“Doesn’t Fit the Mold”: Paul Pierce Compares Luka Doncic to Lakers Legends, Deems the Move a ‘Bad Trade’

Raahib Singh | 02/02/2025
“Doesn’t Fit the Mold”: Paul Pierce Compares Luka Doncic to Lakers Legends, Deems the Move a ‘Bad Trade’

The Los Angeles Lakers and the Dallas Mavericks shocked everyone this Saturday night. While everyone was keeping their eyes peeled waiting for news about a Jimmy Butler trade, the two West teams shocked the NBA with a mega trade. The Mavericks traded Luka Doncic and acquired Anthony Davis from the Lakers.

Just like everyone else, Paul Pierce took to X as well to share his thoughts about this move. What caught our attention was how Pierce feels Luka doesn’t fit the mold of the superstars the Lakers have had in the past. He named the likes of Magic Johnson, Kobe Bryant, Shaquille O’Neal, and LeBron James as examples.

Paul does have a point. Luka, unlike the other Lakers legends he mentioned, isn’t your traditionally athletic ball player.

Magic, Shaq, and Kobe were all extremely athletic and could dominate the game that way. Luka, on the other hand, relies on his moves and plays at his own pace. That doesn’t make him any less of a dominant player, but he doesn’t fit the traditional mold.

However, it’s too early to declare the trade a bad move.

At the same time, there was a series of tweets Pierce had that showed the evolution of his thought process about the move. It started with him thinking Luka must’ve wanted out of Dallas.

It then evolved to thinking about how LeBron now has a chance to groom Luka Doncic to become the face of the league.

However, he soon started seeing a flaw with the new team-up. Pierce believes Luka and LeBron won’t fit together, because of their ball-dominant nature.

Not soon after, he put out another tweet believing the only way to save the Lakers was to trade LeBron James and his son Bronny to build around Luka.

We’re sure to get more opinions from Pierce and others about the trade in the coming days as more information comes out. For now, it’s safe to say that he’s as shocked about the move as the rest of us.

Post Edited By: Dhruv Rupani
Dallas Mavericks Los Angeles Lakers Luka Doncic paul pierce

About the author

Raahib Singh

Raahib Singh

Raahib Singh is an NBA Journalist and Content Strategist at The SportsRush. A Computer Science Engineer by qualification, Raahib's passion for sports drew him towards TSR. He started playing basketball at 14 and has been following the NBA since 2013. His entry into the basketball world perfectly coincided with Stephen Curry putting the league on notice. Having followed the league for a long time, he decided to use his knowledge to become a sportswriter with The SportsRush in 2020. Raahib loves to put up some shots in his spare time, watch Cricket, Formula 1, and/or read a nice thriller.

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