• 

  Dave McMenaminFeb 28, 2025, 11:44 PM ET

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  • Lakers and NBA reporter for ESPN.
  • Covered the Lakers and NBA for ESPNLosAngeles.com from 2009-14, the Cavaliers from 2014-18 for ESPN.com and the NBA for NBA.com from 2005-09.

LOS ANGELES — Lakers guard Austin Reaves exited Friday night’s 106-102 win against the LA Clippers in the first quarter with right calf soreness and did not return.

Reaves will undergo an MRI on the calf Saturday, sources told ESPN.

The fourth-year veteran subbed out with 2:58 remaining in the first quarter with the Lakers trailing 21-13 and went straight to the locker room. He finished with six points on 2-for-4 shooting.

“He was experiencing some tightness in the calf, some soreness,” Lakers coach JJ Redick said after the game. “Was held out as a precaution.”

Reaves had been enjoying some of the best basketball of his career, averaging 23.5 points, 6.1 assists and 4.5 rebounds in 11 games in February entering Friday. L.A. went 9-2 in those games.

The Lakers already came into the night down one starter in Rui Hachimura, who was ruled out because of a left knee strain he suffered Thursday against the Minnesota Timberwolves.

Lakers coach JJ Redick said Hachimura had an MRI on Friday, but did not provide a timeline for the forward to return to game action.

“We’re optimistic this is not a serious injury,” Redick said. “It’s still not quite clear on when he will be available to play. But we’re optimistic.”

Dorian Finney-Smith started the Clippers game in Hachimura’s place. Gabe Vincent started the second half on Friday with Reaves out.

Luka Doncic (31 points, five assists, three steals) and LeBron James (28 points, 13 rebounds) led the way Friday night, with the Lakers’ bench outscoring the Clippers’ reserves 29-14.

The Lakers have won 15 of their past 18 games to surge to No. 4 in the Western Conference standings, just a half game behind the No. 3 Memphis Grizzlies and a game back of the No. 2 Denver Nuggets.

“We’re in a good place, but we’re not comfortable at all,” James said. “We haven’t played our best game we’re capable of playing, honestly. We have a couple injuries and things of that nature that we need to attend to as well. And that’s always very important to be able to keep it going in this league to have that type of luck, too. So, we’ll see what happens.”

The post Lakers’ Reaves exits, will undergo test on calf appeared first on The Sports Affiliate.

• 

  Tim BontempsMar 1, 2025, 12:34 AM ET

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  Tim Bontemps is a senior NBA writer for ESPN.com who covers the league and what’s impacting it on and off the court, including trade deadline intel, expansion and his MVP Straw Polls. You can find Tim alongside Brian Windhorst and Tim MacMahon on The Hoop Collective podcast.

BOSTON — Less than five minutes had passed in Friday night’s final regular-season showdown between the top two teams in the Eastern Conference, the Cavaliers and the Celtics, and the game already felt over.

Cleveland coach Kenny Atkinson already had burned his second timeout, the Celtics already had made seven 3-pointers and Boston led 25-3, appearing well on its way to a massive statement win.

“We got punched in the mouth,” Cavaliers star Donovan Mitchell said later. “What are we going to do about it? How are we going to respond?”

As it turned out, the Cavaliers responded rather splendidly. And it was thanks in large part to Mitchell, the six-time All-Star who finished with 41 points and five assists in 35 minutes in what eventually became a 123-116 Cavaliers victory at a sold-out and stunned TD Garden.

“I think they trust each other,” Atkinson said. “They trust the message and they trust each other.”

Entering Friday, the Cavaliers hadn’t lost since falling to these same Celtics on Feb. 4 in Cleveland, a game that came less than 48 hours before the trade deadline. In response to Boston largely controlling that contest en route to a 112-105 victory, the Cavaliers went out and acquired De’Andre Hunter from the Atlanta Hawks for Caris LeVert and Georges Niang.

The move was designed to give Cleveland another big wing to throw at the likes of Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown. But by the time Hunter entered Friday’s game, at the 7:11 mark of the first quarter, it looked like his minutes might only come in mop-up duty.

