One of the faces of the NBA in Luka Doncic is now a member of arguably the most storied franchise in the league. On Sunday, he was traded to the Los Angeles Lakers in a move that came as a major shock to a lot of people.

Per NBA analyst Kevin O’Connor, two teams had long been linked to Doncic in rumors as landing spots if he were to leave the Dallas Mavericks, and one of them was the Lakers. But the other team was the Miami Heat, and O’Connor alleges that the Slovenian has admiration for the Miami franchise and enjoys the climate down there as well.

“My initial reaction was like, ‘Oh, Luka must have demanded a trade,’” O’Connor said of the three-team deal. “He must have asked out to go directly to the Lakers, one of the two teams that’s long been rumored as his potential destination if he were to ever leave Dallas. It was always Lakers and Heat, always Lakers and Heat. For years, that’s what it’s been. I’ve always heard Luka loves the weather in Miami. He loves the franchise there.”

The Heat might soon be in need of a new face of the franchise, and a player of Doncic’s talent level certainly could have checked that box. Jimmy Butler has been the head of the snake for the Heat for years now, but it appears as if his time in Miami could come to an end soon.

He admitted in early January after a loss to the Indiana Pacers that he has lost his joy for the game of basketball and doesn’t think he can get his joy back with the Heat.

Ever since then, he hasn’t been a consistent presence on the floor for Miami. He’s currently serving his third suspension since the month of January, and that suspension will be for an indefinite period of time.

The acquisition of Doncic would have helped to soften the blow of potentially losing a player of Butler’s talent. After all, like Butler, Doncic is a gifted scorer. He’s averaging 28.1 points per game on 46.4 percent shooting from the field and 35.4 percent from deep this season, and he led the NBA in scoring in the 2023-24 campaign.

With Doncic now a member of the Lakers, Heat fans are only left to imagine what the team could have accomplished this season and in the coming seasons with the Slovenian owning the keys to the squad’s offense.