Latest / Bleacher Report / Luka Doncic FULL Introductory Press Conference with Lakers 🔥

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Luka Doncic FULL Introductory Press Conference with Lakers 🔥 · Bleacher Report

0:00
Speaker 1: Go.
0:00
Speaker 2: It's very real as you see Luca Doctrich walking into
0:03
Speaker 2: the training facility of Rob Plinka.
0:05
Speaker 3: Rob Polinka and Luca strolling in together. Luca's first comments
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Speaker 3: since the trade saw his post thinking, Dallas Mavericks fans
0:18
Speaker 3: and here they are. Let's go to it live.
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Speaker 4: Yeah, good morning. Before I start talking about the young
0:30
Speaker 4: man next to me, I just I want to thank
0:33
Speaker 4: Jalen Hood, Chaffino, Max Christi and Anthony Davis for their
0:41
Speaker 4: incredible service here. There's no player that played his bigger
0:45
Speaker 4: role to our seventeenth championship than Anthony Davis, who's also
0:49
Speaker 4: a person of incredibly high character. So those three guys
0:53
Speaker 4: are Lakers for life, and just want to thank him
0:54
Speaker 4: before we start. Nope. So, in thinking about today and
1:05
Speaker 4: what it means, I think Luka Doncic joining forces with
1:14
Speaker 4: the Los Angeles Lakers is a seismic event in NBA history.
1:23
Speaker 4: And the reason I say that is because we have
1:27
Speaker 4: a twenty five year old global superstar that's going to
1:32
Speaker 4: get on the stage of the most popular and influential
1:36
Speaker 4: basketball brand on the globe. And I think when those
1:41
Speaker 4: two powerful forces come together, it brings basketball joy to
1:47
Speaker 4: the world because that's how Luca plays. He plays with joy.
1:51
Speaker 4: And if you think about kids in Barcelona, or kids
1:57
Speaker 4: in Buenos Aires, or children in Shanghai or Sydney, they're
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Speaker 4: going to be wearing a number seventy seven Luka Doncic
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Speaker 4: Lakers jersey and bringing joy to basketball just like he does.
2:13
Speaker 4: And that's why it's powerful. I think the leadership of
2:17
Speaker 4: Adam Silver and the way he's bringing the game to
2:22
Speaker 4: the world. You see it in Europe, you see it
2:26
Speaker 4: in Africa, what the NBA is doing, and now we
2:31
Speaker 4: have one of the game's biggest superstars, an international player,
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Speaker 4: coming to join the Los Angeles Lakers. It's a convergence
2:39
Speaker 4: of all those forces, and I think it's going to
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Speaker 4: be something incredibly special that the NBA and basketball has
2:47
Speaker 4: never seen before. So to get to this place, there's
2:52
Speaker 4: a couple people I want to thank. First and foremost
2:56
Speaker 4: is Genie Buss. She's so supportive. I think her vision,
3:04
Speaker 4: which falls in line with the great and late Doctor Buss,
3:09
Speaker 4: to always make sure the brightest and best basketball superstars
3:14
Speaker 4: play for the Los Angeles Lakers. She's clearly carried that
3:17
Speaker 4: vision on from her dad, and I just want to
3:19
Speaker 4: thank her for her tremendous support and vision and helping
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Speaker 4: this day become a reality. The second person I want
3:27
Speaker 4: to thank is anytime there's a trade or a transaction,
3:30
Speaker 4: there has to be a partner, and I want to
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Speaker 4: thank the Dallas Mavericks, led by their GM Nico Harrison,
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Speaker 4: who was also very instrumental in bringing this opportunity to
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Speaker 4: us and then staying true to the negotiations throughout where
3:46
Speaker 4: it could be culminated with the trade being finalized and
3:50
Speaker 4: Luka Doncic, Maxi Kleeber, and Mark Keith Morris becoming members
3:54
Speaker 4: of our team. So I wanted to thank those two people.
3:59
Speaker 4: And now we'll start with question.
4:02
Speaker 5: Hey, Luca, there's the video of the Lakers, but out
4:05
Speaker 5: the other day that you noticed somebody who was talking
4:07
Speaker 5: to you in Slovenian during a game in twenty nineteen.
