[ESPN] Luka Doncic on the Lakers’ title expectations this season: “If you don’t think we can win a championship, then you shouldn’t be here.”
So depressing hearing him say that again as a Laker. The Locked on Mavs podcast had him saying “If you dont believe, then you shouldn’t be here” as their intro soundbite for years
It’s genuinely heartbreaking every time I remember he’s not ours
I was completely done with the team. If it wasn’t for Coop I would probably be a Spurs fan lol
I’ve been a Mavs fan for too long to defect. But yeah it absolutely killed my interest in the Mavs for a while. I’m excited for this season, but it’s not the same
“If it wasn’t for Coop.”
That shit was part of the deal and we all know it.
Heartbreaking? Ever consider therapy?
Brother sadness isn’t a bad thing
He’s right. 2 of the last 3 NBA champions had high profile Luka teammates. If you don’t believe, it has turned out better for those who have left.
Time to get over it
no
Bandwagoned to the Lakers, but I’m still fucking pissed everytime I remember the trade. 7 years of team-building just to be traded.
You cant move forward if you don’t move on
Commenting on something doesn’t imply that they aren’t over it
Found the Nico burner account
Awww I wish he kept the prince charming hair
Really? Hahah I’m glad he got rid of that
everyone leaves
Lol
He had to say it, but let’s be real man, unless he and AR improve their defense and not be the worst backcourt defense in the league, they stand no chance lol.
Ant and LaMelo gonna feast them like BBQ chicken and they ain’t even the Spurs or OKC.
Good thing they’re not a backcourt defensively, Luka is a forward on the defensive end.
Its a dumb argument. Theres been a diff champ every year since 2019. Nobody has even repeated in the finals.
0 people legitimately thought the Knicks would win last year. 0 people saw the Pacers making the finals in 2025. In this NBA probably 75% of the teams can realistically win. Why not the Lakers. Many more unexpected things have happened
Not many people had the Mavs making the finals in ‘24 neither when they traded away Grant Williams for PJ Washington
The knicks had the 4th highest preseason odds last year at +1000 about 9-10%. the east was seen as easy as fuck for Cavs and Knicks with the tatum injury. The Spurs were way more the surprise team of the year
I honestly believe the 7 straight different champions streak is just a crazy statistical anomoly, and there are teams that should have repeated as champs if it weren’t for some crazy shit happening in the playoffs (such as Denver 2024 or OKC 2026)
Nobody was beating 2024 Celtics, that’s still the best team in NBA since GSW core + KD. Nuggets were not beating THAT Celtics roster.
But 2026 OKC should have repeated if J-Dub was healthy, but then again GSW would have had a 3-peat and would be considered the best team ever if KD didn’t tear his Achilles in WCF.
While I agree that 7 might be a bit of an anomaly, I don’t think the larger phenomenon of parity is an anomaly as long as the second apron is around. The second apron is so punitive that it makes keeping a good team together far more difficult than it used to be. As long as the second apron is in place, I don’t think we’re going to have dynasties like we used to. Just look at OKC…they did everything right and built their team through the draft, but they’re still going to be far too expensive to keep all the important parts of the team together. The Spurs will face the same situations once Castle and Harper are on their next contracts.
0 people thought the Knicks would win? That’s quite the exaggeration. People who knew ball knew that this year would be their best chance, they’d come very close to coming out of the east the past 2 seasons too, and the teams that would be their biggest threats were both out of comission thanks to Haliburton and Tatum both nursing a torn Achilles.
RemindMe! 1 year
“different champ every year” just means it’s gonna be hard for the knicks to repeat. not that the lakers have a chance.
the mavs, knicks, and pacers all at least had pieces in place to form a decent defense around their stars, or assets to make improvements. The lakers do not. Kessler by himself is not enough.
Thybulle is an all-defense caliber guy, Ziaire is also an excellent defender, Grimes is serviceable, Adou + Carr are young but have the profile to be great defenders.
You make it sound like Luka + AR is worse defensively than Luka + Kyrie: they are not. Kessler is as good as Lively (arguably better since he actually rebounds the ball - no shade on Lively though, he was insane for a rookie).
