Just a few weeks after the trade that shocked the world, Luka Doncic will play against his former team as the Los Angeles Lakers get set to host the Dallas Mavericks on Tuesday night.
There have understandably been a lot of emotions for Doncic since the trade, but he finally seems to have moved past that as he is coming off his best game since joining the Lakers.
There’s no doubt that he wants to take it to the Mavericks though, and Dorian Finney-Smith discussed how excited he expects his teammate to be on Tuesday.
“I think he’s gonna be excited. But everybody in the locker room is excited, we got his back,” Finney-Smith said. “It’s gonna be a hard-fought game, we know Jason Kidd is gonna have them ready to come in and compete. We just gotta match their intensity.”
Finney-Smith knows Doncic better than anyone on the Lakers roster considering they were teammates in Dallas. And with that, he knows his teammate will be ready.
“I’m excited. I know he’s gonna be ready. But I try not to put too much pressure on him. At the end of the day, I know we just want to get the win. If we get the win, I know he’ll be alright.
At the end of the day though, Finney-Smith says the Lakers just need to focus on getting win against a tough opponent.
“Just go out there and play hard,” Finney-Smith said. “We want to get this win just like any other game, but we know it’s gonna be a lot of emotion in the air as far as everything that’s gonna happen. But just try to go out there and get the win.”
Doncic has always been fueled by pettiness throughout the course of his career, but Tuesday may take it to another level going against the team that traded him and then seemingly trashed him in every way possible on the way out.
Luka Doncic thinks Lakers can compete for championship
It’s a small sample but the Lakers have started to find their form in recent weeks. Luka Doncic is still trying to build his chemistry with his new team, but he believes the sky is the limit.
“Our goal is to win the championship, that’s our only goal,” Doncic said when asked how far the team can go.
“And I think we have the team for that. Obviously the chemistry with me and the guys is gonna take a little time but as you saw today, I think it’s getting better and better.”
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