4:09
Speaker 5: It's Kobe and you turn around, you have the moment
4:11
Speaker 5: with them after the game, and just think of how
4:13
Speaker 5: do you go from that to then not joining the
4:15
Speaker 5: Lakers with Lebron James, and just thinking of the legacies
4:18
Speaker 5: of those two players and you having the chance to
4:20
Speaker 5: be the next one.
4:21
Speaker 6: Well, first of all, I remember the exact moment that
4:25
Speaker 6: that happened, it would always stay, you know, in my mind,
4:29
Speaker 6: it was an amazing moment. Just for Kobe to know
4:32
Speaker 6: my name was amazing for me.
4:34
Speaker 1: And you know, I just wish Kobe and Ges you
4:35
Speaker 1: were here to see this moment.
4:39
Speaker 6: And you know, I'm excited about this new Jersey and
4:41
Speaker 6: New Jersey and happy to be here.
4:51
Speaker 7: And when you walked out, saw all of us here
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Speaker 7: standing here waiting for you to come.
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Speaker 8: What's your I'm sorry, what's your reaction to seeing all
4:59
Speaker 8: of us here welcome you to Los Angeles.
5:01
Speaker 6: Well, first of all, it's very nice. You know, there's
5:03
Speaker 6: a lot of people here. I don't think there's ever
5:06
Speaker 6: been so many people in my press conference, so I
5:09
Speaker 6: really appreciate all the support.
5:15
Speaker 1: Looka welcome to Los Angeles.
5:17
Speaker 9: I'm curious, what's your reaction been the last forty eight
5:21
Speaker 9: hours to some of the comments coming from Dallas on
5:24
Speaker 9: your way out the door to join the Lakers.
5:28
Speaker 6: I'm just excited, you know, to be here to start
5:30
Speaker 6: this new journey, journey, and obviously at some point I
5:35
Speaker 6: knew this was going to happen, But I would say
5:37
Speaker 6: I always take the high road, you know, I had
5:40
Speaker 6: my amazing moments in Dallas with all my teammates, coaches,
5:45
Speaker 6: and the most importantly defense, you know that always supported
5:48
Speaker 6: me and it was an amazing journey.
5:53
Speaker 10: Hey look, Dan Wi you at the LA Times, Welcome
5:55
Speaker 10: to La. You in a podcast with you age years ago,
6:00
Speaker 10: said that the one NBA player that you watched was
6:03
Speaker 10: Lebron James. What is your kind of reaction to being
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Speaker 10: able to now play with him and how do you
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Speaker 10: think that's gonna work for the two of you guys
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Speaker 10: on the court.
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Speaker 1: It's just like a dream comes shue.
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Speaker 11: You know.
6:16
Speaker 1: I always look up to him.
6:18
Speaker 6: There's so many learning there's so many things I can
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Speaker 6: learn from him, and I'm just excited, you know, just
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Speaker 6: to learn everything.
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Speaker 1: You know, I get to play with him. So it's
6:27
Speaker 1: an amazing feeling.
6:32
Speaker 12: A Zdravo Luca jovan Buha with the Athletic just kind
6:38
Speaker 12: of following up on that. How do you see you
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Speaker 12: and Lebron specifically, just just the two man game between you?
6:43
Speaker 12: You both can screen for each other, hit guys out
6:45
Speaker 12: of the short role, create playmaking opportunities, just how you
6:49
Speaker 12: guys both see the game. Very few can can see
6:51
Speaker 12: it that way, Like, how do you see that fit
6:53
Speaker 12: from a passing, playmaking, and just a two man game perspective.
6:57
Speaker 6: Yeah, I think we both make our teammates better. I
7:00
Speaker 6: think our IQ is very high, so I think that's
7:05
Speaker 6: going to help everybody, you know. But obviously I really
7:08
Speaker 6: hadn't think about basketball much these days. But you know,
7:13
Speaker 6: I'm just excited to work with him, work every day here,
7:16
Speaker 6: so the day, every day that goes by is going
7:19
Speaker 6: to be better.