That quickly changed as the first quarter played out. Cleveland cut its deficit to 12 by the end of the quarter. And from there, it kept plugging away at Boston’s lead thanks to multiple sustained runs led by Mitchell and a hot shooting night across the board. The Cavaliers finished 17-for-39 from 3-point range, with eight players hitting at least one from deep.

“It means we got grit,” said Evan Mobley, who struggled for much of the game but finished with 17 points and 12 rebounds overall, including 11 and 8, respectively, in the fourth quarter. “No matter how down we get, we’re going to keep fighting, we’re going to keep going all the way to the end of the game, and tonight we kept fighting and they let us back in the game a few times.”

The win erased any sliver of hope Boston (42-18) had of chasing down Cleveland (49-10) for the top seed in the East. The Cavaliers moved eight games up in the loss column with 23 to play and evened the season series at 2-2.

It also raised the specter of the Celtics’ repeated issue of letting teams back into games.

And while Atkinson repeatedly pointed out that Boston was missing both Kristaps Porzingis (illness) and Jrue Holiday (finger), while Cleveland was fully healthy, the depth of the Cavaliers undoubtedly played a factor.

Cleveland used 10 players, with each seeing at least 12 minutes of action. Boston essentially played only seven, was outscored 33-6 in bench points (Payton Pritchard and Luke Kornet were minus-34 and minus-26, respectively) and was extraordinarily reliant on Tatum (46 points on 19-for-37 shooting, 16 rebounds, 9 assists) and Brown (37 points on 13-for-24 shooting).

“That was one of the most incredible shotmaking performances I’ve seen,” Atkinson said of Tatum’s performance.

Added Tatum: “Just being aggressive in a good rhythm. I think obviously the start of the game on defense ignited our offense and how we were playing. We did a really good job of what we were trying to do, and the actions and the spacing and we were trying to attack. And guys on both ends tonight were making shots. I think in the second half, they made a run in that third quarter, getting some offensive rebounds. They took more shots than we did, so that just kind of gave them some life. And in the moments that we needed to get a stop, we didn’t, and that was tough.”

As a result, Cleveland came away with a victory that instilled further confidence in a young, ascendant team a week after it throttled another potential playoff foe, the New York Knicks, at home.

And as both teams walked out of the Garden on Friday night, they already were thinking about what feels like a fated showdown in the Eastern Conference semifinals come late May.

“For sure,” Darius Garland said when asked if it was meaningful that the Cavaliers had evened the season series, and how they did so, Friday night.

“It is 0-0. Hopefully, we’ll be back here in the summertime, and we’ll see it again for seven [more].”

The post ‘Punched in mouth’ early, Cavs rally to drop Celts appeared first on The Sports Affiliate.

• Ramona Shelburne

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  Ramona Shelburne

  ESPN Senior Writer

  • Senior writer for ESPN.com
  • Spent seven years at the Los Angeles Daily News

Feb 28, 2025, 04:16 PM ET

The Philadelphia 76ers said Friday that star Joel Embiid will miss the remainder of the regular season as he and the team continue to look for a long-term solution for a troublesome left knee that has plagued his season.

Embiid had increased swelling in the knee following a loss to the Brooklyn Nets on Saturday night, and underwent a new round of imaging on Monday to determine why his knee has not responded well to the treatment protocols he has received this season. The 76ers and Embiid consulted with dozens of doctors and specialists to determine the best path forward for the 7-footer.

All season, Embiid has tried to play through pain in his knee, hoping it would improve as he got into better condition. He received numerous injections throughout the season, sources said, hoping to reduce the swelling and discomfort enough to enable him to play and be available for the 76ers.

Instead of improving as he played more, the pain and swelling have increased. And in recent weeks, that has shown in Embiid’s and the team’s performance. Nonetheless, there were also stretches of the season when teammates and coaches would see Embiid perform well in practices, then sit out of upcoming games, sources said. His daily status appeared fluid all season, and it led to frustration among all parties.

