It has already been seven months since the blockbuster trade that many say marked the start of a new era in the league. The Dallas Mavericks traded Luka Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers when he was just 26 years old, only a season after he led the league in scoring and led his team to the Finals.
From that moment on, no one was safe.
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Not even in the wildest dreams could anyone imagine that Mavs Nation would lose the man who seemed programmed to be the next face of the franchise for the next decade.
And yet, it happened and now, in an interview with WSJ. Style, Luka recalled the moment he first heard the news.
“Well, first of all, it didn’t seem real. It kind of took me time to process. But you know, just to move to that organization with so many trophies, one of the best organizations in the world, it was a dream come true. I think I called my father, it was still a shock, but just you know, he would say embrace the moment,” Luka said.
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Luka was still deeply connected to the Dallas community
Although Doncic probably soon realized in his own mind that the trade wasn’t such a bad thing – after all, these are the Lakers, the most famous franchise in the world, where his two biggest idols, Kobe Bryant and LeBron James played – he was still deeply connected to the Dallas community.
Just before the trade, he had even bought a big house in Dallas, another sign that he likely saw himself spending his career there, much like his mentor Dirk Nowitzki. Still, bright lights are nothing new for Doncic, having already played for Europe’s most decorated club, Real Madrid, the European equivalent of the Lakers in terms of fame, status, trophies and cultural significance in the basketball world.
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What may have hurt the Slovenian superstar more than the trade itself were the negative messages that came out of Dallas afterward, labeling him as an unprofessional player who was overweight, bad on defense and not worth a max contract. In some ways, that actually eased Doncic’s transition, motivating him to enter the next season in better shape than ever, something confirmed by his father, Sasa.
“As you can see, he’s playing fantastic. He’s hungry for success, he’s leading the team well and so far, everything is great. From the moment he arrived from L.A., he started training. When you train well, you can immediately see it in the physical appearance. Nothing has changed, he just started training even harder,” Luka’s father said.
Luka is extremely motivated heading into the next season
Sasa was referring to Luka’s brilliant performances with Slovenia at EuroBasket, after reportedly dropping 14 kilos (around 30 pounds), which only confirmed that the league has a serious problem on its hands once Doncic hits the full stride.
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The trade and everything that followed awakened a beast in Luka that no one knew existed.
What should excite Laker Nation, besides the fact that he’s in the best shape of his life, is that he’s extremely motivated and has cleared his head of everything that tied him to Dallas, with one goal in mind, to become the next superstar to deliver a championship to the Lakers, just like his idols LeBron and Kobe.
This story was originally reported by Basketball Network on Sep 17, 2025, where it first appeared in the Latest News section. Add Basketball Network as a Preferred Source by clicking here.