Just hours after the Duke basketball team throttled North Carolina last week the NBA world was upended by the trade that sent Dallas Mavericks superstar Luka Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers in exchange for Anthony Davis.
The trade sent ripple effects around the league and even had an impact on college basketball as Doncic, who has been injured since December 25, is nearing a return to the court.
Initial reports stated that he would make his Lakers debut on Saturday, February 8 and ESPN quickly acted and opted to broadcast the game between Los Angeles and the Indiana Pacers at 4:00 p.m. ET.
It shifted the marquee game of the day, No. 1 Auburn against No. 6 Florida to ESPN2, while pushing back No. 2 Duke (20-2, 12-0 ACC) against Clemson (18-5, 10-2 ACC) to 6:30 p.m. ET on ESPN.
All the movement meant absolutely nothing when NBA insider Marc Stein reported on Thursday afternoon that Doncic will not make his return to the court, and debut with the Lakers, until at least Monday night.
Luka Dončić is targeting Monday against Utah for his Lakers debut, @TheSteinLine has learned.
— Marc Stein (@TheSteinLine) February 6, 2025
He returned to 5-on-5 play in practice this week and is said to be progressing well in his ramp up from his left calf strain on Christmas.
More NBA from me: https://t.co/IIIlAloJCf pic.twitter.com/6yLu7Q1dKz
Still, ESPN will broadcast the Lakers vs. Pacers game on Saturday afternoon prior to tipoff between the Blue Devils and Tigers.
Duke is riding a 16-game winning streak into the road matchup, fresh off a 29-point victory against Syracuse on Wednesday night. Clemson was shockingly tripped up in triple overtime on its home court by Georgia Tech on Tuesday.
Had the Tigers emerged victorious in the game, Saturday’s showdown would have been for first place in the ACC regular season standings.
Now, Duke holds a two-game lead over Clemson and Louisville and already has the head-to-head tiebreaker over the Cardinals.
ESPN Analytics says this is one of the most difficult games remaining on the Blue Devils regular season schedule and a win could position Jon Scheyer’s team to finish an undefeated conference slate.
Duke lost its last road game against Clemson, 72-64, during the 2022-23 season.