ESPN’s Plan to Highlight Luka Doncic’s Lakers’ Debut Completely Fell Apart

Luka Doncic is likely to make his Lakers debut Monday against the Jazz.

Los Angeles Lakers guard Doncic watches game action against the against the Los Angeles Clippers during the first half at Intuit Dome. / Gary A. Vasquez-Imagn Images

Luka Dončić's debut for the Los Angeles Lakers will have to wait, although ESPN jumped through hoops to broadcast what was supposed to be his first game in the purple and gold Saturday.

The network announced they they adjusted their schedule to broadcast the game between the Lakers and the Indiana Pacers Saturday, which they noted was the expected date for Dončić's debut. As he works to come back from a calf injury which has sidelined him since Christmas Day, Dončić is now hoping to make his Lakers debut Monday, Feb. 10 against the Utah Jazz according to Marc Stein.

ESPN's move to present Lakers-Pacers interrupted their college basketball Saturday slate, specifically the Duke-Clemson game scheduled to tip at 6 p.m. ET. To accommodate the anticipated Dončić debut, Duke-Clemson was pushed back 30 minutes to prevent overlap.

Then, it turned out Dončić would not play Saturday after the updated report with his new targeted return date. To make matters worse, LeBron James was also ruled out against the Pacers due to an ankle injury.

ESPN just got rugged by the NBA so bad.
Here's what happened:

1) Tomorrow's game between the Lakers and Pacers tips at 1 PM PT.
2) This was originally believed to be Luka's Lakers debut day.
3) Because of this, ESPN flexed out Friday's Jazz/Suns game to pick up the Saturday game… https://t.co/m6OGGmRJex

— Rob Perez (@WorldWideWob) February 8, 2025

In the end, Lakers-Pacers will still be shown on ESPN, with Duke-Clemson to follow. The Lakers will be without their new star duo as they await Doncic's return. So the game's main story will be off the court, sitting on the L.A. bench.

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