Tag: Luka Doncic

Social media reacts to Timberwolves taking Game 1 : ‘Lakers crowd was louder during the bubble’

The Minnesota Timberwolves made a statement in Game 1, blowing out the Los Angeles Lakers 117-95 and knocking down a playoff franchise record 21 three-pointers. Minnesota took control of the game in the second quarter and never let go. Jaden …

The Minnesota Timberwolves made a statement in Game 1, blowing out the Los Angeles Lakers 117-95 and knocking down a playoff franchise record 21 three-pointers.

Minnesota took control of the game in the second quarter and never let go. Jaden McDaniels led the team with 25 points, while Naz Reid and Anthony Edwards added 22 each.

Luka Doncic scored 37 points, but LeBron James and Austin Reaves had quiet performances with 19 and 16 points, respectively.

See the reactions from social media below:

NBA playoff predictions: Ranking the Top 15 players for the 2025 postseason

HoopsHype ranks our projected Top 15 players for the 2024-25 NBA playoffs, featuring LeBron James, Luka Doncic, Nikola Jokic and more.

The most special time of the year for basketball fans is here, as the 2024-25 NBA playoffs are upon us.

To celebrate the occasion, we are going to rank the Top 15 players of the upcoming playoffs based on how we think they are going to perform.

Players fell a few spots in this ranking, or missed out altogether, based on their health, as well as on how far we believe their teams are going to go in the playoffs.

Without any further ado, the Top 15 players for the 2024-25 NBA playoffs, according to us.

Social media reacts to Dubs’ 123-116 win vs. Lakers: Steph Curry put Luka Doncic in a blender

LeBron James and Stephen Curry combined for 70 points (33 and 37, respectively) in yet another magnificent matchup between the two basketball legends, and in the end, the Warriors claimed a critical 123-116 win against the Lakers. Now, there’s a …

LeBron James and Stephen Curry combined for 70 points (33 and 37, respectively) in yet another magnificent matchup between the two basketball legends, and in the end, the Warriors claimed a critical 123-116 win against the Lakers. Now, there’s a good chance these two teams could face each other in the first round of the playoffs, something many fans would love to see.

Luka Doncic scored 19 points and went 0-for-6 on three-pointers, the first time he’s gone without a three since Game 4 of the last NBA Finals against the Celtics when he missed eight attempts. He also had a difficult time guarding Curry:

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See the reactions from social media below:

The most expensive NBA trading card sales ever

There have been at least 26 sales of NBA cards worth seven figures and most of them involve Jordan, LeBron, Kobe and Curry.

We’re in the golden era of sports cards, with some being sold for millions of dollars. Though not as hot a property as some baseball cards, there’s a big market for the basketball stuff too. Per our research, there have been at least 26 sales of NBA cards worth seven figures.

Most of them involve Michael Jordan, LeBron James, Kobe Bryant and Stephen Curry. One featuring the Warriors superstar actually tops the list of the most expensive sales ever.

The 2003-04 Upper Deck LeBron James Exquisite Collection Rookie Patch Autograph is the card sold most times in our list with 12. Other players that collectors are investing in are Giannis Antetokounmpo and Luka Doncic. The trading card industry is booming and still growing, and we’re sure there will be new record sales soon.

For now, this is the all-time ranking:

The peak GOATs: Ranking the NBA’s best at their best

HoopsHype ranks 25 of the NBA’s GOATS in order of best five-year peaks, as judged by Global Rating and a panel of voters.

After LeBron James broke the NBA’s all-time scoring record, some naysayers started calling him the Longevity GOAT as a way to avoid calling him the actual GOAT.

Although James, according to us, has by now done enough to be considered the NBA’s GOAT, we still wanted to look at the best five-year peaks in NBA history. (Spoiler alert: James ranks very high in this exercise.)

To determine when exactly each player’s peak took place, we used our own Global Rating Metric and went by each player’s best five continuous seasons. After that, we asked a panel of our writers and editors to vote on which five-year peaks by NBA legends were the best.

No. 1 might be a surprise considering who we just said we have as our outlet’s GOAT, though maybe not a surprise to everyone.

The Mavericks tried to subtly drop Anthony Davis’s bleak injury update near the end of the Super Bowl

The Mavericks really wanted Anthony Davis’s new injury to get lost in the shuffle.

Late Sunday night in the sports world was momentous.

The Philadelphia Eagles were in the process of securing their second Super Bowl in franchise history in dominant fashion with hundreds of millions of people watching at home, and (whispers, very, very, very discretely) the Dallas Mavericks revealed that Anthony Davis would be out indefinitely with a groin injury.

Wait, wait, hold on, what?

That’s right. As the biggest event in American sports was winding down, the Mavericks not-so-subtly revealed that the newly-acquired Davis — the guy Dallas mortgaged its entire future for in exchange for the generational Luka Doncic — might miss a month of time because of an injury.

And in a supposed championship or bust season, no less.

Man, talk about a brazen news dump:

I’ll give the Mavericks credit. I, too, would have taken the opportunity to share that my new hopeful franchise player — acquired in a much-maligned trade of a beloved face of the team — wouldn’t be seen in live game action again for a month in the middle of something like the Super Bowl.

Sometimes, it’s good to take the easy way out!

However, everyone’s still going to notice when you do. That is an unfortunate and evergreen caveat.

When will Luka Doncic make his debut for the Lakers? What we know about his injury.

When exactly can we see Luka on the Lakers?

