Luka Doncic is expected to make his debut with the Los Angeles Lakers on Monday against the Utah Jazz.
Doncic participated in his first practice with the Lakers last Wednesday after joining the team in a stunning trade with Dallas. While Lakers coach JJ Redick initially said Donic could make his debut over the weekend, he added it was "probably more likely Monday."
The team upgraded Doncic's status to probable several hours before the home game against the Jazz.
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Here's what else we know about when Doncic will suit up for the Lakers.
How long has it been since Doncic last played?
The Slovenian superstar hadn't played for the Mavericks since he strained his left calf on Christmas Day. He missed the Mavs' next 19 games until he was traded to the Lakers.
The Lakers have played three games since Doncic landed in LA. Doncic watched from the bench at Intuit Dome on Tuesday night while LeBron James led a 122-97 blowout of the Clippers. He did not play against the Golden State Warriors on Thursday night or the Indiana Pacers on Saturday, both of which were Lakers wins.
Why didn't Doncic play over the weekend?
"We want him to feel confident," Redick said last Thursday. "We want our medical staff to feel confident. We don't want to rush anything here. I think we're all anticipating that. I know the fans are anticipating that, and certainly our players and our coaching staff are anticipating that. I think the one thing we all have in the back of our mind as we've shifted and had to recalibrate here in the last week — we're not going to be able to just snap our fingers and it's all going to work right away. There's work to be done once he's healthy and back in the lineup, and that's going to be fun."
Doncic participated in a 5-on-5 "stay-ready" game with teammates and the Lakers' coaching staff last Wednesday, and Redick said Doncic has experienced no setbacks in his recovery from the calf injury.
"All is well. All is positive," Redick said. "Hopefully we get the word at some point in the next few days that he is going to play. We all want to see him in a Laker uniform."
He ended the workout on the court chatting with Redick, James, assistant coach Scott Brooks and forward Dorian Finney-Smith, who was Doncic's teammate in Dallas for four-and-a-half seasons. Finney-Smith joined the Lakers shortly after Christmas in a trade with Brooklyn.
"We're kind of just assessing it day by day," Redick said last Wednesday. "We hope to have him back within the next few games. We just had noncontact practice today, but we got some good work in for about 45 minutes, and he'll have a stay-ready game at some point over the next two days. He'll have some more opportunities to play live basketball, and then we'll make a decision on Saturday. If it's not Saturday, hopefully it's Monday. [But] those decisions will be made on Saturday."
How is Doncic jelling so far with his teammates?
James is still coming to grips with the trade of Anthony Davis, his close friend and teammate for five-and-a-half years, but already sounded excited about forming a new partnership with Doncic, his self-described favorite NBA player.
"Luka has been my favorite player in the NBA for a while now," James said last Tuesday night after the win over the Clippers. "I've always just tried to play the game the right way and inspire the next generation, and Luka happens to be one of them, and now we're teammates. So it'll be a very seamless transition."
James, who sat with left ankle soreness against the Pacers, was on the bench next to Doncic on Saturday. They talked throughout the game ahead of their expected joint debut Monday against Utah.
Other teammates have welcomed Doncic, too.
"Even though I don't like the way things went down — I feel like he definitely should have got that money — but I'm happy he's on my side now," Finney-Smith said.
Finney-Smith also laughed at the Mavs' reported concerns about Doncic's conditioning and weight.
"I know him, [and] he wants to play the whole game," Finney-Smith said. "I think like he played 40 minutes every game last playoffs. That's one thing about LD. He wants to play. I don't really look at the noise. I look at his production. If I'm putting up those kinds of numbers, maybe I should be 270 [pounds]."
Whenever Doncic gets back on the court, Redick doesn't think he will have many problems adjusting to playing alongside James in the Lakers' schemes on both ends.
"The biggest learning curve is just the language," Redick said. "He knows basketball. He knows it at a high level. We use a lot of the concepts that he used in Dallas, which a lot of teams use. We haven't reinvented the wheel or anything. We are trending in the direction of playing really intelligent offensive basketball, and then you add in Luka, who's a supercomputer on the court, who can see everything and has seen every coverage, every defense, it adds another layer for sure."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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