LeBron James called Luka Doncic ‘right away’ to welcome him to Lakers after trade

Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

Now that Luka Doncic has changed teams from the Dallas Mavericks to the Los Angeles Lakers, he is teammates with maybe the greatest basketball player ever in forward LeBron James.

Unsurprisingly, Doncic seems to be eagerly anticipating the opportunity to share the floor with James. He suggested that he will learn a lot from playing alongside the four-time NBA champion and 21-time All-Star.

Furthermore, according to Doncic, James didn’t wait to call him after news surfaced that he was being traded to the storied organization early Sunday morning.

In a three-team trade that involved the Utah Jazz as well, Doncic was traded to the Lakers along with his former Mavericks teammates Maxi Kleber and Markieff Morris. Kleber was arguably an unheralded aspect of the trade from Los Angeles’ standpoint, as he could find himself in J.J. Redick’s rotation with the team currently thin at the big man position.

While James is long in the tooth at 40 years old and his best basketball is likely behind him at this stage, he and Doncic can still form one of the league’s deadliest duos for the foreseeable future. They’re both among the top scorers and facilitators in the NBA today. James and Doncic are each averaging 24-plus points and seven-plus assists per contest so far in the 2024-25 regular season.

James is in his 22nd season in the NBA and hasn’t shown any major signs of decline. In fact, in Los Angeles’ last game before trading Anthony Davis and other assets in order to acquire Doncic, the NBA’s oldest player dropped a 33-point triple-double in a victory over the New York Knicks back on Feb. 1.

However, Doncic and James won’t be able to share the court when the Lakers take on the Los Angeles Clippers on Tuesday.

The Slovenian is dealing with a calf injury and his timetable to return isn’t set in stone, though ESPN’s Shams Charania has reported that there’s “optimism” that he will make his Laker debut against the Indiana Pacers on Saturday. Doncic hasn’t played in a game since all the way back in December.