The Luke Experience: Laker Debut

The Laker Era of Luka Doncic’s NBA career began last night with thunderous applause in Los Angeles as he was announced as the starting guard of the Lakers in pre-game.

Luka got his first touch of the ball about a minute into the game, providing a lob to Jaxon Hayes, which the Crypto.com Arena crowd met with gleeful applause as the Luka era officially began.

With 8 minutes left in the first quarter, he hit his first three as a Laker, scoring his first points, which was met with an ovation that had a majority of the stadium on their feet.

Doncic would ease himself into things as this is his first game back since Christmas due to a calf injury. Doncic ended his first half in purple and gold with a touchdown pass across court to assist a Lebron James layup to give the lakeshow their 68 and 69th points of the half, giving a taste of what the James-Doncic duo can do for as long as they share the court.

The halftime stat line for Doncic read 11 points, 3 rebounds and 3 assists with a somewhat disappointing 1-5 from three-point range, but that is easily overlooked by seeing the communication and intelligence from Doncic, which is only amplified with the basketball IQ of Lebron James being right alongside him.

Just a half into the Luka experience and Laker nation already have their heads racing about all the possibilities of both this James-Doncic duo in the immediate but also the years after Lebron, when it is Doncic’s team.

But first, the fans must wake up because there is a whole neither half to this Lakers-Jazz matchup as the Lakers return to the court up 72-47 for the last 24 minutes of basketball.

Luka Doncic had a very quiet second half, heading to the bench in the third quarter with 3:07 remaining for Jarred Vanderbilt leading by 24 points over the visiting Jazz. As Dave Pasch telegraphed on the call, those would be the last minutes in the debut of Luka Doncic.

At the beginning of the 4th quarter, Lebron James would leave the game to the locker room due to an ankle injury which lessened the jubilant mood of the stadium, he would later return. Still, nothing could tune down the symphony that played every time Luka Doncic touched the ball, and even when he was just running up and down the court.

The night for Doncic ended with a 24 minutes debut providing the Lakers with 14 points, 5 rebounds and 4 assists with less impressive shooting splits of 5-14 from the field and a disappointing 1-7 from three but most will overlook that because this was his first game in well over a month.

The Lakers, with the win, become the fourth-place team in the Western Conference, continuing their hot streak as they move to a winning streak of six straight and set their eyes on yet another deep playoff run in this storied franchise’s history.

The Luka experience begins brightly for the Lakers and we will see plenty of Luka magic over the coming weeks, months and years. So, for Lakers fans, embrace the greatness, and for the rest of the NBA, be fearful because he continues to be one of the best players in all of basketball, now just on the biggest stage in purple and gold.

Massimo Manfra is a first-year majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him, email mgm6116@psu.edu.