The Los Angeles Lakers face the Dallas Mavericks at Crypto.com Center on Tuesday (February 25), a game in which Luka Doncic will take on his former team for the first time since his shock trade to LA.
The signs look someone ominous for the Mavs, whose General Manager Nico Harrison instigated the trade as he looks to build a championship-winning team without a generational talent.
Doncic finds form before facing Mavs
Doncic warmed up to face Dallas by putting in his most impressive Lakers performance so far, recording 32 points, 10 rebounds, seven assists and four steals in Saturday’s win against the Denver Nuggets. Prior to that, the Slovenian hadn’t managed more than 16 points wearing purple and gold.
It looks as if the Mavericks might run into a Doncic that is back somewhere near his best, although Kyrie Irving wasn’t in the mood to discuss the ins and outs of facing his former teammate with the media ahead of Tuesday’s game.
Kyrie Irving keen to avoid Luka Doncic “narrative”
Asked whether going up against Doncic would be a “unique situation” and if he had “a feel” for what the Mavs would be “walking into” in LA, Irving chose to play dumb.
“Do we have a feel for it? What do you mean?” came the guard’s initial response.
When pressed, Irving continued the business-as-usual approach.
“High-level basketball game. A lot of good players on the floor at once.
“I’m pretty much focused and telling my guys to focus on the high-level game that we’ve got to win. I would love to get into emotions after the game, but before the game it’s just about having fun and making sure that we lock in, and have a deep focus. They’re going to come in and be ready to play against us”.
Only very briefly did Irving admit that Doncic would be on the Mavericks’ mind, principally due to his return to form against the Nuggets.
“Luka’s obviously going to have a lot of confidence that game, he played well last game, so he’s feeling good. We’ve just got to be aware of it.”
In just under two years together, Doncic and Irving helped Dallas reach the 2023/24 NBA Finals, where they were soundly beaten by the Boston Celtics.