Embiid played just 39 games last season after tearing the meniscus in his knee. He had surgery in early February, came back in early April, was part of the 76ers’ playoff run and then won a gold medal with the U.S. Olympic team over the summer. He acknowledged earlier this month that he didn’t have enough time to recover after surgery.

The 76ers, who opened with championship hopes, have lost nine straight games and 11 of their past 12 contests, falling to 20-38 amid an injury-marred, disastrous season. Even when Embiid, Paul George and Tyrese Maxey all play, Philadelphia is just 7-8.

The 76ers’ recent skid has been significant for the franchise in a potentially good way; Philadelphia has broken a tie with the Nets and has sole possession of the sixth-worst record in the NBA. The 76ers’ first-round pick in this draft is top-six protected, otherwise it goes to the Oklahoma City Thunder.

Throughout this star-crossed season, Embiid was never able to stay on the court for any sustained period of time. Embiid played in only 19 games, meaning he has missed 39 of the 76ers’ 58 games so far en route to a 20-38 record.

In Saturday’s loss, Embiid was slow to get up late in the third quarter when he lost the ball and hit the court. He was then benched in the fourth after he scored just 14 points in 31 minutes and missed all six of his 3-point attempts. In his final two games this season, the strain of the injury was noticeable as Embiid scored 15 or fewer points in consecutive contests for the first time since May 2021.

Embiid — the 2022-23 NBA MVP — was selected as an All-Star in each of his past seven seasons prior to this one. This season, the 30-year-old has had one of his worst outputs: his lowest scoring average since 2017-18 (23.8 points); his lowest rebounds per game (8.2) since his 2016-17 rookie year; and career lows in blocks per game (0.9), field goal shooting (44.8%), 3-point shooting (29.9%), effective field goal percentage (48.1%) and win shares (1.5).

The 76ers’ 2024-25 regular season started with a league investigation into the player participation policy, which eventually resulted in a $100,000 fine for the organization’s public comments from president Daryl Morey and coach Nick Nurse that did not properly reflect Embiid’s health issues with his knee. The NBA also issued a three-game suspension to Embiid in early November for shoving a columnist in the locker room after a game in Philadelphia.

The situation around Embiid made it difficult for the Sixers to form any kind of identity, with George missing periods of time as well with groin, knee and finger injuries. George has needed treatment to navigate his injuries, with sources saying he received pain-killing injections for 4-5 consecutive games prior to the All-Star break.

The post Embiid to miss remainder of season due to knee appeared first on The Sports Affiliate.

• 

  Ohm YoungmisukFeb 27, 2025, 10:21 PM ET

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  Ohm Youngmisuk has covered the Giants, Jets and the NFL since 2006. Prior to that, he covered the Nets, Knicks and the NBA for nearly a decade. He joined ESPNNewYork.com after working at the New York Daily News for almost 12 years and is a graduate of Michigan State University.
  
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ORLANDO, Fla. — Stephen Curry collected the inbounds pass thrown just ahead of him, took a couple of steps and launched a 56-foot running heave, just before the Magic midcourt logo.

“Soon as it left his hand, I knew it was cash,” Golden State forward Draymond Green said.

Curry buried the halftime buzzer-beater Thursday night, as Paolo Banchero could react only by raising his hands in frustration. Unfortunately for the Magic, the Curry show was just beginning.

From that shot beyond midcourt to the 3:38 mark in the third quarter, Curry scored 25 of his 56 points to help the Golden State Warriors overcome a 17-point deficit and beat the Magic 121-115 in front of an announced crowd of 18,846.

Curry made 16 of 25 shots, including 12 3-pointers, the most by a player this season. He also was 12-for-12 from the free throw line.

This was his 14th career 50-point game, tying LeBron James and Rick Barry for seventh most in NBA history. He has nine such games at age 30 or older, the most in NBA history, according to ESPN Research.

