JJ Redick’s challenge to Luka Doncic in Denver was of the emotional variety. But he knew it would probably translate to the statistics.
“I want at least one blackout episode where he’s screaming indiscriminately at no one in particular because he’s excited,” the first-year Lakers coach said Saturday before facing the Nuggets. “That means he’s back. That’s the Luka I know. The killer.”
Back from what, exactly? Doncic’s recent calf injury, yes, but also the mental malaise associated with getting traded away from a city where he thought he would play his entire career.