7:21
Speaker 7: Luca Kobe Price, So call News Group, Welcome to LA.
7:24
Speaker 7: Got one for both of you guys. First for you, Luca,
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Speaker 7: I think you even wrote in a social media post
7:29
Speaker 7: that you know, you thought that Dallas is going to
7:31
Speaker 7: be a place that you're looking forward. So when championship
7:33
Speaker 7: stand for your career? Emotionally, what have the past forty
7:37
Speaker 7: eight so I guess sixty hours been for you in
7:40
Speaker 7: coming to LA.
7:42
Speaker 6: Well, it was honestly, it was hard. First, that first
7:46
Speaker 6: day was really hard. I felt like this last forty
7:50
Speaker 6: eight hours was one month, Like two days ago was
7:54
Speaker 6: one month ago. So emotionally it was really hard. But
7:57
Speaker 6: every day that, like today, was much better. You know,
8:02
Speaker 6: I'm just very happy to be here for this opportunity.
8:06
Speaker 6: He's the Lakers, it's one of the best closing history.
8:09
Speaker 6: So I'm excited to be here.
8:12
Speaker 7: And for Rob Nico speaking with reporters, I believe on
8:15
Speaker 7: Sunday after the trade, he praised you specifically for, you know,
8:19
Speaker 7: keeping the negotiations between you two up until I imagine
8:22
Speaker 7: the final moments. At what point did you, I guess,
8:25
Speaker 7: introduce this trade idea to Genie And what was her
8:28
Speaker 7: in this reaction when you told her about it?
8:30
Speaker 4: Yeah, So this all started with the coffee in Dallas,
8:34
Speaker 4: where Nico approached us with the concept. And because there
8:40
Speaker 4: was a partnership and a history of traveling the world
8:43
Speaker 4: between Nico and myself working around Kobe Bryant, there was
8:48
Speaker 4: a fabric of trust in the discussions. And these type
8:53
Speaker 4: of deals are incredibly intricate and complicated. And along the way,
8:58
Speaker 4: we knew there would be two hundred and forty eight
9:02
Speaker 4: insurmountable snags to get to the end, and there were.
9:05
Speaker 4: And so over the course of three weeks, call it,
9:10
Speaker 4: an issue would come up and we'd think there was
9:12
Speaker 4: no way to climb the mountain, and we'd figure out
9:15
Speaker 4: a way. Then the next issue would come up, and
9:18
Speaker 4: you just keep going and you stay committed to the work.
9:23
Speaker 4: You stay committed to trying to get the deal done
9:25
Speaker 4: in a partnership sense. I think a lot of people
9:28
Speaker 4: talk about negotiations in terms of who won and who lost.
9:32
Speaker 4: I try to approach a negotiation in the sense of
9:35
Speaker 4: how do we build a partnership where we can get
9:38
Speaker 4: to the end. And I think that was the lens
9:41
Speaker 4: that we worked in, the premise we worked under, and
9:44
Speaker 4: when the concept was initially introduced to us, it was, Hey,
9:49
Speaker 4: the only way we can even have these discussions was
9:52
Speaker 4: if it's between owner and GMS, and there was a
9:55
Speaker 4: commitment to that, and if we broke that commitment by
9:58
Speaker 4: talking to anyone else, this day would never happened. So
10:02
Speaker 4: I think trust was at the center of all those discussions.
10:05
Speaker 4: And I called Genie after the coffee in Dallas and
10:09
Speaker 4: brought her in immediately, as I do with everything. Her
10:12
Speaker 4: and I have a really strong working relationship, and the
10:15
Speaker 4: fabric of that is that we share we share things
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Speaker 4: in real time, and she was extraordinarily excited and hopeful
10:22
Speaker 4: that we could get to the end, which we were
10:23
Speaker 4: able to do.
10:25
Speaker 13: Hey, Luca and Rob Melissa Roll on Fox Sports, we're here.