“We’re spoiled around here,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said. “We’re used to it, but it never gets old watching, I can tell you that. I think the fans here tonight, even the Magic fans, they know they’re witnessing the greatest shooter ever and one of the greatest performers ever.

“It’s not just the shots going in, it’s just the fluidity, the beauty of his movement and motion and his audacity — the shots that he’s willing to take. He’s an incredible performer, and he put on quite a show tonight.”

In that third-quarter outburst, Curry outscored the Magic 22-21, making 6 of 8 shots, including four 3-pointers. It helped turn a 17-point lead for Orlando near the end of the first half into a 12-point deficit.

“Great player. He had a heck of a night,” Orlando coach Jamahl Mosley said. “In that third quarter, [I’ll] have to go back, look at it and see exactly where we let go of the rope.”

Unfortunately for the Magic, Curry looks forward to playing in Orlando. He recently told Green that the Kia Center was one of his top five places to play, in part due to the large contingent of Warriors and Curry fans who often are in attendance.

During the second half, the Kia Center sounded like a Golden State home crowd.

“There’s certain arenas,” Curry said. “Obviously, I’ve had a couple of good games here, but it just looks different. You feel different energy. Our fan base has grown a little bit. I know the home team never likes that, but it’s just good energy in here and the fans seem to be into it and they love when a show starts to happen. So I look forward to playing here. Obviously only get one time a year, and it’s delivered pretty much every time.”

There’s also something about Feb. 27 that brings out the best in Curry. Besides his 56-point effort Thursday, Curry had his first 50-point game on the same date when he had 54 points and 11 3-pointers against the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden on Feb. 27, 2013.

And this was the nine-year anniversary of when Curry scored 46 points and buried 12 3-pointers in a 121-118 win at Oklahoma City. That night, he pulled up from the edge of the Thunder logo for the winning 3-pointer with 0.5 seconds left in overtime, the shot that famously drew a double “bang” from ESPN play-by-play announcer Mike Breen.

“I guess I do like this calendar day,” Curry said. “I had my first 50-point game in the Garden. So I have to channel Feb. 27 energy all the time. I don’t know what it is, but tonight was different just because we needed all of them to kind of stay afloat and give ourselves a chance and then a lot of guys contributed down the stretch to help us win.

“But it’s nice to have a flurry like that and have fun with it.”

The Warriors are surging, going 7-1 since trading for Jimmy Butler earlier this month. They have won five straight and are a half-game behind the LA Clippers for sixth in the Western Conference standings. Sixth is their goal to avoid the play-in round.

For Butler, this was his first taste of a Curry explosion as his teammate. At one point, Curry scored 18 points in just under four minutes in the third quarter.

“You just see the defeat and the look of damn near disgust on the defender’s face,” Butler said. “But there ain’t nothing too much you could do about it, you know what I mean? So good luck to whoever it is that is guarding him.”

Curry has said that the arrival of Butler has revitalized him, giving him a chance to play in meaningful games the rest of the season and an opportunity to potentially make some noise in the playoffs.

“Since the trade, he’s been so dialed in,” Green said. “He told you guys all you want to do is play with expectations, have some expectations, and meant that. I think you look at the body of work over the course of the years, obviously we know that’s true.

“But you start looking at these performances that’s been coming since the trade, and it makes complete sense. So I think there’s definitely more of a sense of urgency for sure.”

The post Curry’s vintage ‘flurry’ keys 56-point night in win appeared first on The Sports Affiliate.

Stephen Curry went off for a season-high 56 points in a 121-115 win against the Orlando Magic Thursday night, but it shouldn’t have come as a surprise if you checked the date.

Feb. 27 is a significant day for the Golden State Warriors star. Curry has scored at least 45 points on this date three times, making him the third player in NBA history to do so on a single calendar day, according to ESPN Research.

The other two players are Elgin Baylor (Feb. 25) and Wilt Chamberlain, who had at least three 45-point games on 16 different calendar days.

The first of the three special games for Curry on this date came in 2013, when he recorded 54 points, 7 assists, 6 rebounds and 3 steals against the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden. It marked the first 50-point game of Curry’s career.

