{"id":31209,"date":"2025-02-05T20:50:13","date_gmt":"2025-02-05T20:50:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=31209"},"modified":"2025-02-05T20:50:13","modified_gmt":"2025-02-05T20:50:13","slug":"luka-doncic-reportedly-had-his-eye-on-miami-and-loved-heat-franchise-it-was-always-lakers-and-heat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=31209","title":{"rendered":"Luka Doncic reportedly had his eye on Miami and loved Heat franchise: \u2018It was always Lakers and Heat\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"<article><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/heatnation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/USATSI_22719216_168403908_lowres-scaled-e1738606094695.jpg.webp\" alt=\"Luka Doncic reportedly had his eye on Miami and loved Heat franchise: \u2018It was always Lakers and Heat\u2019..-vuong123\" width=\"860\" height=\"573\" \/>Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports<\/p>\n<p>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\u00a0Los Angeles Lakers\u00a0in a move that came as a major shock to a lot of people.<\/p>\n<p>Per NBA analyst Kevin O\u2019Connor, two teams had long been linked to Doncic in rumors as landing spots if he were to leave the\u00a0Dallas Mavericks, and one of them was the Lakers. But the other team was the\u00a0Miami Heat, and O\u2019Connor alleges that the Slovenian has admiration for the Miami franchise and enjoys the climate down there as well.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cMy initial reaction was like, \u2018Oh, Luka must have demanded a trade,&#8217;\u201d O\u2019Connor\u00a0said\u00a0of the three-team deal. \u201cHe must have asked out to go directly to the Lakers, one of the two teams that\u2019s 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\u2019s what it\u2019s been. I\u2019ve always heard Luka loves the weather in Miami. He loves the franchise there.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>The Heat might soon be in need of a new face of the franchise, and a player of Doncic\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n<p>He admitted in early January after a loss to the\u00a0Indiana Pacers\u00a0that he has lost his joy for the game of basketball and doesn\u2019t think he can get his joy back with the Heat.<\/p>\n<p>Ever since then, he hasn\u2019t been a consistent presence on the floor for Miami. He\u2019s currently serving his third suspension since the month of January, and that suspension will be for an indefinite period of time.<\/p>\n<p>The acquisition of Doncic would have helped to soften the blow of potentially losing a player of Butler\u2019s talent. After all, like Butler, Doncic is a gifted scorer. He\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n<p>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\u2019s offense.<\/p>\n<\/article>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":31210,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-31209","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nba"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Luka Doncic reportedly had his eye on Miami and loved Heat franchise: \u2018It was always Lakers and Heat\u2019 - 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