Now that one of many wildest trades in NBA historical past is completed, the query on everybody’s lips is when will Luka Doncic make his debut for the Lakers?
Doncic has been on the bench since Christmas resulting from a left calf damage.
There are a number of experiences round about his return, however ESPN’s Shams Charania is reporting that there’s ‘optimism’ that Luka might play his first recreation with the Lakers Saturday.
“There’s optimism he’s going to have the ability to make his Lakers debut on Saturday towards Indiana,” Charania mentioned on SportsCenter. “The Lakers have 5 video games earlier than the All-Star break; that was Luka Dončić’s purpose to return earlier than the All-Star break even earlier than this commerce to L.A.”
Previous to Shams’ report, Marc J Spears says that Luka will take the courtroom barely later.
“I’m listening to he’s concentrating on subsequent week, the Lakers play at residence towards Utah subsequent Monday, and on the highway in Utah subsequent Wednesday, a possible return from his calf damage,” Spears mentioned on ESPN.
After the All-Star break, the Lakers will face the Hornets on February 19, so the Slovenian celebrity might additionally make his debut then.
Earlier than the commerce was introduced, NBA insider Marc Stein reported that the Mavs have been initially planning a February 8 return, however have been fearful about his conditioning and pushed it again a couple of days.
Luka’s latest teammate, LeBron James, has just about the other drawback to Luka on the subject of conditioning.
At 40 years of age, he continues to amaze on the basketball courtroom and averaging 34.7 minutes per recreation this season.
Apparently, LA are actually hoping that LeBron will present an important instance to Doncic on the bodily dedication it takes to be elite for a very long time within the NBA, Dan Woike says.
“The Lakers are hopeful that James can’t solely pair with Doncic within the brief time period, however also can present an instance to the younger star on the subject of the kind of bodily dedication it takes to maintain availability and greatness,” Woike wrote.
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