LeBron James said he spent two days in shock after the Los Angeles Lakers traded away Anthony Davis, his close friend and teammate for 5 1/2 years.
Now, LeBron is adjusting to the idea of teaming up with Luka Doncic, a player he has long admired.
“Luka has been my favorite player in the NBA for a while now,” LeBron said Tuesday night after scoring 26 points in the Lakers’ big win over the Clippers. “I’ve always just tried to play the game the right way and inspire the next generation, and Luka happens to be one of them, and now we’re teammates. So it’ll be a very seamless transition.”
Like many others, LeBron thought the trade was a joke when he first heard about it last Saturday night while dining with his family in New York.
“My emotions were all over the place,” LeBron said. “The first time I heard it, I thought it was for sure fake. I thought it was a hoax. People messing around or whatever. But AD FaceTimed me, and I talked to him for quite a while. Even when I got off the phone with him, it still didn’t seem real.
Pretty much didn’t seem real until I saw Luka today, and then I saw the clip of AD at the Dallas shootaround. That’s when it finally hit me, like, ‘This is real.’”
Midway through his record-tying 22nd NBA season, the 40-year-old LeBron has often said he’s seen everything the NBA has to offer.
This trade proved him wrong. “Ain’t never seen this,” LeBron said. “I haven’t. I’ve seen it all, up until this one. I’ve never been a part of a transaction like that. That was different. … It was shocking when I heard the news, but at the end of the day, I understand the business of basketball.”
The NBA trade deadline is Thursday, and LeBron says he’s committed to continuing with the Lakers, even after Davis’ departure.
When asked if he was worried about the Lakers focusing more on Doncic and younger players, LeBron replied: “What’s wrong with that?”
“If I had concerns, I’d have waived my no-trade clause and got up out of here,” he added. “Listen, I’m here right now. I’m committed to the Lakers organization. I’m here to help Luka and Maxi make the transition as smoothly as possible.”
Doncic has officially joined the Lakers
Doncic officially joined the Lakers on Tuesday, and he spent time talking with LeBron while watching from the bench at the Intuit Dome. The Slovenian star, who’s still processing one of the biggest trades in NBA history, expressed excitement about joining the Lakers alongside LeBron, his idol.
Even though they’re opposing coaches in the Clippers-Lakers rivalry, JJ Redick and Tyronn Lue both believe Doncic and LeBron will make a strong duo for the Lakers.
“I’m confident that we can figure out how to blend their talents together in a positive way in a very short amount of time,” Redick said.
Though Doncic wasn’t ready to play with the Lakers on Tuesday night, he was already the main topic of conversation before the game, which marked the first since the Lakers made the blockbuster trade sending Davis and Max Christie to the Dallas Mavericks for Doncic, Maxi Kleber, and Markieff Morris.
Lue, who coached LeBron on the Cleveland Cavaliers when they won a championship with LeBron and guard Kyrie Irving, was confident about how the pairing of LeBron and Doncic would work.
“They’re not right,” Lue said, referring to critics who think the two ball-dominant players won’t mesh. “It’ll work. When you have LeBron James, who’s been the best player in the league for the last 15 years, and you have Luka — who’s a top-three, top-five player in the league — they’ll figure out how to make it work.
LeBron can play with anybody. … I know JJ will do a good job of stacking those guys so they each have their own unit, kind of like we did with Kyrie and LeBron, and then in the fourth quarter they’ll close games together. They’ll figure it out. It’s not a tough problem to have, I’ll tell you that.”
Redick and Doncic were teammates for 13 games in Dallas during Redick’s final playing season in 2021. Doncic also appeared on Redick’s podcast multiple times.
“I would say we had a friendship (and) mutual respect,” Redick said. “You then have to figure out how to have a working relationship as player/coach, and both him and I are committed to that. … I’m excited to build that with him.”
Several of LeBron’s teammates were also impacted by the trade, especially those who were close to Davis and Christie.
“The last couple of days has been tough for me,” Austin Reaves said. “I feel like I had an empty pit in my stomach, just because in the last four years with AD, three years with Max, you create real relationships and bonds, and out of nowhere (they’re) on a different team, competing and doing what they want to do.”
Talk about Doncic was everywhere in Los Angeles.
Los Angeles Kings captain Anze Kopitar praised the Lakers’ acquisition of Doncic, one of the few Slovenian athletes more famous than Kopitar. He even reached out to his fellow Slovenian with congratulations.
“He’s obviously a superstar around the world, not just in Slovenia,” Kopitar said. “For our country, being so small, obviously everybody knows him. And it was a big deal, I know from what I heard from back home. It’s nice to have him here.”
