Just over three weeks after the trade that stunned the sports world, Luka Doncic and his Los Angeles Lakers will host the Dallas Mavericks on Tuesday night.
Doncic's new teammates and coaches all believe he'll be ready and eager for this quick showdown with the team that abruptly shipped him out of the city where he earned five All-NBA selections, where he led last season's squad to the NBA Finals after winning the scoring title — and where he expected to spend the rest of his career.
"I think he'll be fine," Lakers coach JJ Redick said. "Every day that he's been with us, it's becoming just a little bit more normal. I've been there. The first time you play your old team, particularly this close in time duration, it's going to be weird. But he'll be able to handle it."
Major life events have been coming at Doncic awfully quickly in February, so the speed at which this monumental matchup arrived on the Lakers' schedule is just another challenge for the Slovenian superstar. Aside from the upheaval of the trade, Doncic is also still working his way back into top shape after missing 6 1/2 weeks with a strained calf.
Doncic declined to speak to reporters Monday after the Lakers' practice, which he ended by making a half-court shot following a 3-point shooting drill with Dorian Finney-Smith, his former teammate in Dallas. Both veterans ended up with the Lakers this season in separate trades.
"I think he's going to be excited, but everybody in the locker room is excited," Finney-Smith said. "We've got his back. It's going to be a hard-fought game. I know (Mavs coach Jason) Kidd is going to have them ready to come in here and compete, so we've just got to match their intensity."
This matchup unfortunately won't feature both
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