When Luka Doncic got traded to the Lakers last month, he was caught completely off guard. Even after he arrived in LA, it took him some time to get over the initial shock. “That first day was really hard. I felt like these last 48 hours was one month. Emotionally, it was really hard.” Luka said during his introductory press conference. Nearly two months have passed, and the Slovenian star is feeling more at home with the Lakers. But he is yet to fulfil one major locker room tradition – one that could prove crucial in building chemistry with his teammates.

After last night’s impressive win against the Rockets, Doncic made the shocking revelation, “Well, we didn’t do dinner yet. We had so many games so didn’t have time for that.” Yes, the superstar is yet to have team dinner with LeBron James and Co. Of course, a big reason behind it has been the Lakers’ constant road trips and grueling schedule amid their playoff pursuit.

However, Luka believes that the team’s bond is solid regardless, “Off the court, it’s great. Everybody, we joking in the locker room and when we need to lock in we lock in. So, the chemistry is at great point right now.” It was evident from their performance last night as the Lakers made a major change in their strategy when Luka hurt his elbow after taking a hard fall.

Whenever the Lakers enter a game, usually their first plan of action is to let Luka and LeBron run the show and take it from there. But that strategy did not work particularly well last night, as Luka struggled on offense because of the midgame elbow injury.

He finished with only 20 points on 6 of 16 shooting. So, the LA team turned to Dorian Finney-Smith and Gabe Vincent for help. The move worked brilliantly as the unlikely duo combined for 40 points, making twelve total three pointers.

After the game, Doncic revealed the reason behind their change of plan, “Just do what the defense gives you, you know they gotta give you something at some point. So, once we saw they’re doing that, we were just telling those guys to shoot.” The Lakers realized that Smith and Vincent had the hot hand and constantly got them open shots. Moreover, this collective team effort boosted Luka’s confidence for the future.

Luka Doncic feels “comfortable” with Lakers teammates after hard fought win against Rockets

Well, the LA team was put to the test last night. The Rockets have been on fire all year and headed into the game with three straight wins. So, Luka Doncic and Co. knew they needed to bring their A game to win. They did exactly that by limiting the visitors to 98 points with their elite defense.

Once the Lakers successfully protected home court, Doncic revealed his confidence in the roster, “Great. Very comfortable. You saw today, today we fought. We fought really hard. It was a very physical game. You know we gotta play like this every game.”

He continued, “If we play like this on the defensive end, on offense we didn’t do much outside Gabe and Dorian you know. But we shared the ball, we were playing with pace and just gotta play like that.” Although the Big Three couldn’t do much damage as scorers and Luka even called it their “worst game,” together, they did a solid job of making their teammates better.

That’s exactly what the Lakers need from their superstars—to lead in more ways than one. Moreover, Dorian and Vincent showed that the team is deep and can be a legitimate threat in the playoffs regardless of who they’re facing. Maybe, now that Doncic has made it public, last night’s win will spark the idea of the team dinner that he has been waiting for since the trade. Thoughts?