It has been nearly a month since the blockbuster trade that sent Luka Doncic from the Dallas Mavericks to the Los Angeles Lakers. The two teams met for the first time since the trade on Tuesday night and Doncic finished with a triple-double and shared a moment with his former teammates.
Kyrie Irving had the chance to catch up with Doncic and gave him a lot of praise for his efforts with the Mavericks. Irving defended his former teammate and explained how he feels Doncic receives unjust criticism.
“It was easy to complement him while he’s having an MVP season — an MVP-caliber season,” Irving said via The Athletic. “He carried us a lot (when) I was injured or hurt, and … carried the burden and responsibility. So I think for me, there was respect there before we played together. But then playing with him, he’s just an innocent kid.
“(And) at the same time, he’s just ultra talented, (and the) whole world’s in front of him. You want to protect people like that too, because I feel like sometimes people come at him crazy, which is unnecessary.”
The trade is not any less surprising now than the moment the news broke. Despite this, Doncic appears to have adjusted well to Los Angeles.
Kyrie Irving’s blunt reaction to guarding Luka Doncic
When the Kyrie Irving and the Dallas Mavericks reunited with Luka Doncic as a member of the Los Angeles Lakers for the first time on Tuesday night, Irving was tasked with guarding his former teammate.
“Awkward as s–t,” Irving said while laughing, via Sports Illustrated. “It was awkward but now I can talk about the emotions of it. Yeah it was awkward but at the same time it was fun. We got a chance to feel like we were in practice going at each other. That was a good reflection point.
“And then just seeing the crowd cheer for him, just get him going. And see him make some of the tough shots I’ve seen him make thousands of times … That probably made it even more awkward, but it was fun …”
Irving elaborated on how close he and Doncic are and how their relationship has grown over the years.
“Because we had a lot of fun bro,” Irving said. “We went to Madrid, we started preseason in Abu Dhabi, which helped us out a lot, man. When you’re on the road and you get to know someone and their family … And you’re introducing everybody to your friends.”
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