“I felt good all night. Obviously played the whole game, so was just trying to keep my legs underneath me on the offensive end, and you know, just stick to the game on the defensive end,” Curry said at the time. “Once I started seeing that 3-ball go down in transition, all sorts of spots on the floor, I knew it was going to be a good night.”

The second game featured arguably the most famous shot of Curry’s career: a go-ahead 37-foot 3-pointer against the Oklahoma City Thunder with 0.6 seconds left in overtime. The Warriors celebrated that anniversary with a post earlier on Thursday.

The deep 3 capped off a 46-point outing with 12 3-pointers in the midst of Golden State’s 73-9 season in 2015-16.

Curry matched that effort in terms of 3-point field goals made as he netted 12 against the Magic, the most by any player in a game this season. It also marked his third career game with 12 3-pointers, tied with former teammate Klay Thompson for the most of all time.

The Warriors play the Philadelphia 76ers on Saturday (8:30 p.m. ET on ABC).

The post Why is Feb. 27 the unofficial Stephen Curry day? appeared first on The Sports Affiliate.

Hall of Fame coach Gregg Popovich held an emotional in-person meeting Thursday with San Antonio Spurs players, who were all able to see him for the first time since his stroke in November, sources told ESPN’s Shams Charania.

After the meeting, Popovich issued a statement saying he officially will not return as coach this season but hopes to return in the future. Sources told ESPN on Saturday that Popovich’s NBA future is uncertain.

“I’ve decided not to return to the sidelines this season,” Popovich said in a statement issued Thursday. “Mitch Johnson and his staff have done a wonderful job and the resolve and professionalism the players have shown, sticking together during a challenging season, has been outstanding.

“I will continue to focus on my health with the hope that I can return to coaching in the future.”

Sources told ESPN that tears were shed from those in the room during Thursday’s meeting and players saw physical signs of what Popovich has gone through since the stroke. The meeting, however, was filled with motivational messages, jokes, critique and praise from the coach, sources said.

Popovich is the NBA’s winningest coach with 1,412 regular-season victories and another 170 in the postseason to go with five championships. On Nov. 2, he suffered what the team called a “mild stroke” ahead of a matchup against the Minnesota Timberwolves.

The Spurs have gone 22-30 since moving Johnson, an assistant, into the head coaching role on an interim basis.

Popovich, who has coached the Spurs since the 1996-97 season, turned 76 in January and is the oldest coach in NBA history. He agreed to a five-year contract extension with the team in 2023.

His visit to the team came a week after the Spurs announced that All-Star center Victor Wembanyama — the defensive player of the year favorite at the time and someone who was a serious candidate to make the All-NBA team — will not play again this season after deep vein thrombosis, or a blood clot, was found in his right shoulder.

Wembanyama, who came to San Antonio as the No. 1 pick in the 2023 draft after playing as a pro in France, has called Popovich his biggest basketball influence.

“Pop isn’t just a coach or a boss,” the 21-year-old Wembanyama said earlier this month. “Pop is a leader.”

Popovich’s only public comment prior to Thursday about his health and his future came in mid-December, when he said he and his family were overwhelmed by “the outpouring of support we’ve received during this time.”

ESPN’s Michael C. Wright and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

The post Popovich visits Spurs, won’t return this season appeared first on The Sports Affiliate.

• 

  Tim BontempsFeb 26, 2025, 11:48 PM ET

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  Tim Bontemps is a senior NBA writer for ESPN.com who covers the league and what’s impacting it on and off the court, including trade deadline intel, expansion and his MVP Straw Polls. You can find Tim alongside Brian Windhorst and Tim MacMahon on The Hoop Collective podcast.

NEW YORK — After the Philadelphia 76ers dropped their ninth straight game Wednesday night, a 110-105 loss to the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden, Paul George expounded on his recent decision to stop podcasting, saying it was about putting his full focus into “trying to get this team together.”