Are we really talking up PJ Washington and DJJ as some insane defensive pieces higher tier than what Lakers brought in this offseason?
Plus Lakers still have access to a swap for 2032 + multiple 2nd round picks: that can easily bring in a backup for Kessler.
If there is a question I have, it is about health (Luka, AR and especially Kessler and Thybulle): talent wise they are as good as 2024 Mavs.
I don’t think it’s just Kessler. They added some perimeter and wing defenders like Thybulle and ziare and grimes. Is it enough? We’ll see but we have seen multiple teams the last couple of finals make the finals when very few if any thought they would get their before the season started
0 people? Really?
Defense allegedly wins championships. You got 2 of the worst defenders as your starting guards so you have to really use your imagination to find a way to get defensive value out of your other 3 players.
75% of the teams can win
Wat
Man shut up I had the Knicks winning the title the year before in my predictions for 24-25. I was just a year early. People knew they were a title contender
Ok so who did you have winning the championship for 25-26? Sounds like it wasn’t the Knicks so you’re proving his point
I guess the Kings could win this year too, for sure, based on ur dmb logic. 🤣
You’re an idiot lol
I’m sure Ant and LaMelo will be locking them down on the other end.
Lock them down way harder than Luka and AR standing still for easy blowbys all game. Lol. Ant and LaMelo can’t wait 🤣
I mean Ant alone swept Luka + AR + LeBron 1v3 and took over the LA streets chanting ‘Wolves in 5’ so with LaMelo it’s easy peasy.
I guess wolves fan have a short memory since luka swept ant when he was on the mavs. Had him begging for oxygen on the sideline after he was talking out the side of his mouth.
Worst backcourt defensively ?! What about Ja and Dame? Even mentioning Lamelo like he won’t be absolutely cooked by Luka himself is certainly a choice , the lakers feasted on Minny last year and expect more of the same this season but ppl continue to push this false narrative. Are they Rodman and Pippen? No but they’re certainly not the worst.
Did you see what ant did to the lakers last year and what Luka and ar did to the wolves
Also why don’t ant and lamelo fall into the same category of great offense ass defense
We saw Ant 1v3 single handedly swept Luka + AR + LeBron first round and took over the streets of LA shouting ‘Wolves in 5’, lad. Lol.
We’ve seen it all. Now they add LaMelo 🤣
That was two seasons ago and they didn’t just add lamelo both teams have changed
We didn’t have a center.
Does it help that their the best offensive backcourt in the league
That depends on how Austin perform in the playoffs. So far he hasn’t lived up to the hype he has.
Probably just a typo. But it’s supposed to be they’re. Not their.
It will help them immensely in the regular season. They’ll probably look amazing in the first round too.
It would if they were
We’re not taking them over Ant + LaMelo on offense either lol.
LaMelo is much better than AR on offense. And they both synergize way better. Luka is basically playing with a Temu Luka, to much overlap no athleticism. LaMelo and Ant is alley oop heaven. Much more all round ridiculous rim pressure.
Luka and ar are better at scoring and better at playmaking
Thankfully they aren’t close to being the worst backcourt defensively in the league.
Ant and LaMelo won’t do shit. They’re getting clapped by OKC or San Antonio
That’s why I say they’re behind both. They’ll clap the Lakers first before all that anyway.
Luka doesn’t guard guards. Grimes will
There will be a 2nd and 3rd star to expose him, don’t worry.
Lmao whatever makes u feel better
Brian windhorst psy op still working overtime
you pick that one duo that are actually worst than Luka and AR defensively hahahah
Ant alone is better than both Luka and AR combined. Lmfao.
Actually, he wasn’t this past season.
Maybe with LaMelo doing ballhandling this upcoming season he will finally lock in, but Ant was a below average defender in 25-26: both Luka and AR had better defensive advanced stats than him.
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“I’m willing to do whatever it takes to win it all”
“even play defense?”
“well, not that”
You know, I like it. He seems authentic and on par with typical Laker expectations. Excited to see him win another scoring record with hopefully the MVP if not Tatum
“on par with typical Laker expectations…”
My guy. Coming this from a Celtics fan, love it. All the best to your team and Tatum too, man.
