LOS ANGELES — Every seat in Crypto.com Arena was draped in a shirt of Lakers gold with a bold purple “77″ on the chest.
The buzz outside and inside the arena was palpable ahead of Monday night’s game, as if an electric current of Luka Dončić anticipation was running through every person, hallway, room and seat.
Gatorade even released a promo on Monday afternoon with the L’s in the Hollywood sign painted Laker gold and flipped to represent the number 77. The promo declared that, once again in Los Angeles, “It’s Showtime.”
Monday night’s debut was one that, prior to Feb. 2, nobody saw coming, but it is one that’s bound to change things in the Western Conference for the foreseeable future. Luka Dončić is a Laker.
When his name was announced as the final Lakers starter of the night and when he hit his first shot in a Lakers jersey, the din of the crowd was representative of what this could mean for the future of this franchise.
The Western Conference has long been the superior conference in the NBA, Lakers exceptionalism has meant that they are more often than not in the mix, and the addition of Dončić means that they have no plan of leaving the top of the pack.
On Monday night, there was another team at Crypto.com Arena, but the Utah Jazz, the opponent on the night of Dončić’s Laker debut, were an afterthought to nearly every person in the building that was not employed by the Jazz.
And, if you were watching how they played, particularly in the first half, you would have thought that the game was an afterthought for the Jazz players.
“We got our butts kicked,” Jazz head coach Will Hardy said. “We got physically dominated in a lot of ways tonight. I think that the attention to detail, the individual defense, the initial shifts just weren’t there. I thought our activity as a whole was pretty poor on the defensive end tonight.”
Whether it was the pressure of the moment, the emotion in the building or the bright lights of a nationally televised game that was being watched from every corner of the world, the Jazz did not live up to the moment.
Rather than use it as an opportunity to show the world that the Jazz have young players on the rise who are worth watching, the Jazz players crumbled and allowed the light to shine even brighter on Dončić, LeBron James and those that surround them.
As Isaiah Collier, Keyonte George and John Collins combined for 14 turnovers, Dončić and James’ offensive brilliance raised the ceiling for their own young group.
Rui Hachimura and Jaxon Hayes, who averaged a combined 18.7 points going into Monday night’s game, finished with a combined 33 points. That’s what life looks like when you are on a team with two of the best playmakers in the NBA.
“They’re two of the best thinkers, problem solvers that we’ve ever seen,” Hardy said before the game. “I don’t see any world where those two playing together isn’t a good thing. Like I said, their processing speed, mentally, is incredible. And so I’m sure they’ll figure it out.”
Dončić, on a minutes restriction after having been sidelined since Christmas, played just 23 minutes. A little rusty? Certainly. Even so, his 14 points were enough to delight the fans in attendance and earn him MVP chants at the free throw line.
Meanwhile, in Dallas, the team that traded away Dončić, played in front of a sparsely populated arena, lost in overtime to the Sacramento Kings and a fan was escorted out of the building after he was seen on the jumbotron mouthing “fire Nico,” referring to the team’s general manager, Nico Harrison.
Adding insult to injury, Dallas Mavericks legend Dirk Nowitzki was not in Dallas. Instead, he was at the Lakers game, seemingly supporting the player that was supposed to be his heir and successor in Dallas but instead is now playing for a Western Conference foe.
Lakers head coach JJ Redick said before the game that he was excited and curious — two emotions on which he thrives — to see how this was all going to work on the court.
And on the first night of Dončić’s tenure in Los Angeles, everyone forgot that there was another team in the building, excitement and curiosity fueled the Lakers and Luke Dončić ruled the day.
