It came as a shock to Luka Doncic when he got that call late at night that he had been traded from the only NBA team he'd ever known, the Dallas Mavericks, to the Los Angeles Lakers. Quite understandably, Luka was emotional not only about the trade itself, but about the suddenness and secrecy with which it was carried out.
The Slovenian superstar will always have a soft spot for Dallas, but just over a month after the trade, he has to be counting his lucky stars that the deal happened. Luka has a new running mate in LeBron James, who continues to tell Father Time where to stick it on a nightly basis. He's on the hottest team in the league and the current owner of the 2-seed in the West. And he got out of Dallas with his health intact, which is more than Anthony Davis, Kyrie Irving, Daniel Gafford, Dereck Lively and Caleb Martin can say.
Since Luka made his Lakers debut on Feb. 10, the Lakers have gone 7-2, continuing their inspired stretch of play that began long before Luka ever saw the Hollywood sign for the first time as an L.A. resident. Going back even further, the Lakers are 17-3 in their last 20, a record that is better than the Thunder, Cavs, Celtics and everyone else in the league.
It's tough to complain about anything when you're winning so much, and far be it from a grateful fanbase to take any shots at their new superstar, especially when they're desperately hoping that Luka will sign an extension to stay in purple and gold for years to come.
HOWEVER
It needs to be said, Luka has had some real issues with his shot since joining his new team. It bears repeating, it's tough to complain when you're winning so much, but the Lakers want to be taken seriously as a title contender, and they've earned the right to be seen as such. If they really are going to challenge the other top teams in the league, it goes without saying that Luka needs to be at his best. Thus far, at least, he hasn't been.
Coming into Tuesday night's game, Luka was shooting 50.7 percent from 2, and an unsightly 27.1 percent from 3. To put that into perspective, in his 6+ years with the Mavericks, he shot 55.7 percent from 2 and a not-great-but-at-least-respectable 34.8 percent from 3.
Luka has never been seen as a true sniper of an outside shooter, but it should be noted that many of his t3s tend to be of the advanced degree of difficulty variety, which means shooting 40 percent from deep is unlikely to ever happen. Shooting 34.8 percent, with everything else he contributes, is totally fine. Shooting 27.1 percent is less than ideal.
No matter how good a transaction seems, there's always the old axiom of "if it's too good to be true, it probably is" to worry about. Will Luka find his shot, or is it time for Lakers fans to worry?
Everyone is entitled to their opinion, and here's mine. Luka is going to be fine, for these three reasons.
Players don't suddenly fall off when they're 26 years old
Maybe we need to get a true basketball historian like Bob Ryan on the phone for confirmation, but to my knowledge, there's never been an MVP-level player that has suddenly seen his shooting for disappear at the age of 26.
NBA players get better as they age, especially in the outside shooting department. That's because as their athleticism begins to fade, they need to make up for it in other ways. Nevertheless, it's not like Luka is 34. He's nowhere near the point where anything in his game starts to fade, even if, as the Mavericks would have you believe, he's a threat to bring one of those Golden Corral chocolate fountains and a beer keg onto center court at all times.
This reason doesn't even take Luka into the equation. Twenty-six-year-old superstars don't become bad players overnight. Don't overthink this.
Luka has a whole new life to get acclimated to, and that takes time
The main culprit behind Luka's shooting woes is the human element. Imagine you were told tonight that you had to uproot your life and move to a new city over 1,400 miles away. I sit on my couch to write these articles, and if I had to plop down on a new one in a new city, I'd bet that the quality of my work would suffer for a little while until I got settled in.
Luka had reportedly just purchased a new house in Dallas shortly before learning of the trade. He had teammates that he was used to playing with and a coaching staff he was used to playing for. He probably knew everything there is to know about the floor and rims at the American Airlines center. Sure, he's played plenty of times at Crypto.com Arena, but always as the visitor. Now he's in the other locker room, with new teammates and new coaches, all while trying to get his personal affairs in order off the court.
There's a reason that sports psychologists and mental game coaches are such a big thing these days. Being in the right headspace is essential to performing at one's best. Luka's not there yet, but give it time. He will be.
Luka's shooting is beginning to come around
In Sunday's win over the Clippers, Luka shot over 50 percent from the floor for the first time as a Laker, finishing with 29 points on just 17 shots. He was also 5-12 from 3. In Tuesday night's win over the Pelicans, he scored 30 on 9-19 shooting and an even better 6-13 from outside.
Let's be fair to Luka and take out his first two games. Those were both before the All-Star Game, and both had him playing limited minutes in his first return to the court since Christmas due to his calf injury. Let's even take out the first game after the All-Star break to make the picture a little clearer.
That leaves his last six games. In those, Luka is averaging 27 points, 9 rebounds and 8.8 assists. Pretty nice numbers, right? That's on only 41.8 percent shooting from the floor and 33.9 shooting from 3.
In short, there's nowhere but up to go from here, and Luka is already contributing in so many ways. Breathe easy, Lakers fans. He's going to be just fine.