By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
“Just for Kobe to know my name was amazing for me, I just wish Kobe and Gigi were here to see this moment”.
From the get-go in the first question of his presentation by the Lakers, Luka Doncic embraced the franchise legacy, talking about his viral interaction with the late, great Kobe Bryant,
Doncic is a Laker, and he will play with LeBron James, something that was never in the cards until four days ago. As the Slovenian phenomenon said, “It’s just like a dream come true. I always looked up to him. There are so many things I can learn from him. … It’s an amazing feeling.”
On the other hand, Doncic admitted that leaving Dallas was also a shock for him: “Honestly, it was hard. That first day was really hard. These last 48 hours have felt like one month. But today was much better and I’m very happy for this opportunity. This is the Lakers, one of the best clubs in history.”
Ironically, Lakers GM Rob Pelinka, who presented Doncic to the media, thanked, among others, Dallas GM Nico Harrison for making the trade and added: “I think Luka Doncic joining forces with the Los Angeles Lakers is a seismic event in NBA history”.
Doncic confirmed that he didn’t give any indication to the Mavs that he wouldn’t sign an extension—“absolutely not”—and added that he found out about the trade while he was already in bed, calling it a day: “Everyone was surprised, you can imagine how surprised I was. I was almost asleep when they called me. I had to check that it wasn’t April Fool’s Day. It was very hard for me to believe it, I was in shock, it was my home.”
He added that hearing that his conditioning wasn’t good enough in Dallas motivated him greatly.
When asked if he has something to prove, he smiled and said: “Win a championship. You don’t come here for nothing else than championships, so I have everything left to prove. The goal is to win a championship”.