Luka Doncic had the most emotional season of his career this past year as he was shockingly traded from the Dallas Mavericks to the Los Angeles Lakers, a move that shook the NBA to its core.
Doncic was expected to spend his entire career in Dallas, but the team inexplicably dealt him to Los Angeles due to concerns over his conditioning and commitment to defense. Although Doncic was shaken up by the trade, he showed his dedication to the Lakers by helping lead them to the third seed in the Western Conference.
Adding a player of Doncic’s caliber fundamentally changed the identity of the team, though head coach JJ Redick and his staff did a good of integrating the star and reshaping the offense in his image. Doncic took over as the lead playmaker and scorer for the team and laid the foundation of what this next era of basketball can look like for the storied franchise.
Doncic was able to acclimate easier to his new home thanks to his relationship with Redick, who was his teammate for a short time in Dallas. After the season ended, he had high praise for the first-time head coach and compared him to some of the coaches in Europe.
“I think he’s a hell of a coach,” Doncic said. “Not many coaches do the stuff he did in his first year, his rookie year or however you want to say it. So I’m really glad I got to be coached by him these couple of months. I feel sometimes like I’m back in Europe a little bit, so I love it. We have a great bond. It’s been nothing but amazing with him as a coach.”
Redick was considered a gamble of a hire last offseason as he had no prior head coaching experience, let alone at the NBA level. However, he silenced critics with his ability to get buy-in from the locker room and installing a style of play that fit the roster.
While Redick had his fair share of rookie coaching moments in the playoffs, there’s plenty of optimism that he’ll become a better coach because of this experience. Doncic and Redick have the potential to form a successful partnership together in L.A. and it’ll be fun to see what they can accomplish.
Luka Doncic didn’t have a lot of time to process his trade to the Lakers at the time it went down, though he said he’ll take time during the offseason to work through everything he felt and experienced.
