LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA – FEBRUARY 10: Luka Doncic #77 of the Los Angeles Lakers reacts after committing his third foul during the third quarter of a game against the Utah Jazz at Crypto.com Arena on February 10, 2025 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)
LeBron and Luka: So this Luka trade to the Lakers seems to be working out. Thursday night the Lakers beat the Knicks in overtime giving LA their 8th straight win. In the game Luka Doncic scored 32 points with 12 assists, 7 rebounds, and 4 steals. And 40 year old LeBron James continues to play like 30 year old LeBron James. He poured in 31 points, 12 rebounds and 8 assists while logging 44 minutes.
LeBron and Luka: The Lakers are on a roll and the are currently the 2 seed in the Western Conference standings. They must be taken very seriously this post season. The Lakers image is much different than it was at the beginning of the season when the 1-2 punch of James and Anthony Davis, who the team traded to get Doncic, seemed to have run its tired course. The Lakers even seemed gimmicky when they added James' son Bronny to the roster even though everyone in the world knew Bronny was not an NBA caliber player.
LEBRON AND LUKA AND THE LAKERS ARE AMAZING!
LeBron and Luka and the Lakers: Since the Luka trade the team he left, the Dallas Mavericks, is in complete shambles. Luka was their best and most popular player. Anthony Davis got hurt (stop me if you've heard this before) in his first game with the Mavs and hasn't been seen since. And superstar guard Kyrie Irving just went down with a season ending knee injury. Yikes. All of this is happening to a team that made it to the NBA Finals last year. How quickly things can change.
Mavs minority owner Mark Cuban, who has no control of the team anymore, publicly asked why the Mavs only received one first round draft pick in the trade. He thought they should have received four picks. He also lamented the secrecy of the trade that took everybody by surprise. Had the rest of the NBA known Luka was up for grabs there surely would have been a bidding war which would have resulted in a bigger haul for the Mavs.
Meanwhile, basketball fans will be consumed with March Madness and the college basketball season. When the dust clears fans will pay more attention to the NBA as the playoffs gear up. And those fans will notice the Lakers will be a formidable team in the post-season.
For more hoops talk tune in each weekday to Craig Shemon and Company from 2-6pm on ESPN Southwest Florida.
