The NBA world is slowly getting used to the partnership between LeBron James and Luka Doncic in Los Angeles. Last month, the Lakers stunned the sporting world in general by pulling off a blockbuster trade to land Doncic from the Dallas Mavericks — and though James has missed time recently with a groin injury, Doncic is now putting his stamp on the Lakers as they pursue the playoffs together.
But the way in which the Doncic trade came together — in the shadows, and announced in the dead of night — has led to continued speculation that James was and is not happy with the arrangement. For the first time in his career, James was not the singular beacon, or his team’s most easily identifiable star — and Los Angeles has feared reprisal from “The King“.
Lakers’ fears over a LeBron trade request
The chance to acquire a player like Doncic comes around only once in a lifetime, and Lakers general manager Rob Pelinka knew that he could not turn down the opportunity to add an All-NBA guard to LA‘s roster. However, reporter Jovan Buha has revealed that the Lakers had a “sense” James would not be happy with the Doncic deal, despite the obvious benefits of playing with such a uniquely-talented guard.
“In the just immediate aftermath of the trade and the situation, there was a sense of like, ‘There’s no way LeBron knew,'” Buha said. “And doing a trade of this magnitude and not giving him the heads-up — he’s been the guy since he entered the league.”
However, it didn’t take long for James to get over the initial shock. The 40-year-old quickly embraced his new star teammate and put the departure of running mate Anthony Davis out of his mind.
“I think there’s a sense of with LeBron, there’s — especially a big move like that, trading Anthony Davis, that there would be some sense of giving him a heads up. The fact that there wasn’t, and his impending contract situation and Klutch theoretically losing some power with (Davis) getting traded that would potentially lead to him asking out or at least exploring that option. I know from talking to some people around the situation, that was an initial fear,” Buha explained. “But really within the first 24 hours, that got snuffed out and it was clear that LeBron was going to be staying.”
While James recuperates from his injury, Doncic has assumed more of the load in Los Angeles and has the Lakers (42-25) sitting fourth in the Western Conference. Ahead of a huge clash with the Denver Nuggets on Wednesday, Los Angeles will set out to prove once again that it should be at the center of NBA championship discussions.
