Jason Kidd happy to see Luka Dončić smiling again after trade to Lakers

Ahead of the first Lakers-Mavs matchup since the Luka Dončić trade, Jason Kidd is happy to see his former star in good spirits.

Luka Doncic had his first chance to meet his former team on Tuesday when the Lakers hosted the Mavericks.

Even hours before the contest, the energy outside Crypto.com Arena was buzzing. Jordan Brand released a terrific ad earlier in the day that continued until the game itself and fans arrived as early as possible to witness this marquee matchup. And when Dončić stepped onto the floor, he was welcomed to thunderous applause.

While a game has to be played and Mavericks coach Jason Kidd now has to compete against his former superstar, he did reveal what he’d tell Luka if he talked with him ahead of this game.

“That he keeps smiling,” Kidd said pregame. “When he’s smiling, he’s in a great place and he’s having fun. It’s good to see that he’s smiling here of late and again, just understanding that the business of basketball could be shocking and it was shocking to the world, but you have to move forward, you have to push forward. He has a job to do and that’s to play basketball at a high level and I think he can do that.”

While Kidd might want to see Luka all smiles, he was all business pregame. He went through his regular routine even with Mavericks general manager Nico Harrison standing near the scorer’s table.

Neither Harrison nor Luka glanced in each other’s direction throughout pregame.

Kidd, as a former NBA player and current coach, knows this game has a feeling that makes it feel bigger than the typical regular season game. Still, he’s aware that in the long term, Luka on the Lakers will be an incredible tandem regardless of what happens in Tuesday’s game.

“When you look at what Luka is probably going through, there’s a lot of attention on this one game, but the train keeps moving,” Kidd said. “This game is going to come and go and understand that he’s gonna be one of the best players in the world and the Lakers are fortunate to have him.”

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