“It was more so just to focus on here,” said George, who had 25 points, 8 rebounds and 7 assists in 42 minutes against the Knicks, a game that saw Philadelphia rally from 19 down to take the lead late before falling short. “I haven’t been the healthiest, so it’s just been putting a ton of work towards getting my body as healthy as possible, and to keep focus of obviously being here and trying to turn things around here and the full focus is trying to get this team together.

“But we got to give ourselves a chance. Take it one game at a time, but we got to give ourselves a chance to see what we can do down the stretch.”

Wednesday was a far different showing than Monday’s absolute beatdown at the hands of the Chicago Bulls in Philadelphia, where the 76ers trailed by as many as 50 points and weren’t competitive from the opening tip.

After that game, George — who put out his last episode of “Podcast P with Paul George” earlier that morning — said the 76ers have “shown no sign of a team that will compete. We just don’t have the habits a champion, or playoff contending team, would have.

“To be honest, right now it’s a little far-fetched.”

While the 76ers’ defeat Wednesday night extended their losing streak beyond three weeks, the performance was at least was a step in the right direction.

And for George — who had his best game in a month — it came after his podcast announcement, which he said he had been thinking about for some time.

“It was something that was kind of racking in my head a little bit just because of [being] new to the city, being acclimated to Philadelphia,” George said. “It just came to the point where it was like, ‘All right, this is the time to kind of take a step back for a second.'”

With the Brooklyn Nets losing across town to the Oklahoma City Thunder, the 76ers remain ensconced in the sixth spot in the NBA’s draft lottery, and 2½ games back of the Bulls for the 10th and final play-in spot in the Eastern Conference.

If Philadelphia’s pick lands in the top six in June’s NBA draft, the 76ers will keep it, the result of a trade in 2020 with the Thunder. If it lands anywhere from 7-30, it will go to Oklahoma City instead.

Throughout this season, the focus for the 76ers has been on making a run and getting their big three of George, Tyrese Maxey and Joel Embiid all on the court. Now, though, it is unlikely all three will play together again this season.

Embiid was out for a second straight game Wednesday and continues to confer with doctors — along with the 76ers — after undergoing imaging Monday on his troublesome left knee.

An update on his status, and whether he will be shut down for the season, is expected in the coming days.

George, meanwhile, has admitted to playing through injuries, while Maxey is dealing with a right finger injury he suffered during Saturday’s loss to the Nets that has impacted his ballhandling and shooting.

“It’s hurting,” said Maxey, who had 30 points and 5 assists against the Knicks but shot 12-for-32 from the floor, including missing all 10 of his 3-point attempts. “But I’ll be fine.”

The post 76ers’ George: Podcast on pause ‘to focus on here’ appeared first on The Sports Affiliate.

WASHINGTON — Shaedon Sharpe has been one of the NBA’s most gifted young dunk artists since he was selected seventh by the Portland Trail Blazers in the 2022 NBA draft. But he reached a new level Wednesday night — literally.

Sharpe’s vicious one-handed slam over Justin Champagnie was immediately hailed as one of the best in the NBA this season. He called it the best of his career, and it was part of an all-around career night in Portland’s 129-121 win over Washington Wizards.

“I just started like laughing, like, ‘Wow, man. Poor kid up under him,'” Portland coach Chauncey Billups said of the slam. “That was pretty incredible.”

Sharpe, 21, led Portland with a career-high 36 points, shot 13 of 26 from the floor and sank 7 of 10 free throws, including four in a row down the stretch.

And his signature moment originated with an alert defensive play when he swiped Champagnie’s pass beyond the 3-point arc. Sharpe then took one dribble into the paint and launched so high into the air that even his teammates were in disbelief.

“I don’t know where he got it from,” Blazers forward Deni Avdija said. “I asked him on the bench, ‘If I’m going to work as hard as I can, will I be able to jump like you?’ I don’t know, it’s just genes.”

Such was the force of his slam that Sharpe crashed briefly to the court after flushing the ball through the net.

“I seen the dude in the way,” Sharpe explained, “so I just jumped and tried to dunk it. And it went in.”

