EL SEGUNDO — On this date in history, Feb. 4, 2025, the Lakers introduced Luka Doncic as one of theirs, the man who could very well earn his place among the legends who have played for the franchise.
You could feel the weight of it at Tuesday morning’s news conference at the Lakers’ training facility, a crowded affair befitting this “seismic” pairing, as Lakers general manager Rob Pelinka called his trade that brought Doncic to L.A. in exchange for Anthony Davis.
Reports of the big deal on Saturday night gave us all a delicious where-were-you-when moment, maybe the first of many more history-making days for these new Luka Lakers … which made me wonder: When was the last time LeBron James was an afterthought at one of his team’s news conferences?
It’s gotta be, let me see … never?
The last time the 40-year-old superstar wasn’t the sun around which everyone else in a franchise orbited?
That one’s easy: Never.
And, for that matter, when’s the last time a player joining the Lakers didn’t come pumping his fists, all giddy and glad?
That might be a first, too.
Whether through free agency or by trade, the 17-time championship franchise is used to acquisitions dancing down the red carpet.
Pau Gasol had been ready to leave Memphis when he arrived via a similarly shocking midseason deal in 2008 that also riled the rest of the league. More recently, James came of his own accord in free agency. And Davis put in motion the trade that allowed him to join James in their premier purple-and-gold pairing.
Doncic? If anyone had consulted the 25-year-old, five-time All-NBA first-teamer, he would have told them he wanted to stay in Dallas, where he’d built his life and thought he would end his career, and where he’d just led the Mavs to an NBA Finals.
When the Dallas Morning News’ Brad Townsend asked Tuesday if there was any chance Doncic would have turned down the super-max extension that only the Mavericks could offer him, Doncic shook his head as though he was offended at the thought: “Absolutely not.”
You could almost feel Doncic bristling when Pelinka, seated beside him, spoke about the conversations that had been taking place about Doncic behind Doncic’s back, about the “fabric of trust” that Pelinka shares with Mavericks GM Nico Harrison, whom Doncic previously put his trust in.
Doncic politely proclaimed that he was excited for this new journey with the “greatest club in the world.” And he told us the shock was wearing off, though it didn’t look like it has dissipated entirely, watching the Slovenian sensation’s somber expression as Pelinka described the talks – “trust was the center of the discussions” – that served to destroy Doncic’s trust in his former team.
Fascinating business, basketball.
“A lot of people talk about negotiations in terms of who won and who lost,” said Pelinka, who, by the way, also apparently, necessarily blindsided his own stars, Davis and James. “But I try to approach a negotiation in a sense of how do we build a partnership?”
It was kind of him to say so, considering everyone knows he dunked all over Harrison.
Doncic is a force of nature on the court, and an A-lister in any setting; how jarring it must be for him to be robbed of his agency in a decision like this, to have his future decided for him. But then, that’s just business, baby. And now we all expect Doncic will make it his business to give Dallas the business from here on out.
So I’m not saying you should cry for a multimillionaires who are incredibly well-compensated to play what former Clipper Reggie Jackson always calls “a child’s game.” But you should appreciate Doncic’s heartbreak and hurt, that he would admit flat-out, “honestly, it was hard … I feel like that last 48 hours (were) one month.”
You should appreciate that he isn’t a mercenary but someone who cares, passionately and genuinely. That he had so much love for his city.
Never mind the scuttlebutt coming out of Dallas about Doncic’s poor conditioning, “he’s a great guy, man,” said veteran forward Markieff Morris, who came along with Maxi Kleber in the trade. “Super-low maintenance. One of the only guys I’ve been on a team with that will play through any injury if he can get on the court … you’ll see it really soon.”
When Pelinka spoke about the significance of pairing such global brands – the Lakers and Luka – it was hard not to draw a parallel to what Shohei Ohtani’s teaming up with the Dodgers has done for both of those entities. But I found myself thinking more about Freddie Freeman.
You remember, Freeman signed with the Dodgers in free agency in 2022, but not because they were his first choice. He had wanted badly to stay with the Atlanta Braves, with whom he’d just won a World Series. But negotiations that offseason went sideways and he ended up out west, where, even though the Dodgers were thrilled to have him, he couldn’t hide how homesick he was. He wept openly when he returned to Atlanta for the first time.
It took time for Freeman to feel at home in L.A., time to forge a bond with a new franchise and fan base like what he had in Atlanta.
But now look.
Dude’s a Dodger legend.
He and his family, beloved and embraced by Angelenos. Cheered for his talent, of course, but also appreciated for his toughness, his clutchness, his dance. He’ll forever be celebrated as a winner and a champion, someone who went through ups and downs and inevitably brought joy to L.A. in the most dramatic L.A. way, with a walk-off grand slam in Game 1 of the World Series that will echo for ages, in harmony with Kirk Gibson’s homer in 1988.
Those are the sorts of big-stage moments you expect if you play for the Dodgers or the Lakers. Those rarefied where-were-you-when moments that stop the whole wide sports world in its tracks and turn star athletes from local legends to larger-than-life icons.
The type of moments that befit a player like Doncic, as they did Laker legends before him.
“He has that rare combination of basketball joy and killer instinct, that’s really rare; that’s No. 8/No. 24,” said Pelinka, referencing the jersey numbers worn by Kobe Bryant, who was on Doncic’s mind Tuesday too.
Yes, of course Doncic remembered that moment when he was inbounding and Kobe talked smack at him in Slovenian from his sideline seat.
“It will always stay in my mind,” Doncic said. “Just for Kobe to know my name was amazing for me.”
He added, “I just wish Kobe and Gigi were here to see this moment.”
Doncic’s heart is in the right place. And eventually, it will be here, where his new home is.