized the temperature was 62 in sunshine. “It was a big shock. It was hard moments for me. You can’t imagine how surprised I was. I was almost asleep,” Doncic said. “It was hard to believe. I get to play with the greatest club in the world. I thought I would spend my whole career (in Dallas). Loyalty is a word for me. But this is a fresh start. The fans are amazing. And I have the ocean, a big thing for me. Many, many legends. Many, many championships.”
Does he have something to prove in regard to a large trophy? “Obviously, yeah. Win a championship,” he said. “You don’t come here for anything but winning a championship. I have everything to prove. The goal is to win a championship.”
This year? Don’t count on it, unless the Lakers can pry center Nikola Vucevic from Chicago when they have little to trade. Pelinka wants us to absorb history. “If all of us watch Luka play, he has a combination of basketball joy and killer instinct. It rivals No. 8 and 24,” he said, referring to Bryant. “I can’t think of a more amazing starting point to build a roster. We know he has the drive to win that we have. Fans will see that every night. He might seem calm and quiet. You’ll see it at Crypto.com Arena.”
The owners, Jeanie Buss in Los Angeles and Patrick Dumont in Dallas, couldn’t tell a soul for weeks. Mark Cuban, who sold the Mavs and doesn’t control basketball operations, remains livid that Doncic has departed. A city lost a prize who would have lasted at least another decade. Fans are conducting funerals.
Now he’s a Laker, with almost the same career averages as James in points, rebounds and assists. “We can hyperbolize this trade as the craziest trade in sports history,” said coach JJ Redick, who must pull the strings on Doncic and LeBron. “It’s once in a lifetime. Luka has an alter ego. The killer instinct? He’s a killer on the basketball court.”
He also must kill Charles Barkley. “I don’t think Luka and LeBron can play together,” he said. “This thing is not going to be smooth in L.A. There’s going to be some serious growing pains when those two play together. LeBron wants the ball, and Luka definitely wants the ball. It’s going to very interesting how that works out.”
As the day moved on, with the ocean two miles away, Luka Doncic reminded me of Shohei Ohtani. Los Angeles acquired him for the world’s eyeballs.
“It’s exciting,” Luka said. “I wouldn’t say pressure.”
Ohtani won a World Series in his first season as a Dodger.
That’s pressure.
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Jay Mariotti, called “without question the most impacting Chicago sportswriter of the past quarter-century,’’ writes general sports columns for Substack while appearing on some of the 1,678,498 podcasts and shows in production today. He is an accomplished columnist, TV panelist and talk/podcast host. Living in Los Angeles, he gravitated by osmosis to film projects.