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Stephen A. reflects on the Luka Doncic trade…ONE YEAR LATER 👀 | First Take
On First Take, Stephen A. Smith reflects on the Dallas Mavericks’ trade of Luka Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers for Anthony Davis. ✔️ Subscribe to ESPN Unlimited: #ESPN #NBA
@focuz4899
February 2, 2026 at 1:28 pm
There’s gonna be 29 teams going home. Not just the Lakers. Because only one team is winning in the end. And it probably won’t be yours 🫵🏾.
@bluntforcepodcast8407
February 2, 2026 at 1:35 pm
12 for 42 from 3point is the reason I don’t watch NBA anymore
@BR-re7oz
February 2, 2026 at 1:45 pm
You’d rather see MJ go 13 for 32 from inside the arc?
@Ewabound571
February 2, 2026 at 1:40 pm
Problem is the Lakers need to trade Lebron cuz they ain’t going nowhere with that dead weight. He dead weight, taking most of the salary cap. They need to build around Luka and Austin and move on from Lebron and get some assets.
@nickmarquez7031
February 2, 2026 at 1:42 pm
SAS doesn’t watch basketball. He reads news.
@TyTyBryant
February 2, 2026 at 5:41 pm
Luka trash
@BigC-vi9jq
February 2, 2026 at 1:46 pm
Man the lakers suck
@kaistreets
February 2, 2026 at 1:55 pm
Lakers are 25th in defensive rating and 8th in offensive rating. Only 3.5 games behind the 2nd seed. Lakers are overachieving. Let’s just call it what it is. They won’t be title contenders until they’re close to top 10 in both. It’s pretty simple.
It’s the organizations job to build around their team’s best players. Clearly that’s a lack of defense. It’s not rocket science.
@Tattagreis89
February 2, 2026 at 2:01 pm
Hes right, Lakers traded for Luka with their future in mind. They dont have a proper Team. They tried to atleast fill some holes with the limited budget but Ayton and Smart arent good enough to fill those, which is to be expected. Reeves has been out for forever now and even if hes back they need some wings. Defense and 3 point shooting to spread the floor. Lebron just eats up too much cap space for the player he is atm. The dude is still a beast for a 41y old but its not worth the 52million dollars hes getting. They thing that clearly breaks their back is the noticable lack of defense but even when they defend ok/well they have horrible shooting percentages. Luka can make the passes of the century but if they cant convert on the free 3pointers its not winable against any team thats worth jackshit.
@daljinc
February 2, 2026 at 2:03 pm
dumbSAS
@greenmonk941991
February 2, 2026 at 2:20 pm
Sad truth is. It’s better to trade away LeBron and reaves for picks and rotational players around Luka. He’s the star. He’s gonna hold the ball the most anyways. I would look at the magic around Dwight all those years. Put shooters around him and watch him flourish.
@Waldoo-o
February 2, 2026 at 2:29 pm
If the lakers never traded AD. It would be LeBron and a bunch of no names and ayton just chilling on the floor 😂😂😂 AD is injured. Reaves injured. Luka is helping this team so much but the lebron Stan’s love to blame Luka for everything and LeBron not once has given Luka and type of credit all season. 😂😂😂 can’t wait for LeBron to get out of dodge as a lakers fan. If we resign him I’m not buying my season tickets next season
@rsmachine9020
February 2, 2026 at 2:47 pm
Trade LeBron, get Reeves back from injury, and the problems are solved. LeBron’s salary is the biggest burden on this team.
@waynec9640
February 2, 2026 at 3:13 pm
Luka play better with Austin Reeve unfortunately not with Lebron ?
@MaggieSmith-ue5oj
February 2, 2026 at 4:26 pm
Luka doesn’t plays any defense!!!!!
@UnLock-qy5wc
February 2, 2026 at 3:26 pm
Mavs built a team around Luka and made the finals. Now since the trade, the lakers need to do the same and build around Luka. That’s how they’ll make the finals. And they are not built for Luka right now
@davidbenitez8611
February 2, 2026 at 3:40 pm
Most basic take ever
@danieldominguez5863
February 2, 2026 at 3:49 pm
Lakers need to get rid of all remnants of the Buss Family within thr organization. Rambis, Pelinka and Jeanie
This team is not good enough to compete and our GM and VP are rhe same person who cant find the players that Luka and Reaves need to compete just big name players
@angelrivera-sj6gk
February 2, 2026 at 5:37 pm
Lakers needs a center at 7′,5″
@dmasterflash24
February 2, 2026 at 5:50 pm
They were better without LeBron
@raymondolaivar4042
February 2, 2026 at 6:14 pm
Stupid Luka is a franchise keeper. Lakers not thinking right😅😂
@RICO_SUAVE21
February 2, 2026 at 6:28 pm
They still suck because they have LeBron and his son on the team. ESPN needs to stop telling us lies 😂😂😂😂😂 Steven A just gave a statistic on the lakers that they lead the league in giving up uncontested shotts, but he forgot to mention the main culprit is LeBron who never guards anyone 😂
@josephswearington7556
February 2, 2026 at 7:02 pm
LeBron took a bad 07 cavs team to finals, why can’t Luka take an average lakers team to the finals?
@zockey99
February 2, 2026 at 7:10 pm
flagg isnt a pg…..imagine if he had a proper pg on the team like a luka….oh wait they did🤣
@jpofficial2233
February 2, 2026 at 7:46 pm
Nah really
@MKbasket
February 2, 2026 at 7:47 pm
SAS IS A BS HATER AS ALWAYS!!!! STATS HE CLAIME HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH LUKA, WHO WAS THE BEST DEFENDER, PASSER, REBOUNDER, SCORER AGAINST KNICKS … WHAT BS ARE TOU TALKING ABOUT AND BEING PAID FOR IT !?!?!?!??!?!? SOME COMPANIES HAVE MONEY TO BURN IN BS …. BRUH …. THIS IS WHY SUBSCRIPTIONS ARE SO HIGH … BRUH !!!!
@gabrielmena4484
February 2, 2026 at 8:36 pm
When your PG has 3x the boards your Center has, something is not right.
@jayzee316
February 2, 2026 at 9:32 pm
Its a huge paradox, if Luka is top 3 player, lebron is still allstar level, austin is allstar or semi-allstar, and you have a cast of decent role players, how are you not at the top? maybe one of these presumptions just isnt true?