Mavs big man Anthony Davis and head coach Jason Kidd have shared their thoughts about facing Lakers star Luka Doncic, who will return to American Airlines Center for the first time since the blockbuster trade that shook the NBA world.
His former coach, Kidd, tried to downplay the game as just another one on the schedule.
“Just another home game,” Kidd told reporters.
Although he was trying to be coy, he couldn’t deny that the atmosphere will be something else.
“It should be electric,” Kidd said of the atmosphere. “I think the fans will be excited to see Luka. We’ll be excited to figure out how to protect [our] home.”
Davis was asked about the highly-anticipated matchup between him and his former team and wasn’t eager to share his true thoughts.
“No emotions,” Davis said.
Kidd admitted that he hasn’t spoken to Doncic since the February trade.
“No I have not,” Kidd said, per Lakers Nation.
But if he does speak to Luka, he has a message:
“That he keeps smiling,” Kidd said. “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.”
Kidd added, “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. 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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