10:29
Speaker 13: I have a question for both of you, guys, obviously
10:32
Speaker 13: from the league's biggest superstars to fans. People were shocked
10:35
Speaker 13: that the Mavericks were willing to deal a twenty five
10:38
Speaker 13: year old superstar in his prime who has another ten
10:41
Speaker 13: years at least ahead of him. What was both of
10:43
Speaker 13: your guys's I guess, Rob, what was your level of
10:46
Speaker 13: shock that this was even on the table?
10:49
Speaker 14: And Luca?
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Speaker 13: What was your level of shock that the MAVs were
10:52
Speaker 13: willing to deal you?
10:56
Speaker 1: I tied.
10:56
Speaker 4: You take everything in stride. I think, you know, it's
11:01
Speaker 4: interesting if all of us watch Luca play, he has
11:06
Speaker 4: a combination of basketball joy and killer instinct, which is
11:11
Speaker 4: really rare. That was number eight, number twenty four, and
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Speaker 4: I think learning lessons from that mentality are stay in
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Speaker 4: the moment, and so I don't think of it in
11:23
Speaker 4: terms of shock surprise. I think of it in Okay,
11:27
Speaker 4: this is coming at me. It's like a game. You know,
11:29
Speaker 4: maybe a blitz is coming at Luca. He's not going
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Speaker 4: to be shocked. He's going to stay in the moment,
11:35
Speaker 4: figure out the read, and make the play. And so
11:38
Speaker 4: when the opportunity came to me, that was sort of
11:40
Speaker 4: my mindset is to Okay, this is coming. This is
11:45
Speaker 4: a concept that came to me, Now, how do I
11:48
Speaker 4: process this mentally to get the deal completed? And right
11:53
Speaker 4: away when it was brought up at the coffee, my
11:56
Speaker 4: mind started churning and there were so many complicated things.
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Speaker 1: We have.
11:59
Speaker 4: The Maverick are hard capped at the first apron, you know,
12:03
Speaker 4: the Lakers are up against the second apron. There's trade kickers,
12:07
Speaker 4: there's gonna be a third team that's gonna have. So
12:10
Speaker 4: my gears were turning about the deal the same way
12:16
Speaker 4: his basketball mind is processing a play. And so I
12:20
Speaker 4: just tried to live in the moment and I tried
12:22
Speaker 4: to carry that with me for three or four weeks
12:25
Speaker 4: as this was unfolding, and by staying in the moment,
12:27
Speaker 4: I think it helped us get to the end.
12:31
Speaker 6: I mean everybody was surprised, so you can imagine how
12:34
Speaker 6: surprised I was. I was almost aslip so when I
12:38
Speaker 6: got a call, I had to check it was it
12:41
Speaker 6: was April first. I didn't really believe it at first,
12:45
Speaker 6: and it was. It was a big shock. It was
12:47
Speaker 6: hard moments for me. It was it was home. So
12:50
Speaker 6: it was really hard moments for me, especially the first days.
12:54
Speaker 6: I said, you know, I get to play in the
12:55
Speaker 6: greatest club in the world, and I'm excited to this
12:58
Speaker 6: new journey.
13:01
Speaker 1: Luca.
13:02
Speaker 15: Over here on your left, Melika Andrews with ESPN, it's
13:05
Speaker 15: good to see you. Welcome to LA You've been a
13:09
Speaker 15: fan of Lebron, You've talked about it for a long time,
13:11
Speaker 15: but he's also been a fan of you. He tried
13:13
Speaker 15: to work with you at various different times in the past,
13:15
Speaker 15: whether it be shoe deals or other things. I'm curious
13:19
Speaker 15: what message.
13:20
Speaker 14: Did he reach out to you with.
13:21
Speaker 15: Was it a text, was it a call? What was
13:24
Speaker 15: that and how did that fuel the way that you
13:26
Speaker 15: think about coming to LA as well.
13:28
Speaker 6: Yeah, he called me right away. He was in New York,
13:32
Speaker 6: so he called me right away and we didn't talk
13:36
Speaker 6: much because you know, he said, I understand what you're feeling.
13:39
Speaker 6: But that was really nice for him just to call
13:41
Speaker 6: me right away and welcome me to LA.
13:47
Speaker 11: Hey, Luca.
