Luka Doncic has opened up about how his trade from the Dallas Mavericks to the Los Angeles Lakers affected him mentally. The Lakers point guard said the trade left him “exhausted” and that he will now take time to process everything. The Lakers didn’t gain as much as expected soon after the trade, as they were eliminated from the NBA Western Conference first-round playoffs despite his and LeBron James’ presence.
Luka Doncic said in a press conference after the Los Angeles Lakers ended their disappointing run in the playoffs, “I’m mentally kind of exhausted from everything that happened. I know a lot of people won’t believe me, but I am. I think now it’s time to process everything. I don’t know what I learned. Like I said, I think now is the time to process everything. Just emotionally, going through it all, looking back. I’ll let you know in the preseason what I learned about myself.”
NBA fans were impressed with how Doncic shared his take on the trade. “Much respect to Luke the way he spoke on both him his team and the opposition,” wrote a fan in reaction to Doncic’s video. Another said, “This guy is all heart and love for basketball. Luka Lakers will come back.” One more commented, “Reassemble the squad around Luka and come back stronger!”
Doncic was traded from the Dallas Mavericks to the Los Angeles Lakers in exchange for Lakers’ power forward Anthony Davis. He was deeply affected by reports that he wasn’t liked by the coach and by Mavericks GM Nico Harrison, leading him to say he just wanted to move on instead of brooding over it.
“I just want to move on. The fans, my ex-teammates, I’ll always keep at heart. It’s time for me to move on from there. I mean, it’s painful, depending on how you take it. It mostly came from Dallas, so I didn’t want to talk back. But I don’t really read that much stuff. I’m just trying to focus on my journey,” he said.
According to the latest reports, the Los Angeles Lakers are now considering trading shooting guard Austin Reaves to the Memphis Grizzlies for shooting guard and small forward Desmond Bane.
