Doncic, who had dragged an otherwise unremarkable Mavericks team through the Western Conference, became the face of their failure. Dallas coach Jason Kidd was forced to come out and defend his maligned star, even though without Doncic, the Mavericks were a faded Kyrie Irving and a bunch of role players.

Saturday's trade that brought the Los Angeles Lakers Luka Dončić seemed to signal that the days of general manager Rob Pelinka making moves to appease LeBron James and Klutch Sports, the agency representing him that is led by his longtime friend Rich Paul,

Luka Doncic’s Lakers debut, which is imminent, won’t be on Thursday night – the same day as the NBA’s trade deadline. And after trading for the 25-year-old, five-time All-Star over the weekend, it isn’t clear if there are any other moves for the Lakers’ front office,