For most players, a trade to the Los Angeles Lakers would be received with overwhelming excitement and happiness. In the case of Luka Doncic, however, Lakers executive Jeanie Buss recalls that his reaction was much more subdued than she was used to.
“It was such a surprise, nobody knew, it was a secret. Nobody knew the trade was going to happen,” said Buss in an appearance on Slovenian radio. “I knew, but he didn’t know. I’ve never had a player come to the Lakers and be as sad as he was. The trade was a huge surprise to him, so he had to process what happened.”
Luka Doncic thought he was going to spend his entire career with the Dallas Mavericks, and it took him some time to accept and embrace his move to Los Angeles. Even before starting his Lakers tenure, however, Buss knew that he would be a great fit for the team given his connection to Kobe Bryant.
“With Luka, the last time I saw Kobe Bryant alive was when he brought his daughter Gianna to the Lakers game to see Luka play, because Luka was Gianna’s favorite player,” Buss added. “So they’ve always been connected in some way. So I knew that if the opportunity to have somebody like Luka on the Lakers, that it would all work out.”
The game Buss speaks of happened back on December 29, 2019, less than one month before Kobe’s death. He took his daughter, Gianna, to watch Luka Doncic at Staples Center, since he was her favorite player at the time. They sat courtside together as Doncic put on a show with 19 points, four rebounds, and seven assists in 30 minutes. The Lakers ended up winning the game, and Kobe even had a private exchange with Doncic after the final buzzer.
It was the last time that Bryant stepped foot in the Lakers arena, and it was the last time that Buss saw the legend before his tragic passing. Sadly, his daughter Gianna was also a victim of the crash, which claimed nine lives in total.
Fast forward years later, and Jeanie Buss couldn’t pass up the opportunity to bring in the last player Kobe and Gianna came to see together. Given that they had to give up Anthony Davis in the deal, the price was high, but Jeanie doesn’t have any regrets.
As for Luka, not even the allure of the Lakers could soften the shock of the move. As much as he might have liked the idea of being a Laker, his heart was still in Dallas, and it took him weeks to finally move on and embrace his new surroundings.
Heading into the 2025-26 season, we will finally get to experience Doncic’s first full season in Los Angeles, and Buss will get to see firsthand why Kobe and Gianna went to see his game all those years ago.
At 26 years old, this is just the beginning for Luka, and he will no doubt look to live up to Bryant’s legacy as the Lakers’ newest superstar. Fortunately, he’s fully committed to the cause, and his loyalty lies where Kobe’s once did: in Los Angeles.
