New LA Laker Luka Doncic denies Dallas Mavericks traded him because he was unfit
Luka Doncic has hit back at suggestions he was traded to the LA Lakers by the Dallas Mavericks because he was not fit enough.
The Lakers formally welcomed Doncic overnight, less than three days after they traded Anthony Davis and Max Christie in a three-team deal for the Slovenian who won his first scoring title last season before leading the Mavs to the NBA Finals.
Doncic, a five-time All-NBA selection and a five-time All-Star, is still processing the upheaval, but is already seeing the limitless upside of a career in Los Angeles that will begin alongside the 40-year-old James, the top scorer in NBA history.
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By continuing you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy.“That first day was really hard,” Doncic said.
“I felt like these last 48 hours was one month. Emotionally, it was really hard, but today was much better. This is the Lakers. It’s one of the best clubs in history, so I’m excited to be here.”
Doncic addressed that issues over his conditioning was why Dallas wanted to dump him.
“It’s a motive, I know it’s not true, but it’s a motive,” Doncic said. “It’s a big motive for a long run here.”
The NBA Finalists would have been eligible for a $US345 million supermax deal if he had remained in Dallas. It has been reported Doncic had not been willing to commit to that deal and that drove Dallas to trade him.
“Absolutely not,” he fired back when asked about it..
The NBA superstar also revealed during his first press conference as a Laker that he was nearly asleep last Saturday night (local time) in Dallas when his phone buzzed.
Only then did he learn that the Mavericks had just stunned the sports world by trading him to the Los Angeles Lakers.
“You can imagine how surprised I was,” 25-year-old Doncic said.
“I had to check if it was April 1. I didn’t really believe it.”
The superstar has begun to recover after his first two days in LA, and he’s growing increasingly excited about a new chapter with LeBron James and his famed new team on the sunny West Coast.
“It was a big shock,” Doncic said.
“(Dallas) was home, so it was really hard moments for me … (But now) I get to play in the greatest club in the world, and I’m excited for this new journey.”
General manager Rob Pelinka didn’t hide his glee at landing Doncic when they met with the media at the Lakers’ training complex, saying Doncic’s arrival would bring “basketball joy to the world.”
“We have one of the game’s biggest superstars and an international player coming to join the Lakers,” Pelinka said.
“I think it’s going to be something incredibly special that the NBA and basketball has never seen before.”
Although James was blindsided by the deal along with the rest of the NBA, he quickly called Doncic to welcome him to the Lakers.
“It’s just like a dream come true,” Doncic said.
“I always looked up to him (James). There’s so many things I can learn from him, and I’m just excited to learn everything and get to play with him. It’s an amazing feeling.”
Doncic hasn’t played since Christmas because of a calf strain, but he is close to a return - set to participate in five-on-five work at practice on Wednesday.
The Lakers also acquired Maxi Kleber and Markieff Morris in the trade with Dallas and both laughed at the widespread notion the Mavs were irredeemably concerned about Doncic’s conditioning and work ethic.
“I hear the stuff about him not being in shape, but if you can go in an NBA game and get 30 and 15 and 10 like it’s nothing, then I don’t really know what shape is,” Morris said.
The trade shocked the NBA with superstars across the league expressing their disbelief.
“Especially with (Dallas) coming off the Finals, it’s a reminder that there are only a few in this league that can go to sleep with any type of confidence that you’ll still be there,” Stephen Curry said.
“It’s kind of a very unique situation across the board.”
While Minnesota star Anthony Edwards said there was more going with the trade than had so far been revealed.
“They traded probably the best scorer in the NBA at 25. And he didn’t know about it. There’s a lot more digging somebody’s got to do to find out why he got traded. You don’t just trade him at 25. He just went to the Finals. I feel bad for Luka, man,” he said.