In 33 minutes, Sharpe also had eight rebounds — one shy of another career high — and five assists.

“His offense was incredible,” Billups said. “I mean it really was. On all three levels he was incredible the entire time. I thought the defense was high-level as well. I really did. And his rebounding, he got some really, really big rebounds for us.”

The post Sharpe wows with one-handed slam: ‘Incredible’ appeared first on The Sports Affiliate.

• 

  Dave McMenaminFeb 26, 2025, 03:38 AM ET

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  • Lakers and NBA reporter for ESPN.
  • Covered the Lakers and NBA for ESPNLosAngeles.com from 2009-14, the Cavaliers from 2014-18 for ESPN.com and the NBA for NBA.com from 2005-09.

LOS ANGELES — After Luka Doncic led the Lakers to a 107-99 win over his former team Tuesday — becoming only the third player to record a triple-double against every NBA franchise in the process — the star guard’s tone during his postgame news conference wasn’t triumphant.

No, Doncic sounded more relieved than anything.

“It was just a lot of emotions and not much sleep,” he said of the game coming only 3½ weeks after he was traded from the Dallas Mavericks to the Lakers. “I can’t even explain [it]. It was a different game. … Sometimes I don’t know what I was doing.

“And I’m just glad it’s over, honestly.”

Doncic, who had 19 points, 15 rebounds and 12 assists to join teammate LeBron James and Denver Nuggets guard Russell Westbrook as the only players to put up a triple-double against all 30 teams, didn’t dominate Dallas. He shot 6-for-17 from the field (1-for-7 from 3), and it was James who scored 16 of his 27 points on 7-for-9 shooting in the fourth quarter to seal the win.

But Doncic got through a night that had been looming since Dallas traded him, an emotional hurdle as he processed being around not only his former teammates, with whom he has maintained friendships, but also the Mavericks’ brass in general manager Nico Harrison and coach Jason Kidd.

“It definitely will help me,” Doncic said of putting the game behind him. “It’s definitely going to help in the long [run].”

Harrison stood on the sideline at midcourt during pregame warmups, although Doncic said he didn’t notice him.

He certainly saw the Mavericks’ bench, directing several shouts and stare-downs after making plays for his new team.

“Obviously there’s a lot of emotion that goes in when you give so much to a franchise and you sacrifice for a franchise and you have that type of love and respect for a franchise — throughout all the journeys,” James said of Doncic. “They went to the Finals, all that stuff. He’s grown from being an 18-, 19-year-old kid to now a 25-year-old man with a family. … And when you move on or they move on from you, it’s very emotional, obviously. It’s very taxing.

“It’s probably a lot of things that were going on in his head that probably didn’t even involve the game itself. And with that said, I thought he handled it tremendously.”

Mavericks guard Kyrie Irving, who led all scorers with 35 points, said the matchup was “awkward as s—” after facing off against the same player he teamed with to take Dallas to the Finals last season.

“But,” Irving added, “at the same time, it was fun. We got a chance to feel like we were in practice all over again going at each other. That was a good reflection point. And then just seeing the crowd cheer for him and just get him going … it was fun competing.”

Doncic called Irving his “hermano” and said their relationship goes “way beyond basketball.”

The teams will play again in Dallas on April 9. Returning to his former home will bring different challenges for Doncic, emotional and otherwise. The Mavericks are hoping Anthony Davis, sent from Los Angeles to Dallas in the deal, will have recovered from the left adductor strain he sustained after the trade and can play.

Lakers coach JJ Redick said there was no use avoiding the circumstances the schedule presents. As strange as Tuesday was for Doncic, the Lakers players had to deal with the conflicting emotions of seeing Davis back in the building and receiving a standing ovation in the first quarter when Los Angeles played a tribute video for him and then striving to send him away with a loss. The same went for having to match up with Max Christie, also part of the trade. He had 10 points and six assists for Dallas and played with the same effort and athleticism that used to be on the Lakers’ side.