13:49
Speaker 16: We've heard from so many other players across the league,
13:52
Speaker 16: Anthony Edwards, Steph Curry, Jannis talking about their shock at
13:57
Speaker 16: this and also what it means for how team feel
14:00
Speaker 16: about players and how no one's really safe quote unquote
14:03
Speaker 16: to use steps words. What have players said to you
14:07
Speaker 16: and what has it meant to you to have them
14:09
Speaker 16: speak out the way they have.
14:11
Speaker 6: Oh, I saw some comments. I wasn't really trying to
14:16
Speaker 6: be on social media these days, but I saw some comments,
14:19
Speaker 6: and it really means a lot. You know, we have
14:21
Speaker 6: rivals and they speak about me that nicely, so it
14:26
Speaker 6: really means a lot to me. I'm sure. Oh, directly,
14:32
Speaker 6: I haven't talked to a lot of people.
14:34
Speaker 14: Really, Hey, Luca and Nikki Kay with Spectrum News right here.
14:42
Speaker 14: So emotionally, you go from thinking you're going to spend
14:44
Speaker 14: your career with one fan base, and now you arrive
14:46
Speaker 14: in a new city, first of all impressions of Los
14:49
Speaker 14: Angeles and its fans from afar and what does this
14:52
Speaker 14: opportunity to have another love story with LA ghosts?
14:56
Speaker 6: Yeah, I would say, like I said, I thought I
14:59
Speaker 6: was going to spend my whole career there because I
15:02
Speaker 6: think loyalty is a big word for me and I
15:05
Speaker 6: was trying to stay by that. But this for me
15:07
Speaker 6: is a fresh start. I get to play in LA
15:10
Speaker 6: and the fans are amazing, and I get the I
15:14
Speaker 6: got the ocean here, so that's a really.
15:16
Speaker 1: Big thing for me.
15:18
Speaker 6: But really I'm really excited to be here getting to
15:21
Speaker 6: play for the Lakers, and I everybody can say that,
15:24
Speaker 6: and many many legends pass here, many many championships.
15:28
Speaker 8: So that's my goal, Luca brad Towns and Dallas Morning News.
15:34
Speaker 8: Uh so you wrote a Dear Dallas letter to fans.
15:37
Speaker 8: It was, you know, very heartfelt.
15:39
Speaker 1: Uh.
15:40
Speaker 8: And you talked a little bit about, you know, your shock,
15:43
Speaker 8: how are your feelings towards the upper levels of the organization,
15:46
Speaker 8: you know, Nico in particular, or the decision to trade you.
15:51
Speaker 6: Well, I mean that's their decision, so I have no
15:54
Speaker 6: comment on that. They made the decision. I don't know why,
16:00
Speaker 6: but that's the decision, so I can do nothing about it.
16:03
Speaker 8: And then one of the reasons that was given was
16:05
Speaker 8: that there was concern that, you know, beyond this summer,
16:10
Speaker 8: or that you there's a chance you might not agree
16:13
Speaker 8: to the supermax extension. Did anyone did you or anyone
16:17
Speaker 8: on your inner circle indicate that that might be the case.
16:21
Speaker 1: Absolutely not. It's easy.
16:25
Speaker 11: Luca over here, Bill Plashy La times.
16:28
Speaker 1: Do you feel you have nothing to prove? Do you
16:31
Speaker 1: feel you have something to prove?
16:34
Speaker 13: So?
16:34
Speaker 1: Do you think you have something to prove? Oh?
16:36
Speaker 6: Okay, sorry, Yeah, obviously. Yeah, yeah, that's it. Win the championship.
16:44
Speaker 6: You don't come here for nothing else in the championship,
16:47
Speaker 6: so I have everything left to prove so and the
16:52
Speaker 6: goal is to win the championship.
16:56
Speaker 17: Look, I good to see Mark Madina with Athlonic sports
16:59
Speaker 17: and sports kid. How do you address the criticism that's
17:02
Speaker 17: followed you on your way out about concerns about conditioning
17:05
Speaker 17: and durability.
17:08
Speaker 1: It's a motive.
17:10
Speaker 6: I know it's not true, I know, but it's a motive.
