SAN ANTONIO — Like everybody else across the NBA world, former San Antonio Spurs star Dominique Wilkins was shocked to learn the news.
Twenty-six year old Luka Dončić, midway through the season following his first NBA Finals appearance with the Dallas Mavericks, was traded to the Los Angeles Lakers for Anthony Davis, Max Christie and two first-round draft picks. Only the two involved teams knew.
“Luka … one of the top five or six players in the league,” Wilkins told E-Sports Insider. “You trade a player like that? That’s a tough one to digest.”
For months, it was — even for Dončić himself. Tears flowed down his face when he first returned to Dallas to a tribute video followed by “Thanks for everything” written in Serbian. Since then, both the Mavericks and Lakers began working to figure out their new identities.
Wilkins believes that Los Angeles’ is rooted in Dončić over LeBron James.
“It’s definitely Luka’s team,” he said. “A 25-year-old guy compared to a guy who is 40. You should be willing to hand over those ranks to him. I don’t think that’s even a question.”
Utilizing James as a No. 2 option has been teased by the Lakers for several seasons — James even declared such an arrangement himself a few offseasons ago — but Davis’ reliability kept him from becoming the true front man that Los Angeles needed.
Now, it has Dončić, who, despite having several years of success under his belt, still has plenty to learn from James.
“It’s great, I’ve never played with a guy like this,” Dončić said of James. “Being traded to L.A., it was different, but to be able to play with guys like him, it’s unbelievable. I can learn so much stuff.”
Atop that list? How to keep conditioning at the forefront.
“First of all he shows up like 10 hours before the game,” Dončić said. “That was really the main thing, like I was like, ‘What?’ I came to the arena and he was already done working out.”
As the Lakers continue traversing their first offseason without Davis, they’ll likely inquire about adding a big man to help anchor their defense.
Likely the biggest requirement for such a player will be whether or not he fits the timeline of Dončić’s lakers.
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