LeBron James’ expletive-ridden order to Luka Doncic before Lakers debut
James and Doncic teamed together for the first time as the Lakers made it six straight wins against the Utah Jazz.
Luka Doncic’s debut for the Los Angeles Lakers is in the books and the Slovenian star pulled it off fairly modestly in a 132-113 win against the Utah Jazz.
The Lakers registered their sixth straight victory at Crypto.com Arena, moving on to 32-19 for the season against their lowly opponents, who are 12-40.
How did Doncic do on his Lakers debut?
All eyes, of course, were on Doncic following his shock move to Los Angeles from the Dallas Mavericks. On his return from a calf injury, the 25-year-old bagged 14 points, 5 rebounds and 4 assists in 24 minutes on court.
Not to be outdone, however, LeBron James finished the game as the Lakers’ leading scorer with 24 points, 8 rebounds and 7 assists. Shooting guard Austin Reeves (22-9-4) and small forward Rui Hachimura (21-6-0) also got in on the act as the Californians cruised to victory.
How Doncic and James fare together has generated no shortage of intrigue and, although there will be much tougher tests to come for the All-Star duo, they are off to a solid start.
James gives Doncic strong message ahead of Lakers vs Jazz
Ahead of Monday’s game, LeBron was filmed giving his Lakers teammates a pep talk moments before taking to the court and was heard giving a special, expletive-ridden message to Doncic, who he urged to stand out as much as possible.
“Luka, be your fucking self. Don’t fit in, fit the fuck out. Be yourself.”
"Luka, be your f*cking self. Don't fit in, fit the f*ck out."
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) February 11, 2025
LeBron James to Luka Doncic before his debut with the Lakers 🔥
(via @SportsCenter)pic.twitter.com/87RG5QHtOE
Did Doncic fit in, or fit out? Given he has averaged 28.6 points per game in his NBA career to date, we can probably expect him to “fit out” a little more in future games, once he gets back up to speed after his layoff.
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