God what happened to the sport that I love
Celtics fans love this current iteration of the Lakers. They can really relate to the players.
I don’t want the Celtics to be bad, that’s just pathetic. I want them to be good then blow a 3-1 lead to the Lakers in the Finals.
Oh hell nah. Fuck them greens!
Tatum is a great player and hope he comes back strong but hell no to the Celtics
Yeah I don’t like either of those guys or you too.
The fuck is this
It’s gotta be the most wholesome thing in the world to see a Celtics fan make this kinda comment about the Lakers lol. Hope you guys kill it in the East this season. I think both our teams will end up surprising a lot of people.
Sounds like corpo speak to me but what do I know? I’m not a sub 1% genetic outlier
He’s not winning mvp
sounds like you should get over it
First 10 games for Lakers will determine if they win the championship per ESPN.
thats how to nba. the first 10 games of the season are always the most important
It’s not though is it, y’all weren’t doing great in the first 10 games, in fact the entire season y’all weren’t as dominant as you would expect, then fast foward a couple of months, Knicks win with a dominant run post the Hawks series.
/thatsthejoke
no one gives a damn about the nba until january
You trynna say that Reddit is different?
No they won’t, they’re basically a brand new team, I expect there to be bumps in the road but have a lot of confidence that they will look much better at the end of the season compared to their first 10 games. Only thing that might change that is that their schedule is pretty light to start the season
they will go 2-8 and then go to the finals
Yall got some really weird responses to this.
Right? If they don’t believe in themselves, what is the point?
lol the comments in this post are daily reminder why this sub blows
Losers aren’t used to somebody who wants to win
Mfs really expect a superstar to say “nah we’re not good enough this season”
Not upvoting you only because you’re at 77 upvotes at the moment of this comment
Love how everyone here is shitting on him for saying that, like what else is he supposed to say?
It’s weird seeing Knicks and Celtics fans being the most rational fans bases when talking about the lakers heading into the season
There are a lot of goofy people in our fanbase absolutely but that’s because we have so many fans. Believe it or not there are those of us that are capable of rational thought.
He’s being arrogant. Clearly he should say the team is too white and that they ain’t winning shit. Now that’s humility.
In case it isn’t obvious: /s
Baseball managers always talk about taking it 1 game at a time. It’s not like some hidden wisdom to not put massive expectations on a season that can be derailed easily by anything, injuries or tree planting etc.
For instance the manager of Cleveland didn’t guarantee the playoffs his first three years at the helm… He just delivered them, saying 1 game at a time each year
“We can make it the second round!…maybe?”
[removed]
He’s right
That’s kind of his motto. He said it with the Mavs, too. “If you don’t believe, you shouldn’t be here.” It was part of one of my fav Mavs podcast’s intro lol
There we go. As it should be. No excuses
Don’t know about y’all but I want Luka to win a championship
I see many hatin comments.What do you want Luka to say? We are tanking?If some Yanks said it then you ain’t have any problems, but when Luka said it ppl lost their minds.
Anyone who gatekeeps people and brands them as “idiots” just for using a certain word in their expression, is on a whole new level of stupidity
Guess we have to rename the new york yankees from baseball then 🤷
i don’t see anyone hating, only replies calling it like it is. nobody’s hating on luka for this, the way he phrased it sets up for an easy punchline is all. it’s not that deep.
Lakers fans in their feelings because they know it’s true.
He could talk like folks in baseball do about taking it 1 game at a time and winning as many as physically possible. Seems to be fine in that sport where nobody not even the dodgers talks about definitively winning a championship before the season even starts. It’s a long season! And dude likes to play through injury and hurt himself more
peace out ✌🏼
r/NBA redditors try not to make the same snarky joke challenge
Peace ✌️
Agree with Luka forget all these haters. Get that mvp
One of the most talented players in the league! I believe in this team.
Yeah Its gonna be hard and there not favourites but there is a chance. A small one but even then you have to believe.
Commenting for receipts, see you at the parade.
The west is tooooo stacked…I’m not sure…
East is overall better than the west this year
Whoa 🤯 Spurs, Nuggets, OKC, Wolves, Rockets?!
