Since LeBron James suffered a groin injury on March 8 against the Boston Celtics, Luka Doncic and the Los Angeles Lakers struggled over their next 10 games, going 3-7.
On Wednesday, the Lakers, in LeBron’s third game back from injury, looked to get back on track, battling Tyrese Haliburton and the Indiana Pacers at Gainbridge Fieldhouse.
Coming into the game, Doncic had gone 110 consecutive games hitting a 3-pointer. With 6:39 remaining in the first quarter, the Slovenian hit a 27-foot step-back 3-pointer to tie the game up at 16 apiece. This marked his first 3-pointer of the game, making it 111 consecutive games with a long-distance make
In doing so, Doncic now has the 5th-longest 3-pointer streak in NBA history, according to StatMamba on X.
“Luka Doncic now has 111 straight games recording a 3PM — the 5th longest streak in NBA history.”
Doncic has a long way to go if he wants to break the record. The 3rd-longest streak goes to Milwaukee Bucks guard Damian Lillard, who made a 3-pointer in 150 consecutive games from Nov. 6, 2021-April 10, 2024.
However, Golden State Warriors superstar Steph Curry, considered by many to be the greatest shooter in NBA history, has the top two streaks. From Nov. 13, 2014-Nov. 3, 2016, Curry went 157 straight games making a 3-pointer.
But that doesn’t even compare to Curry’s record of 268 straight games, which he did from Dec. 1, 2018-Dec. 16, 2023. Keep in mind that injuries occurred during these times. The games they missed were not included.
Following the Pacers game, LeBron, Luka and the Lakers will continue their four-game road trip on Thursday against the Chicago Bulls.
LA Lakers fans show Luka Doncic the love that Dallas Mavs GM never game him
The sight of a middle aged woman wearing a purple-and-yellow No. 77 Los Angeles Lakers jersey walking down Sunset Blvd. is still unsettling. Maybe gross. Few cities, or sports franchises, need a favor less than L.A. and its Lakers. What Dallas Mavericks general manager Nico Harrison did for the city of Los Angeles, NBA and the Lakers should put his name in the rafters at Crypto.Com arena, next to Kobe, Magic, Kareem, Wilt, Shaq and their other one-named GOATs.
The Mavs handing Luka Doncic to L.A. has energized a team that was on a path towards the middle of the NBA standings. It has given new life to a franchise that had handcuffed itself to a 40-year-old superstar, and was going to feel the consequences of that decision sooner rather than later.
Luka has made Los Angeles the Lakers’ town again. Los Angeles is Hollywood first, Lakers (if they’re winning) second, and everything else fights for third. While the Dodgers start the defense of their 2024 World Series title, the feeling of optimism about the Lakers this spring in L.A. is tangible.
Back in Texas Meanwhile, 1,433 miles to the east of the Lakers’ home the team that dumped him is now laughable. The Mavs are now mandating that they need a new arena during a period of fan anger in this town that is normally reserved for the Cowboys.
Pro sports in North America is littered with examples of teams that shoot themselves in the face as they fall face-first into a trough of cow manure, but the Mavericks this spring have written a script that Hollywood executives would dismiss as preposterous teen Vampire fiction. When the Mavs traded Luka to L.A. they were 26-23, eighth in the NBA’s Western Conference. They had suffered through some injuries, most notably to Luka, and there was justified optimism that when the entire lineup was healthy they could make a run through the playoffs again. Since the trade, the Mavs are 10-15, now two games under .500, and in a fight for the last spot for the play-in round.
They also saw a franchise-altering injury to guard Kyrie Irving on March 3, who will be out for at least the next 10 months recovering from surgery to repair a torn ACL. That a lineup that has had Anthony Davis for a total of 87 minutes has won 10 games exceeds all expectations. Meanwhile, the Lakers are 16-10 since the deal and moved up from fifth to third in the West.
The Lakers won’t win an NBA title this season, but Luka puts them in that group chat. Just like he did with the Mavericks. Details keep coming out In the weeks and now almost months since the deal was announced, more details have emerged about the trade, and nearly all of them are worse than feared.
Former Dallas Morning News reporter and current ESPN NBA man Tim MacMahon had his new book on Luka Doncic done, and the first 8,000 copies were printed, headed to the shelves when the trade was announced. He added a new detailed chapter to “The Wonder Boy: Luka Doncic and the Curse of Greatness,” which qualifies as the timeliest book of 2025.
It’s a fascinating look at Luka’s path to the Mavericks, the staggering number of misreads by NBA talent evaluators before he was drafted by the Atlanta Hawks, and ultimately the factors that contributed to Harrison dumping Doncic. Neither former Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle nor Harrison should give this one a read.
MacMahon’s book paints the picture of a general manager who was tired of Doncic’s approach to being a pro basketball player. Harrison wants players who approach the game the way the late Kobe Bryant did, and anything else is insufficient. Harrison had targeted AD for years, as Nico preferred the players he developed relationships with when they were on the AAU circuit and he was a Nike exec’.
What is apparent in this book is that Nico had the keys to make the Mavericks his with new owner Patrick Dumont’s full blessing, and that he really didn’t like Doncic. Some Mavs higher ups were furious at Doncic when he came back this season again out of shape, especially when he suffered a calf injury that, in their minds, is a result of conditioning and training.
Harrison was convinced the Mavericks had already squeezed the best days out of a body that is doomed for major injury, and continued breakdowns. As much as people despise Nico for this trade, this prediction may be right. If it’s not … The current state of the Dallas Mavericks As evidenced by the one half they played together – a win over the Rockets on Feb. 8 – the combination of Kyrie and Davis had NBA Finals potential. Harrison’s vision for a unit that had Irving, Klay Thompson and P.J. Washington around the perimeter with Davis, Derek Lively and Daniel Gafford in the middle was top tier good. All of this is “Had.” Kyrie is 33, and he has a player option on his contract for one additional season that he is expected to exercise this summer.
When he returns, it’s a safe prediction to think he will not be the same player he was before the injury. Despite his best efforts Davis, 32, simply has been unable to stay healthy for prolonged stretches. The rest of these players need space created by players who command multiple defenders. The type of space the Lakers are now enjoying with Luka on the floor. Harrison has made one public appearance of note since the trade was made; the day after the deal was announced, he met with a small group of reporters in Cleveland before the Mavs’ game against the Cavaliers. Other than that, he’s been quiet and mostly invisible.
The players themselves have been left to answer questions about a scenario they had nothing to do with, and they have handled this situation admirably. His former boss, Mark Cuban, has made the media rounds and made it clear that he would never have made this deal, and he had no say in anything after he sold the team.
The idea that Cuban was going to remain in control of basketball was ops after he sold the majority interest in the team was, according to MacMahon, something that existed only in the former owner’s mind. With few first round draft picks upcoming, and now the threat of being mediocre to attract free agents, the best the Mavs can hope for is that Kyrie comes back from injury to pair with AD. Luka’s a Laker, and he’s doing for that franchise what he did for the Mavericks.
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