The Los Angeles Lakers will look to stave off elimination on Wednesday night when they host the Minnesota Timberwolves in Game 5 of their first-round series and extend what has been a whirlwind season in L.A.
The team hired a new coach prior to the season in JJ Redick and then pulled off the most shocking trade in league history in January when they sent Anthony Davis to Dallas for Luka Doncic. Since arriving in L.A., Dončić has helped lead the Lakers to a terrific record and the No. 3 seed in the Western Conference, but he is still adjusting to the sudden change of scenery that no one, including him, saw coming.
He is steadily acclimating to his new team and city, and quickly looked to involve himself in the community. Shortly after joining the Lakers, Dončić donated $500,000 to relief efforts after the devastating fires that swept through L.A. in January, and this week while the Lakers are in the midst of a playoff battle, he donated $5,000 to cover the cost of restoring a vandalized mural of Kobe and Gianna Bryant.
The mural, which was put up in 2020, was done by artist Louie “Sloe” Motions, who posted to the @KobeMural Instagram page about the vandalism with a link to a GoFundMe page with a $5,000 goal for the paints and supplies needed. The top donation on the page is $5,000 from Dončić, covering the entirety of the goal.
“Kobe is L.A. He and Gigi mean so much to this city, to the Lakers organization and to me personally,” Doncic told the L.A. Times Tuesday through a representative. “I’m happy to do anything to help make sure he and his daughter are honored.”
While Dončić can certainly afford a $5,000 donation, it’s still a meaningful act that further ingratiates him with the Lakers community. The Lakers have had a number of stars, but there is no one that connected more with L.A. and this current generation of Lakers fans than Bryant.
Dončić himself is among the many current NBA stars that grew up as Kobe fans, and for him to do something to help honor Bryant and his daughter’s memory in L.A. during the playoffs is a very nice gesture.
