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Luka Doncic’s Routine Turns Heads Inside Lakers Organization

Originally posted on Athlon Sports | By Ashish Mathur | Last updated Apr 22, 2025 5:12 PM ET

The Dallas Mavericks shocked the sports world when they traded Luka Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers in February. Multiple reports have said that the Mavericks, led by general manager Nico Harrison, were not pleased with Doncic's conditioning and defense.

Doncic appeared in 28 games with the Lakers in the regular season. He averaged 28.2 points, 8.1 rebounds and 7.5 assists while shooting 43.8% from the field, 37.9% from beyond the arc and 79.1% from the free-throw line.

The Mavericks missed the playoffs this year after reaching the NBA Finals last year. Meanwhile, the Lakers are the third seed in the Western Conference playoffs and have been impressed by Doncic's professionalism and approach, according to Grant Afseth of DallasHoopsJournal.

"Members of the Lakers, who now work with Doncic daily, have been impressed by his professionalism and approach," Afseth wrote. "Sources say his work habits are consistent with what he did in Dallas. He continues to lean on his personal performance team on game days, practice days, and off days. Nothing is different except the jersey."

Doncic told Malika Andrews of ESPN that it has been "sad" to hear Harrison talk negatively about him since the Mavericks-Lakers trade. The superstar forward hasn't said anything bad about Harrison or the Dallas franchise since the blockbuster trade.

"It's just sad the way he's talking right now," Doncic said about Harrison. "I've never said anything bad about him. And I just wanna move on."

Doncic and the Lakers are down 1-0 to the Minnesota Timberwolves in the first round of the playoffs. Los Angeles is facing a must-win situation on Tuesday to avoid going down 2-0 in the best-of-seven series.

The Lakers lost Game 1 to the Timberwolves by 22 points. Doncic had 37 points in 40 minutes, but he also turned the ball over five times.

This article first appeared on Athlon Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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