It gave them more opportunity to receive the ball, I think that's the only explanation of that. Lebron mostly looks at AD whenever he is looking for help or trying to get an assist and without him, he will be forced to pass it on to other teammates who can also definitely score.

I am still not used to watching Luka in gold, I feel like it doesn't suit him but I guess it's just that we didn't see him in that kind of uniform being in Mavs in his early career.
24 minutes of playtime. He is just starting and we are going to see those stats go high as he creates more chemistry with his teammates. I hope they can make it as fast as possible to secure that safe spot for the playoffs.

They got more touches now as compare when they have AD, as most of the times, their focus is on him getting the ball. So yeah, it could be a blessing for some of them, but I think the one that really benefited here is Hayes. He is the starting center now and you can see that he has been scoring lately with some good pass and now that they have Luka, you can see that he love to pass to his big guys and so I wouldn't be surprised that Hayes output will increased in the second half of the year. And talking about AD, it was reported that he will missed some weeks because of his injury. I guess karma is a bitch and now it is biting Nico for his bold move to trade Luka. Anyway, Luka has already played with the Lakers had a good outlet pass to Lebron and he seems to be enjoying as a Laker now.

The Los Angeles Lakers just made their move and signed Alex Len. Alex last played for the Kings and was signed out of free agency. I didn’t watch him too much but he seemed like a guy that could get the job done and have flashes of great play. I would’ve rather seen them go with someone more athletic, but they only had so many options. Maybe they’ll get lucky with a buyout later in the season.

Lakers waived their injured center Christian Wood to make this deal.

An interesting report came out claiming that the Luka Doncic trade didn’t go down quite like they said. Anthony Davis was the Dallas Mavericks third choice. They originally contacted the Milwaukee Bucks about trading for Giannis and when that was declined they contacted the Minnesota Timberwolves about Anthony Edwards. After that was declined they contacted the Lakers.

Thats an odd choice in edwards.  I can see why they wanted AD, size and defensive and offensive lost post presense.  Same type with giannis but edwardsis the same like type player as luka.  I wonder what else was goijg on if this is true.  I can see if ypu have one guy in mind but if ypu are shopping a 25 year old superstar for whoever it just doesnt add up

Wow that's really crazy and didn't know they come up with other option aside from contacting Lakers and got curious about why does Mavs would really think that Bucks will trade Giannis out of their team for sure their fans would not gonna love this to happen and also for sure the management doesn't want to let go their franchise player.

For context of this discussion other people could read this article https://www.si.com/nba/bucks/news/mavericks-attempted-to-trade-giannis-antetokounmpo-for-luka-doncic-bucks-refused-report

So this indicate that they are really afraid to give Luka a super max contract and they are desperate to get another player that can help their team. But to bad they land on their last option and they get another injury prone player.

I'm wrong though, it looks like he will need to sit for many weeks because of his abdominal strain.

And so the Lakers swoop in Alex Len, a veteran NBA player as a back up center. I totally forget that they still have CWood, but he is down with injury as well so he was waived by the Lakers to give a spot to Alex. Not that bad although their first target was Williams from the Hornets.


Yes, I also check the sportbookies and Lakers are the favorite with -8.5 now. It seems that they are in the roll and with Luka slowly getting into the groove, I wouldn't be surprised if they will win by double digits here.

Another winner in the trade is the Warriors with Jimmy Butler 2-0 since he is acquired and it seems that Steph is getting his second win as he has been waxing hot in the last 2 wins.

I think the odds are based on the previous match. Jazz has no good center while their roster is same with Lakers that is pure offense with no big man that’s why Lakers can all out against them.

However, I’m interested how they will play against team with strong center that can dominate the paint like Nuggets, Spurs and Kings. They might crumble in case their 3 points potential will be guarded by heavy defense while they can defend against attack on paint.

The really fun thing to see is that Lebron seems to come alive ever since he started to play with Luka. He loved AD, there is no doubt that Lebron loved AD, he didn't see AD just as a teammate but like a very close friend as well, which is why he actually wanted him to join Lakers to begin with, and won a title with him as well on the bubble season.

However, it looked like he realized the team isn't good enough to win anything anymore, all they do is play 82 games a season, and then at playoffs get knocked out by some team, probably Denver, but could be someone else too. However, with the way things are going right now, we could say that Luka made Lebron realize maybe they could potentially have a chance to win again.

Even if they do not end up winning this season, Luka is only 25 years old, and Lebron might be 40, and he could be growing old, but he doesn't need to really do what he normally does, he could take a step back, let Luka take the wheel, and he could play for another 5 seasons if we are talking about just talent. He was never really a great defender, he would focus a bit more on defense, he is shooting better threes, and he could probably pass better than anyone else in the league. So, we are seeing Lebron having hope again.

Does that mean they'll keep Dalton while picking up Williams soon? That's a big win for the Lakers, I think. But I've read a few articles saying Dalton isn't happy anymore because things just aren't the same. Even though he's back with the team, he hasn't played yet. So now that Luka's in the lineup, will the Lakers still give Dalton the minutes he used to get?