The Los Angeles Lakers are officially in the Luka Dončić era after superstar forward LeBron James departed for the Philadelphia 76ers in free agency over the offseason. Now, Dončić is embracing being the primary face of the franchise, something he hasn’t been since his days with the Dallas Mavericks.
“I think it’s just very important to me to do a lot of connection with the fans,” Dončić told the California Post. “Before every game at home, I sign things and I take pictures. When we go on the road, I take pictures. I think for me, it’s giving back to the fans the way they supported me. The way they care for me. It’s very important to give back to them.”
It took some time for Dončić to adjust after being traded from Dallas, where he thought he’d spend his entire career, but he finally feels at home on the West Coast.
“After that, at training camp last year, I felt I was where I belonged,” Dončić said. “I feel very good in LA. I’m very excited. Very happy. Obviously it’s a beautiful place to live. But just being with the Lakers organization, being a part of it, it’s such an honor. It’s amazing to be here.”
Dončić’s star teammate, Austin Reaves, even believes that Lakers fans will take to Dončić more than they were able to with James, and explained why.
“I think with the Bron situation it was a little different just because Bron and Kobe were battling for the best player in the NBA for multiple years, so Lakers fans at the time probably hated LeBron,” Reaves said.
“Not that they didn’t accept him when he was here, but they still probably had the ‘Kobe is better’ type of mentality. But they don’t have that with Luka. He was kind of after Kobe. They don’t have a reason not to embrace him like a Kobe or someone else who was a Laker legend.”
The post ‘They don’t have that with Luka’: Lakers star explains why fans will take to Luka Dončić more than LeBron James appeared first on The Comeback: Today’s Top Sports Stories & Reactions.
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