17:15
Speaker 6: Like I say, you know, I came here one of
17:17
Speaker 6: the biggest clubs in in in He's through sports, so
17:21
Speaker 6: it's a big motive for a long, long run here.
17:25
Speaker 4: I'll just add to that one Mark, I think I
17:28
Speaker 4: think greatness is an evolution in a process. And I
17:34
Speaker 4: think if you're striving for perfection as we are as
17:37
Speaker 4: an organization or as a player is, you're gonna have
17:41
Speaker 4: challenges to make yourself better until you don't play anymore.
17:45
Speaker 4: And so I think that's just something to keep in mind.
17:49
Speaker 4: We're getting I would assume the question will before company,
17:52
Speaker 4: when is Luca gonna play? I'd rather just take that
17:54
Speaker 4: one head on. Our sports performance department is led by
18:00
Speaker 4: doctor Leroy Simms. Luca's got trusted sports performance folks that
18:07
Speaker 4: are going to become part of our family and doctor
18:10
Speaker 4: Sims circle, and they're working together as we speak about
18:14
Speaker 4: a return to play Prian. We have five on five
18:19
Speaker 4: scheduled tomorrow for Luca, and we're going to take it
18:22
Speaker 4: one day at a time just to make sure that
18:25
Speaker 4: the calf injury is in a good and safe place.
18:30
Speaker 4: So I would truly say at this point he's day today.
18:32
Speaker 4: We're going to take it one step at a time.
18:34
Speaker 4: But if all those days go well and Luca feels
18:38
Speaker 4: good and confident, he'll be in a game soon. But
18:43
Speaker 4: we're gonna partner with him. And I should mention too
18:47
Speaker 4: his amazing team who's now part of our family, led
18:50
Speaker 4: by Laura Beth and Bill Duffy and the rest of
18:53
Speaker 4: the folks that are here today. When we make decisions
18:57
Speaker 4: around superstar players and we partner and collaborate with them,
19:01
Speaker 4: and that'll be our process with Laura, Beth and duff
19:04
Speaker 4: who are incredible at what they do.
19:09
Speaker 18: Jared Greenberg with tnt Rob just stole my question there.
19:13
Speaker 18: I was gonna ask Luca, Uh, you know, I guess
19:15
Speaker 18: more about that just hear from you. What you know,
19:18
Speaker 18: what this process has been like. You've you've gone through
19:20
Speaker 18: now four times with this cap. So what have you
19:22
Speaker 18: done to get back on the court. How are you
19:24
Speaker 18: feeling and how confident are you in that this won't
19:27
Speaker 18: be a reoccurring injury.
19:31
Speaker 6: Well, for the first time, I took my time get
19:35
Speaker 6: it to heal one hundred percent. You know, other times
19:40
Speaker 6: I think I just wanted to go back on court
19:42
Speaker 6: playing basketball and I really be healthy one hundred percent.
19:46
Speaker 6: So this time I just took my time, which was
19:51
Speaker 6: a normal amount of time to get back to one
19:53
Speaker 6: hundred percent.
19:56
Speaker 1: Luca David Pingalore KTLA.
19:59
Speaker 19: You know, over the couple of days I talked about
20:02
Speaker 19: your conditioning, but maybe your lack of defense.
20:04
Speaker 1: What is your commitment to being a better defender?
20:07
Speaker 6: Yeah, I think this year was really I really stepped
20:10
Speaker 6: it up, stepped it up, honestly, and he's just being
20:13
Speaker 6: more active, more vocal, and you know, I think I
20:16
Speaker 6: did a step ahead this year, but I need to
20:20
Speaker 6: do more steps ahead.
20:21
Speaker 1: So that's what I'm playing on.
20:25
Speaker 20: Rob just obviously make a blockbuster move like this. What
20:30
Speaker 20: is your balance of thinking long term with twenty five
20:33
Speaker 20: year old and then also just the short term, knowing
20:36
Speaker 20: that the deadline's coming up on Thursday, just balancing the
20:39
Speaker 20: long term vision with the short term.
