THE CURSE OF LUKA: NO ONE IS HAPPIER THAN DONCIC AS THE MAVERICKS COLLAPSE
It’s staggering to see one destructive injury after another in Dallas, where Nico Harrison somehow keeps his job — while Doncic looks like gold with LeBron James as the Lakers have won seven straight
Up the freeway, a stripper becomes an escort for a Russian oligarch’s son and wins an Oscar. Down another freeway, Disneyland plans greetings with Bluey and invites guests to join Tiana’s Bayou Adventure. Why wouldn’t Luka Doncic receive odes of his own splendor in his new Los Angeles neighborhood?
“Maybe it’s an inner demon, I don’t know,” said his coach, JJ Redick. “But it comes out and it’s fantastic for us.”
“You’ve got a guy in your corner going Super Saiyan, for lack of a better word,” said his teammate, Gabe Vincent. “And making great plays, hitting shots, it’s a lot of fun. When he gets hot offensively, we feel like we can’t be stopped in that regard.”
So why wouldn’t Doncic welcome the warmth, the vibes he wasn’t receiving in wicked Dallas? He’s averaging near his triple-double digits — 30 points, 15 assists, 8 rebounds, a six-pack of three-pointers Tuesday evening — and must be watched in heavy doses with LeBron James. His second month in Los Angeles continues with a seven-game winning streak. “It’s been great. The atmosphere is unbelievable,” Doncic said. “And we just want to give the people what they want and that’s winning games. We can’t relax at all.”
He does have to work on his joy when he has a “blackout” moment, as Redick calls his extraterrestrial experiments. He enjoyed back-to-back-to-back triples in a 136-115 victory over New Orleans. “I’ve obviously got to work on my celebration. I don’t know what to do,” Doncic said. “I start skipping. You just feel good.”
It isn’t too early to wonder about the Curse of Luka. He is beginning to perform as a mesmerizing great, on the same team as another mesmerizing great in James, while the Lakers settle into the No. 2 spot in the NBA’s Western Conference. And on a night when James passed 50,000 career points, how could we not notice the stunning fallout in the city where Doncic was traded because he’s lazy and downing too much beer and food?
Have we ever seen a sports team disintegrate in a month quite like the Mavericks?
Anthony Davis played 31 minutes and scored 26 points with 16 rebounds, 7 assists and 3 steals. He has not played since with an adductor strain and might miss the remainder of the season, joining Dereck Lively II with an ankle stress fracture. Daniel Gafford suffered a sprained MCL. Then Kyrie Irving tore his ACL and is finished until next season, ending a wonderful campaign. “Just wanted to let you guys know that I'm OK and I will be OK moving forward," he said. “It does suck. A lot. I ain't going to lie to you guys. This one stings for sure.”
Anything else in the land where general manager Nico Harrison has ruined a supposed contender? A fake news story said a homeless shelter returned merchandise donated by Harrison, but I was compelled to double-check. Nothing was inaccurate about the front office increasing season-ticket prices — by an average of 8.6 percent — because of “ongoing investments in the team and fan engagement.” Under the ownership of Mark Cuban, the Mavericks were a classic team of sports fandom. Under Patrick Dumont, whose mother-in-law is billionaire casino magnate Miriam Adelson, don’t be shocked if the Mavericks fade away. They traded Doncic and cited his lack of “character” and “culture.”
In southern California, he is fueling the flames of the 40-year-old James and turning Redick into a rousing rookie coach. The Lakers might not win a title because they don’t have a center. But watching them is a treat.
“Luka is getting more and more comfortable, not only with the team but Los Angeles,” James said. “Every day is going to be better and better for him. It’s kind of picking your poison, when you have two brainiacs in basketball on the court at the same time.”
“The nature of playing with Luka Doncic is if you play drop coverage against him, you’re going to die,” Redick said. Of New Orleans, he said, “They tried a bunch of different coverages on him. He solved every riddle.”
The trade of Doncic will be a boon to the Lakers for a dozen years. The loss of Doncic, after Davis retires, should remind NBA franchises why they can’t overreact and tear apart foundations. It’s a very fine line when a star player wants to be paid and should have been discarded, such as Joel Embiid, who signed a $193 million deal in Philadelphia when he is too unhealthy to justify the cost. He’s only turning 31, yet the big man has played in only 58 of a possible 164 games the last two seasons. Meanwhile, Doncic was traded before his 26th birthday because he liked smoking hookah and putting on weight.
In Phoenix, the Suns are 29-33 with Kevin Durant, Devin Booker and Bradley Beal. They will trade Durant in the offseason, but at this point, who dearly wants him? Frank Vogel won a championship with the Lakers five years ago. He has been fired twice since then, with Mike Budenholzer replacing him and doing nothing but telling Booker to calm down in huddles. The Suns, owned by Mat Ishbia, have a luxury tax bill of $152 million. They were mistaken to buy into Durant’s latest look at a superteam. He left Golden State in 2019 and has whiffed in Brooklyn and the desert. Tuesday night, he jerked his hand away from Budenholzer when the coach tried to grip his arm.
There are no such problems at Crypto.com Arena.
We are staring at Luka Doncic. He is lighter. He is happier. He points at fans and mates and chirps at opponents. His fiancee and daughter have adjusted to the move. He smells another whiff of playoff contention. He adores the hookup with James, who is thinking about a fifth championship. He likes Redick, who loves him and wants him to lower his turnover output. “I’m just getting to know the city,” he said, mentioning the traffic, which he’ll never understand but might carry him to glory.
This is looking like the move of a lifetime. For Dallas, it is a horror show.
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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.