“You kind of just got to embrace it,” Redick said. “It’s just a little weird. It just naturally is. … It’s healthy, actually, just to acknowledge it and embrace it. And then you play the game, and then you never have to do that again.”

Or at least the next time Doncic and the Lakers must play the Mavericks, they will have had more time to establish a new normal.

“The closure is going to take a while, I think,” Doncic said. “It’s not ideal. But like I said, I’m glad this game is over. There was a lot of emotions. But we go little by little, and every day is better.”

ESPN’s Tim MacMahon contributed to this report.

The post Luka on first game against Mavs: ‘Glad it’s over’ appeared first on The Sports Affiliate.

• NBA insiders

Feb 26, 2025, 12:21 AM ET

The NBA world was turned upside down Feb. 2 when the Dallas Mavericks traded five-time All-Star Luka Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers for Anthony Davis, Max Christie and a future pick.

The deal sent shockwaves through the league, leading to ongoing discourse about the repercussions of the deal in Dallas and what the future now holds for the Lakers, one of the most decorated franchises in league history. The ire from Mavericks fans erupted after the franchise questioned the conditioning and commitment of their former superstar on his way to Los Angeles and Davis picked up another injury midway through his first game in Dallas that has kept him out since.

The Lakers beat the Mavericks on Tuesday 107-99 in the first matchup involving the teams since the trade. Doncic recorded a triple-double in the win as the Los Angeles offense was just too much to keep up with down the stretch.

Here are the key takeaways from the high-profile matchup.

Takeaways

This was an extremely fun matchup, even if you set aside the great anticipation of a “Luka Revenge Game.”

The Mavs showed a ton of pride defensively, and Kyrie Irving and Klay Thompson flashed brilliance on offense, to give Dallas a chance late. But the Lakers clamped down and defended down the stretch, as LeBron James put his foot on the pedal at both ends when it counted to close things out.

The massive media glare will always be there when it comes to Los Angeles; particularly when it features two of the NBA’s best minds, LeBron and Luka. But it also should be fascinating to see what a full-strength Dallas squad with Anthony Davis looks like in the playoffs and beyond. — Chris Herring

It wasn’t pretty, or easy, but the Lakers eventually came away with a 107-99 victory over the Mavericks in the first Luka Doncic Bowl. It was a game that showed the promise and questions around the new-look Lakers, and some signs of what Dallas could eventually look like if the Mavericks can get healthy.

For Los Angeles, the combination of Doncic, James and Austin Reaves is going to be extraordinarily tough for opposing defenses to handle. Few teams have three defenders good enough to match up with the three primary Laker ball handlers — and having a good defender on them doesn’t guarantee they’ll be able to slow them down.

But questions remain for the Lakers. Although Dallas shot pretty well from 3-point range (17-for-44) in this game, the Mavericks generated one wide open look after another, and a better shooting opponent will have more success with that many clean attempts from deep. During the game, Lakers coach JJ Redick complained about his team’s work on the defensive glass — and understandably so, given the extremely short-handed Mavericks had 14 offensive rebounds with Davis, Daniel Gafford and Dereck Lively II all watching in street clothes.

For Dallas, having a big, physical roster around the brilliant individual talents of Irving is a formula that, if the Mavericks can get healthy, might have them able to go toe-to-toe with anyone this side of the Oklahoma City Thunder in the Western Conference. But the amount of injuries across the roster at the moment — plus the lingering concern about Irving’s back issues — could have the Mavericks in a perilous position moving forward.

The best thing working in the Mavericks’ favor on that front is the Suns’ — now losers of 10 of their past 13 games — continued backslide. That, coupled with Victor Wembanyama going down for the season, essentially has locked in the 10 playoff and play-in teams in the West.

The play-in, though, is not where Dallas hoped to be when it chose to move on from Doncic. And the play-in is not where the Lakers are going to be after yet another win has improved them to 15-4 in their past 19 games, and has them thinking about not only home-court advantage in the first round, but potentially — incredibly — finishing as high as second in the West. — Tim Bontemps

More on the Luka Dončić trade

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