20:41
Speaker 4: We know that our roster has continued work to do
20:48
Speaker 4: to become complete, and just to be clear around the
20:51
Speaker 4: vision for our roster, We're going to build a roster
20:54
Speaker 4: that fits JJ Reddick's philosophy, his basketball philosophy, fee that's
21:02
Speaker 4: something that we believe in, that we support, that we
21:06
Speaker 4: want to lean into. So in terms of roster decisions,
21:09
Speaker 4: JJ and I collaborate extensively around that and fitting how
21:13
Speaker 4: he wants to play. We know we have a need
21:16
Speaker 4: for a big The market for Biggs right now leading
21:20
Speaker 4: into the last two or three days of the trade
21:22
Speaker 4: deadline is very dry. There's just not a lot available.
21:29
Speaker 4: So maybe we'll be able to do some stuff around
21:32
Speaker 4: the margins. I would say in terms of a big
21:34
Speaker 4: move for that position, it's probably more realistic that that
21:37
Speaker 4: would be something that comes in the off season. But
21:41
Speaker 4: Luca as will be at the center of that. As
21:45
Speaker 4: we build for the long term, we want to format
21:47
Speaker 4: a team that fits JJ's coaching style and his strengths
21:53
Speaker 4: and his needs to help us win a championship with
21:56
Speaker 4: the other people that are also on our team right
21:58
Speaker 4: now who are going to be a big part of
22:01
Speaker 4: that winning as well. But your question was about long term,
22:04
Speaker 4: so I'm speaking more to long term.
22:07
Speaker 1: Luca.
22:08
Speaker 5: I know you had about thirteen games as a teammate
22:10
Speaker 5: with JJ in Dallas, and it just wondered what that
22:14
Speaker 5: was like for you, the relationship that you formed, and
22:16
Speaker 5: then your thoughts about playing for him as a coach.
22:19
Speaker 6: Yeah, I mean, first of all, he could have moved
22:21
Speaker 6: it all, so it wasn't moving, no, but it was
22:26
Speaker 6: a great relationship. You know, I would respect him. You
22:30
Speaker 6: don't see me going podcast. I went on his podcast twice,
22:34
Speaker 6: so you know how much respect they have for him.
22:36
Speaker 6: So I'm really excited then I can play for him.
22:40
Speaker 9: Rob, Rob good to see it along the same lines
22:44
Speaker 9: with the trade deadline and all that. The window for
22:48
Speaker 9: Luca twenty five years old coming off of finals appearance
22:50
Speaker 9: last year, Lebron twenty second season, forty years old, Like,
22:57
Speaker 9: what's the urgency level to have this in the immediate
23:01
Speaker 9: future reach championship contender status and whether that media future
23:06
Speaker 9: is between now and Thursday or the off season going
23:09
Speaker 9: into next year.
23:10
Speaker 1: Just kind of what is the view in terms.
23:12
Speaker 9: Of the timeline to get this team to be able
23:15
Speaker 9: to contend.
23:18
Speaker 4: The urgency is ever present, from the first day I
23:23
Speaker 4: started taking this job till I sit in the chair
23:25
Speaker 4: right now. There's always an urgency to win championships. That's
23:28
Speaker 4: what the Lakers set out to do. That's the expectations
23:31
Speaker 4: of our fans, and we're going to put in the
23:32
Speaker 4: work to constantly try to do it. At the same time,
23:36
Speaker 4: you have to be realistic and if there's not a
23:39
Speaker 4: championship big on the market right now, I can't wave
23:42
Speaker 4: a wand and create that opportunity. We'll continue to work
23:46
Speaker 4: and look for areas that we can complete and fill
23:48
Speaker 4: out the roster. But as we saw with this trade,
23:52
Speaker 4: it takes two teams, but we'll continue to build. Luke
23:57
Speaker 4: and I spent some time yesterday up in my office
24:01
Speaker 4: just talking about, you know, the players on our roster
24:03
Speaker 4: he's played with and kind of what he sees as
24:07
Speaker 4: sort of short term and long term needs, and I
24:09
Speaker 4: think we'll continue to have those basketball discussions and get
24:14
Speaker 4: this roster to a championship level.
