“The Trade,” and NBA fans and media now call it — the one that sent 31-year-old Anthony Davis to the Dallas Mavericks in exchange for 25-year-old, five-time first-team All-NBA shooting guard Luka Dončić, who became a Los Angeles Laker, has so far not worked out terrifically for either team.
Playing just one game in Dallas, Davis suffered an adductor injury — the type of injury once referred to as a “groin pull” — that is now expected to keep him sidelined for “multiple weeks,” with no target date for a return in sight.
On the Los Angeles side of the deal, Dončić continues to struggle with a left calf strain that kept him sidelined for 27 of the Maverick’s 49 games before he was traded.
The 2018-2019 NBA Rookie of the Year continued to sit out, missing his first three games as a Laker before seeing action against the Utah Jazz in a two-game series on February 10 and 12. But Dončić played just 23 minutes in each of those games.
More Bad News For Lakers About Prized New Acquisition
Now, more bad news for the Lakers as they have announced that Dončić will miss at least one more game despite coming out of a week’s worth of down time.
Dončić for the first time since his rookie year was not named an All-Star. He seemed to enjoy his vacation, posting a picture on social media that appeared to show him watching All-Star game action on a laptop computer, as he relaxed poolside at an unidentified resort.
Though it looks as if he should be well-rested when the Lakers face the Charlotte Hornets at home on Wednesday, the team now says he will miss either that contest, or the game the following night when the Lakers travel to Portland, Oregon, to face the Trail Blazers.
“The Lakers have kept Dončić under 25 minutes in his first two games in purple and gold and are expected to persist with a measured approach as the 25-year-old progresses in his comeback after missing his final 19 games as a Maverick with a left calf strain sustained on Christmas Day,” NBA insider Marc Stein wrote in his Monday newsletter.
When the Lakers will get the full benefit of Dončić’s presence alongside Lebron James remains up in the air.
And now, in yet more bad news, after James pulled out of Sunday’s All-Star competition at the last minute citing “ankle and foot discomfort,” according to correspondent Sam Amico of Hoops Wire, “some around the NBA say they’ve been led to believe the issue isn’t exactly minor.”
James’ injury raises the disturbing possibility that the Lakers could be without both James and Dončić for multiple games.
But a report by The Athletic on Tuesday brought even more disheartening news for the Lakers, implying that in trading Davis for Dončić, Los Angeles may have been inheriting a problem that Dallas was simply sick of dealing with.
Dončić Reportedly Takes Lax Approach to Conditioning
The report revealed that one of the possible reasons for the prolonged Dončić absences is that the Ljubljana, Slovenia, native fails to properly care for his physical body.
The Athletic reported that the Mavericks had grown frustrated with “Dončić’s conditioning and off-court habits.”
In one instance, in November, the Mavs sat their mercurial, young superstar for five straight games with what was listed as a “right wrist sprain.”
However, according to the publication, “that injury classification was not entirely true. In reality, Dončić was supposed to use time off to improve his conditioning, team sources said.”
Eventually, Mavericks officials became so concerned “that Dončić’s body would break down possibly sooner than anyone would suspect” that they decided they must “move on from someone who could still one day be a league MVP.”
So they shipped Dončić to Los Angeles, where his lax approach to conditioning becomes the Lakers’ problem now.