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Dave McMenamin
LOS ANGELES — Before the Los Angeles Lakers tipped off Monday night and Luka Doncic made his debut for the franchise that traded for him then waited — along with a fervent fan base — more than a week for the 25-year-old basketball prodigy to appear in the lineup, LeBron James had a message to deliver.
“Luka, be your f—ing self,” James said during the pregame huddle, picked up by the ESPN telecast. “Don’t fit in, fit the f— out. Be yourself.”
When asked about the moment, having booked a 132-113 win over the Utah Jazz his first time wearing the purple and gold uniform for game action, Doncic was sincere.
“For him to say something like that just feels amazing,” Doncic said after scoring 14 points in 24 minutes, playing for the first time since Christmas Day when he was with the Dallas Mavericks. “It gives me confidence. And after that speech, it was chills. I was just happy to be a part of it.”
He wasn’t the only one smiling.
There was a euphoric atmosphere at Crypto.com Arena, with the sold-out crowd finding 18,997 gold No. 77 T-shirts lining their seats and Doncic’s preferred Serbian music pumping out of the sound system while he launched deep pregame 3s and fans held up their phones to record his every move. Doncic’s former Mavs running mate Dirk Nowitzki, whose last season in the league coincided with Doncic’s first, made the trip to support him, sitting in the stands with Doncic’s father, Saša.
“He came out … and obviously the place went crazy,” Austin Reaves said. “It was awesome. I thought the energy from that point forward was great. His introduction in the starting lineup was one of the loudest I’ve heard since I’ve been here.”
James propped up his new teammate there, too, texting the 6-foot-6 guard earlier in the day to say he would do whatever Doncic wanted. And so, when Lakers public address announcer Lawrence Tanter rattled off L.A.’s starters, he saved Doncic for last, a gesture usually reserved for James.
“He let me have my moment, so I really appreciate it,” Doncic said. “I mean, today, he lent me this one. But from now on, he’ll be the last.”
It didn’t take long for Doncic to impact the game, finding center Jaxson Hayes for an alley-oop dunk just 50 seconds in, playing for the first time in nearly seven weeks because of a strained left calf muscle.
“I was a little bit nervous before,” Doncic said. “I don’t remember the last time I was nervous before the game. But once I stepped on the court, it was fun. And just being out there again felt amazing.”
While his shot was rusty — he went 5-for-14, including 1-for-7 from 3 — and he was on a minutes restriction, there was an instant chemistry between Doncic and his new teammates.
L.A. punctuated a dominant first half with a half-court outlet pass from Doncic to James that set up an easy layup and put the Lakers up by 22 points.
“I thought our three main guys did a nice job of playing off of each other,” Lakers coach JJ Redick said, referencing James, Doncic and Reaves. “Sometimes you can have agendas in a game. I felt like this for our group was a no agenda game beyond winning a basketball game and playing the right way.”
Reaves scored 22 points with 9 rebounds and 4 assists. James led all scorers with 24 points, adding 8 assists, 7 rebounds and 7 turnovers. He exited the game early in the fourth quarter after a collision in the lane and did not speak after the game, other than to tell a few reporters he would see them in Salt Lake City for the Lakers’ next game Wednesday.
Redick said “the plan” would be for both Doncic and James to play in that game, L.A.’s last before the All-Star break.
L.A. didn’t let the fanfare of the night or the task of integrating Doncic into the lineup slow down its momentum, leading by as many as 34 points and winning for the 12th time in the past 14 games to leapfrog the Houston Rockets for No. 4 in the Western Conference standings.
“Since I came here, I just wanted to play with them,” said Doncic, who watched from the sidelines as the Lakers beat the Clippers, Golden State Warriors and Indiana Pacers while he finished rehabbing his calf strain. “Every game I saw, they played amazing, very connected, and for me, it was just I want to be there with them.”
Lakers vice president of basketball operations and general manager Rob Pelinka embraced Doncic after the game as he made his way from the tunnel to the locker room. Pelinka’s triumph of a trade with the Mavs got Doncic to L.A. in the first place.
“It’s a new team. New everything,” Doncic said. “But the way they helped me, teammates, Rob, [Lakers chief executive officer and governor Jeanie [Buss], it was just a lot of support for me. You could see when I came to the arena, I saw all the Luka jerseys. It was just a surreal feeling.”