24:18
Speaker 10: Luca Mike mentioned Jiji Reddick, reformer teammate. You've got Maxie
24:23
Speaker 10: and Marquif over there. Drian Finney Smith as a as
24:27
Speaker 10: a player you've spoken very highly about in the past.
24:29
Speaker 10: Greg sant Geane was a coach you've worked with. How
24:31
Speaker 10: is that gonna help as you, you know, take on
24:36
Speaker 10: this this crazy life change. Having all these familiar faces
24:40
Speaker 10: be here for that transition.
24:42
Speaker 6: I think that's a really good thing. You know, uh,
24:45
Speaker 6: to have to come to a new place but still
24:48
Speaker 6: know some people, And I think that's mentally, I think
24:51
Speaker 6: that's a really good thing. And they're going to just
24:53
Speaker 6: help me, you know, the guys that were here. It'll
24:56
Speaker 6: help me like learn new stuff about l A, the team,
25:01
Speaker 6: and you know, just help helpful to see friendly faces.
25:09
Speaker 11: Edwin Garcille saw was screen role. My questions for Pelinka
25:12
Speaker 11: rob When you're talking about a championship caliber big and
25:15
Speaker 11: aligning with J J Riddick, what do you think the
25:17
Speaker 11: values in that position are required in the modern.
25:20
Speaker 4: NBA Versatility, mobility, a vertical lop threat. I think that's
25:31
Speaker 4: the key to the spacing that Luca likes to play with.
25:36
Speaker 4: Competitive I think, you know, those are some of the
25:40
Speaker 4: core things there. Those players are hard to find, but
25:45
Speaker 4: we're gonna we'll accomplish the tasks before us. We'll find
25:49
Speaker 4: a way, Rob over over here.
25:55
Speaker 19: As far as just the future and the and the
25:57
Speaker 19: moves that you're going to be making, designing the roster, planning,
26:01
Speaker 19: how beneficial and important is it for you just to
26:03
Speaker 19: know you have Luca, You have maybe a decade that
26:08
Speaker 19: you can use as a roadmap in terms of just
26:10
Speaker 19: every decision you're looking to make.
26:14
Speaker 1: It's a gift.
26:15
Speaker 4: We're talking about a twenty five year old that is
26:20
Speaker 4: top three player in the universe. I can't think of
26:24
Speaker 4: a more amazing starting point to build a roster for
26:29
Speaker 4: the next decade. And I know he has the drive
26:34
Speaker 4: to win that we have here. Our fans are gonna
26:37
Speaker 4: see that every night on the court. I know a
26:40
Speaker 4: period might seem calm and casual and quiet, but we
26:44
Speaker 4: know the alter ego comes out and we'll see it
26:48
Speaker 4: at Crypto dot com soon and I can't wait for it.
26:52
Speaker 1: Thanks everyone, through a Grovey Ford.
27:04
Speaker 14: Right, he moved quick.
27:05
Speaker 1: I'm here.
27:08
Speaker 13: All right right down here.
27:17
Speaker 5: There.
27:17
Speaker 21: It is Rob Polinka, Luka, Doncic, JJ Reddick as the
27:21
Speaker 21: Lakers introduced Luca to the LA media and their fans
27:25
Speaker 21: at the UCLA Health Training Center in El Segundo. Rob
27:28
Speaker 21: called it a seismic moment in NBA history. Luke talked
27:32
Speaker 21: about his emotions in leaving Dallas, his excitement for the Lakers,
27:37
Speaker 21: and his motivation to get it done.
27:39
Speaker 2: Tell you what he knows right away, this is a
27:42
Speaker 2: championship franchise and he wants to contribute to that. He
27:45
Speaker 2: made that very clear through in a couple of spots
27:48
Speaker 2: of humor too, which I appreciated, including JJ Redick. Uh
27:52
Speaker 2: you know he played with him. He didn't move real
27:54
Speaker 2: well when they were teammates. I was at the end
27:55
Speaker 2: of JJ's career, but can't wait to see how that
27:57
Speaker 2: relationship off to a fun start.
27:59
Speaker 3: Uh percolates here our