The Los Angeles Lakers picked up a 112-97 win over the Dallas Mavericks last night in Luka Doncic’s first game back in Dallas since being traded. He had played his first game against the Mavericks in February, but it was a home game without Anthony Davis available. Last night’s game was highly anticipated, as Doncic delivered with a 45-point outing.
After the game, Doncic embraced almost every single one of his former teammates. While interacting with Mavs center Daniel Gafford, Doncic had something very interesting to say that has many Laker fans getting excited for what comes in the summer.
“We’ll play again. We’ll play again.“
LEAKED Audio Of Luka Doncic Talking To The Dallas Mavericks Post-Game👀:
Luka: “Time to get out of here and say goodbye”
Dinwiddie: “You had the highest comeback game”
PJ: “Proud of you, love gang”
Cuban: “F*ck you”
Also, LeBron said: “you in my f* cking way” to a cameraman pic.twitter.com/cLl5GNGi60
— LegendZ (@legendz_prod) April 10, 2025
Doncic and Gafford were teammates for just about a year, with Gafford joining the Mavericks in February 2024 from the Washington Wizards. He and Doncic would hit the ground running as a duo, with Gafford going multiple games without missing a single shot.
Their momentum was easily carried into an NBA Finals appearance. Unfortunately, their journey together ended this season when Doncic was traded away. There were rumors that the Mavericks could consider trading Gafford to give Dereck Lively II dominion over the starting center role and adding a perimeter defender such as Herb Jones instead.
However, injuries to Gafford and to their targets prompted no frontcourt changes outside the addition of Anthony Davis in the Doncic trade.
Now, the Mavericks are bound to fix their lopsided roster over the summer. Lively being a 21-year-old who Dallas thinks has a high ceiling means Gafford will be the first player they consider dealing for any sort of summer upgrades.
While most people assume Luka was talking about Gafford in LA, it bears mentioning that Gafford has previously been linked as a potential ‘naturalized’ player for the Slovenian national team. With EuroBasket 2025 just a few months away, Doncic could be referring to this instead of an NBA team-up.
Daniel Gafford Would Be Great For The Lakers
The Lakers have a desperate need for a center. Given that Doncic knows how to play alongside Gafford, it might be worth it for the Lakers to pay a similar price to what they’d spend on Mark Williams to ensure Gafford joins the Lakers in the summer. He’s averaged 12.2 points, 6.8 rebounds, and 1.8 blocks this season.
Gafford is an athletic lob-catcher and rim-protector. While he is a little one-dimensional in terms of his skill-set, his key skills complement Doncic’s style of play perfectly. He’s one of the most efficient pick-and-roll finishers in the NBA, able to jump over defenses to catch balls at the rim while also being able to challenge any shot at the rim.
He doesn’t have good on-ball decision-making sense and often struggles to make the additional pass if it could open up a three. Passing is something Lively excels at in the short-roll, so the Mavericks need that as a skill in Luka’s absence. If Gafford is a regular workman center, Doncic can return him to achieving great heights.
The addition here is also that Gafford gets LeBron James and Austin Reaves as potential teammates and ball-handlers as well. It could rejuvenate his career instead of getting lost in the frontcourt mess that the Mavericks have on their roster right now.