Knicks Celtics 76ers Pistons Raptors (maybe) It is closer but I think the top of the West is better. The Knicks aren’t quite as good. Nobody in the East scares me like OKC and the Spurs.
Analytics would indicate the Cavs have the highest win probability for a championship.
Back to back analytics champs! ❤️
Rockets… lol
Idk chief
Guess that’s why I’m not there with Luka rn
Poor luka dude got fucked and this team is mid at best. He will drag them along with him corpses and all. I hope he wins one. Go Luka
Well, the Minneapolis Lakers won 5 championships, so if our lineup has to be whiter than Vermont to get 5 more, so be it.
I will not stand for David KKKahn TWolves erasure
its that bad?
4 white guys and Grimes lol
and the luka trade gaslit this place into thinking pelinka was a mastermind 💔
Making Los Angeles great again
99 Luft Balloons
Dude please get a hair cut.
well im not there already
We will not be there!
Ok bye
We believe lakers
luka wasting his talent on lakers, he’s way better on that mavs team.
He wasted a lot of his talent and health on mediocre Mavs teams too
No pal that’s not Luka.
After him getting trafficked to a first round exit team, maybe he would grow a spine and gtfoh that team before they ruin his career.
Be worry about Jokic first before Luka.
Lol right. Nuggs been wasting Jokic fr.
Luka requesting Jokic to be traded to the Lakers
Come back home bb the bad man Nico is gone
It’s Nico’s plan all along buddy. Cooper is the ultimate star complement to Luka if you think about it. Elite off ball threat.
I feel like the guy they traded Luka for is the ultimate star complement
That was the sacrifice for the collab with Silver, they let Luka go to LA to get marketing revenue without winning anything then complete the plan with his return to Dallas to form the ultimate complementary duo, Cooper Don.
The complete opposite of AR, gives Luka defense, off ball play, screens, lob threat, athleticism, Cooper is THAT dude.
No sane person thinks this team is going to win a championship, but I’ll sure as hell tune in to watch the games. I think they’ll be fun to watch. I’m excited to see how Kessler and Luka mesh. Sure as hell going to be much better than whatever the fuck Ayton and Luka was.
I don’t think they will win unless they make a great trade somehow or unless some of their guys seriously improve like Kessler being unreal defensively and looking like a great fit offensively, maybe Carr or Thiero being impactful or Zaire Williams actually being great. Because right now they have some obvious holes.
But that being said, not a lot of people picked the Knicks last season, I’d say even during the playoffs it was still like “they are good but Spurs/OKC won’t be as easy”. Before that, we had Indy making the finals, Mavs making the finals, the Heat team. Obviously 8 champs in 8 years, I’d say post Warriors-Cavs era, its hard to predict what will happen
He’s not wrong.
I’m not there and I don’t think they can win a championship.
“Drops mic”
I’ll see myself out
I mean he has a point… there’s a reason why LeBron left
If you think he will actually play defense in the playoffs, then you shouldn’t be here.
He needs to be prepared to play center because in no multiverse reality Kessler will play 82 games and we have no proper back up center.
(Good luck with Mamu/Looney for an extended period of games).
Absurdly I miss Jaxson Hayes who would have been able to hold the fort with Mamu if necessary.
Looney=Jared Dudley golden years.
The Lakers are gonna be a play in team
Zion Williamson on the hearts’ myocardial infarction
expectations this season: “If you don’t think we can get diabetes by going to the Golden Corral daily, then you shouldn’t be here.”
It’s the lakers. They will get a second superstar for peanuts by mid season
Is this AI Luka?
Should be empty then
Even if their starting lineup can compete, how is the Sexton/Thybulle/Mamu bench supposed to beat out the Harper/Johnson/Kornet or Caruso/Mitchell/Jay-Will trio?? There’s no way.
Quivering in our boots
Wait he already got fatter?
water weight
Yes, he’s noticeably fatter. Those videos from a month ago he looked slim. Did he just get fatter really quick or were those videos altered?
I am getting downvoted for an observation lmfao
Luka fanboys are wild LOL
Lakers fans don’t want to accept that he’s going to be overweight again and that’s an ongoing issue.
Okay?
I shouldn’t be here
Imma head out…..
I’m not there