Skip to main content
Join

Luka Doncic trade: ESPN shifts Saturday college hoops schedule to add potential Lakers debut

Barkley-Truaxby:Barkley Truax•about 10 hours•

BarkleyTruax

Luka Doncic
(© Jerome Miron-Imagn Images)

This weekend’s college basketball programming slate has been adjusted to compensate for the potential debut of Luka Doncic with the Los Angeles Lakers on Saturday, ESPN revealed.

The Lakers will now host the Indiana Pacers at 4 p.m. ET on Saturday afternoon live on ESPN. No. 1 Auburn vs. No. 6 Florida, which is scheduled for tip-off at the same time, was originally scheduled to air on ESPN’s main broadcast. Now, it will be available to watch on ESPN2.

North Carolina vs. Pitt was set to air on ESPN2 at the same time but is now being replaced for the top-10 matchup between Auburn and Florida. They’ll now play on ESPNU. Liberty vs. Sam Houston State will now be played on ESPNEWS/ESPN+

This also pushes the marquee ACC matchup of the Saturday college basketball schedule of No. 2 Duke on the road vs. Clemson back 30 minutes, from 6 p.m. ET to 6:30 p.m. ET. This, in turn, has pushed back No. 3 Alabama vs. Arkansas, which is now set for 8:30 p.m. ET and will air on ESPN after Duke-Clemson. No. 20 Arizona vs. No. 13 Texas Tech will be pushed back 30 minutes to a 10:30 p.m. ET tip.

All of this change to move the Lakers vs. Pacers game to ESPN’s main national broadcast comes at a time when the new Los Angeles star has yet to be cleared to compete. Doncic is still considered day-to-day with a calf injury, as revealed by him and general manager Rob Pelinka during Tuesday’s introductory press conference.

“For the first time, I took my time,” Doncic said. “Get it to heal 100 hundred percent. You know, other times I think I just wanted to go back on the court, playing basketball and not really be healthy 100 percent. So this time, I just took my time, which was the normal amount of time to get it back to 100 percent.”

The 25-year-old Doncic has already proven to be one of the best and most consistent players in the NBA and has earned first-team All-NBA honors each of the past five years. He led the Mavericks to the NBA Finals this past season and has also been to a Western Conference finals already in his career. Now, ESPN is set to give the Lakers a national spotlight to showcase what could be his debut with one of the NBA’s premier brands.