Jeanie Buss, the Lakers’ governor, recently sat down with Maria Sharapova for an interview on the tennis legend’s podcast. She spoke in detail about the trade that landed Luka Doncic in Los Angeles for Anthony Davis, among various other discussion topics.
Sharapova asked her to dive into a claim she apparently made off-camera that Luka Doncic was the saddest player she had ever seen join the Lakers.
When talking about how she perceived the trade impacted Doncic, Buss interestingly compared his situation to a girl coming out of a breakup and trying on a new dress to make him regret it.
“In my experience welcoming a player to the Lakers organization, I often hear, ‘You know, this is my dream. I’ve always wanted to be a Laker. You know, to play in the same place where Magic, Kobe, Shaq, and Kareem did.’ But Luka didn’t come into the Lakers like that,” said Buss.
“He was still, I could see he was trying to figure out why is this happening like you know because as soon as a trade happens the first thing we had a private jet to bring him to LA to you know assimilate him and bring him in to the organization and you could see that he left his heart in Dallas and it was going to it was going to take him time to process and the beauty.”
“I had never met Luka. I mean, he was someone special to me because the last night that I saw Kobe alive was about a month before he passed. He brought his daughter Gigi to see Luka play because Luka was Gigi’s favorite player. So, I always had a soft spot in my heart for Luka because of that, and never in a million years thought he would become available, that he could become a Laker.”
“And so the beauty of Luka and getting to know him was that he is a real person, and he feels his emotions, and he doesn’t try to hide them. And so in real time, you know, February, March, until he had to go back to Dallas in April to play that, where he cried on the bench,” she further added.
“He brought all Laker fans together because we were feeling what he was feeling, as he was sharing his emotions with us, and that endears him to our fans, and they want to see him succeed. So, you know, he’s just been terrific to work with, and I think he’s come back with a purpose of wanting to win a championship for this team.”
“I think it’s okay to feel, you know, it’s kind of like, you know, if your boyfriend breaks up with you, it’s okay to, you know, go out and get a new dress and try to make him regret that he ever did that.”
“So, if that’s the case, then we’ll take it. We’ll take it. We’ll keep feeding that,” Buss concluded.
Mark Cuban was one of the many reasons why Doncic’s heart was set in Dallas. The billionaire minority owner made sure to make Dallas feel like home to Doncic.
Which is why Buss previously also revealed that they intentionally tried to avoid letting Mark Cuban find out about the trade because they felt like he would jump in front of a train if it meant that Doncic stayed in Dallas.
It may have taken Doncic some time to get used to the atmosphere in Los Angeles, but I’m fairly certain he understands and cherishes the opportunity that he has to write to play for and lead a franchise that has had so many legendary alumni.
