While the Los Angeles Lakers were handed a gift in Luka Doncic, they inherited a star who seemed to be damaged emotionally. After a stunning and shocking departure from the Dallas Mavericks, Doncic needed to uproot his life in the middle of the season, something the 26-year-old could have never expected at this stage of his career.
Thankfully, Lakers governor Jeanie Buss and general manager Rob Pelinka were accommodating to their new star to help him adjust to a new chapter in L.A. When the five-time All-NBA guard made his Laker debut, it did not take long for him to realize how beloved he would be in his new city.
Moving to a new team and city while also dealing with a calf injury for an extended period and learning a new system and teammates could definitely take a toll mentally. Now that this whirlwind of a season is over though, Doncic is ready to decompress and process everything.
“Honestly, I don’t know,” he said when asked what he learned during this process. “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.”
Not have a chance to process anything is definitely the biggest difficulty of a mid-season trade. Doncic emphasized that now is the time to take everything in and he will report back what he learned from this entire experience when next season rolls around.
“I don’t know what I learned,” Doncic said. “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.”
This postseason was a disappointment as no team likes to be a first-round exit, especially with Doncic and LeBron James at the helm. But, one way to look at it is that Lakers players gets a chance to reset mentally and get healthy physically for next season.
An offseason to build a roster better suited around their Slovenian star can bode well for the Lakers moving into the future. Hopefully, Doncic gets the time he needs to disconnect from basketball for a while and can return rejuvenated next year.
There’s no doubt that matchups with the Mavericks will carry extra weight for Luka Doncic and the Lakers moving forward.
To that effect, the NBA is wasting no time cashing in on this storyline as the Mavericks and Lakers are set to face off in Las Vegas for a preseason game this October.