Update on Feb. 6: JJ Redick said that if it is not Saturday (Feb. 8), then it will be Monday (Feb. 10). The game on Sat. is now flexed to ESPN, but the latest reporting from Marc Stein suggests the Monday game is now his new target date.  

The Los Angeles Lakers shocked the world by trading for Luka Doncic and many fans cannot wait to see his first game with the franchise.

But what some may not remember is that Doncic is currently injured and has not actually played in a game since December 25. That is one of the reasons why Doncic did not actually make the NBA All-Star Game this season.

Doncic is currently dealing with a left calf strain injury but has also missed time due to other lingering issues including his wrist. However, after more than a month on the sidelines, he is expected to return soon.

In fact, according to ESPN’s Kendrick Perkins, his first game could come as soon as Saturday against the Pacers in Los Angeles. This would give Doncic three games before the All-Star break, including two against the Jazz.

This is aligned with reporting from Marc Stein, who indicated that Doncic was targeting a Feb. 8 return before he was traded from the Mavericks.

Another potential date is Feb. 10 at home against the Jazz, per Marc J. Spears.

Other reporting from both ESPN’s Brian Windhorst and Shams Charania suggested that he could wait until after the All-Star break for his first game with Los Angeles.

Their first game after the All-Star break is Feb. 19 against Charlotte in Los Angeles. If he chose this path, it would allow him an eight-week recovery window for his calf strain.

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LeBron James had 1 message to Luka Doncic as he attended his first game as a Laker

These two should have good chemistry together.

Some worried that Luka Doncic did not look very happy during his introductory press conference with the Los Angeles Lakers.

But that lack of enthusiasm may have come back to Doncic by the time that he actually saw his new teammates take the court in Los Angeles on Tuesday night against the crosstown rival Clippers.

Los Angeles looked outstanding and LeBron James had another great game. During one particularly impressive moment, he draw an and-one call while attacking the basket.

It was the final play of the first half and it was a dominant moment for Los Angeles.

After the possession, as noted by ESPN’s Brian Windhorst, he turned to the bench and clearly had a message for Doncic.

He said: “That’s what we are going to do.”

After the game, LeBron made it clear that Doncic is his “favorite player” in the NBA.

Silencing all trade rumors about himself, though it seems plausible he did not know the trade was coming, he explained that if he didn’t like the move then he would have asked out already.

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Bengals flip Tee Higgins for top star in Luka Doncic-inspired trade idea

This NBA-inspired trade idea won’t happen, but it does touch on a few interesting points.

By now, Cincinnati Bengals fans might’ve heard about the stunning, blockbuster NBA trade that sent Luka Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers. 

Those fans also might’ve seen a few NFL comparisons for the sake of fun, too.

And while nothing in real life might end up compared to the colossal dud that was the Cleveland Browns trading for Deshaun Watson, the Doncic move has inspired lots of big, unrealistic, and lopsided trade ideas (which is the point of the fun exercise).

One of the most notable from a Bengals perspective comes from Bleacher Report’s Kristopher Knox, who suggests the Bengals apply a second franchise tag to Tee Higgins and trade him to the New England Patriots in exchange for cornerback Christian Gonzalez:

Sign-and-trade deals are common in the NBA. They’re less common in the NFL, though tag-and-trade agreements do occur. Last offseason, for example, cornerback L’Jarius Sneed and pass-rusher Brian Burns were both traded after first receiving the franchise tag.

RELATED: Ja’Marr Chase slips up with revealing comment about Bengals’ season

The idea gets points for being savvy enough to loop in the common trope that is NBA sign-and-trades.

What’s interesting about the Bengals is that, if Higgins totally wants out of town, that sort of deal might be something Cincinnati explores.

Gonzalez, for what it’s worth, was a 2023 first-round pick who is clearly on his way to superstardom and the Bengals have big problems at the spot with Cam Taylor-Britt erratic and both Dax Hill and DJ Turner coming back from injury.

Even more interesting, though? The Bengals could very well opt to franchise tag Higgins again and keep him at a roughly $26 million cost, which would fly far under the average annual value he might get on the open market as a free agent.

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Rob Pelinka actually thanked the Mavericks GM for the Luka Doncic trade

Of course Rob Pelinka would thank Nico Harrison for letting him steal his lunch money.

Los Angeles Lakers general manager Rob Pelinka and Dallas Mavericks GM Nico Harrison almost certainly agree on a key fact: their mutual late friend Kobe Bryant would’ve wanted Luka Doncic in L.A.

So they pulled the strings to get him there.

To start the Lakers’ introductory press conference of Doncic on Tuesday morning, Pelinka made sure to thank one key person for gifting Los Angeles yet another all-time great talent. That’s right.

He actually thanked the Mavericks and Harrison for facilitating the Doncic trade. Man, that’s like a bully thanking you for giving them your lunch money. That’s like an old-timey robber being appreciative that they had the opportunity to commit a massive heist of a moving train.

“Thank you for letting me rob you blind,” Pelinka … probably.

Honestly, I don’t blame Pelinka for feeling a little cocky, though:

When have you ever seen a sports executive publicly thank the other team’s representative like this?

Of course Pelinka would thank Harrison for gifting him a current top-three player. Of course, Pelinka admitted that Lakers owner Jeanie Buss was in the loop of the trade from the beginning, while Harrison kept mostly everything a secret from the Mavericks. Harrison made acquiring a generational talent for pennies on the dollar so simple and so easy!

Pelinka absolutely knew he was pulling off the NBA heist (trade) of the century from the start here. Harrison was all too happy to oblige.

Man, I’d be thanking him like this, too.