Luka Doncic ruled out, denying Raptors fans a rare Toronto appearance

It’s not Christmas time yet, but Canadian basketball fans received a lump of coal early with the news Luka Doncic would miss his lone game in the country this season.

At least it wasn’t just for the dreaded load management, which sees players rest for reasons real or imagined.

Doncic, the Slovenian superstar who is averaging an absurd 35.3 points per game, which would be the 10th-most for a season ever, went home as his wife is about to give birth to a child.

That’s a shame for fans who paid top dollar hoping to see a player that has accomplished more by age 26 than nearly anybody else in history. He might not be a high-flying or lightning-quick player, but Doncic is a hoops maestro who bends the game to his will on a nightly basis like a shorter Nikola Jokic.

The Lakers always are a hot ticket, they have the biggest fanbase of any basketball franchise and this also will be one of the last times LeBron James plays in the town he has toyed with for decades. But, make no mistake, Doncic is Showtime 3.0. Everybody except the former management team in Dallas knows this.

It speaks to Doncic’s talent that his average in six career games at Toronto of 24.7 points is well below his career norm. That said, he also has averaged 10.2 assists and 8.8 rebounds in those games. Those assist numbers leave Doncic sandwiched between Trae Young (10.8) and Canadian icon Steve Nash (9.7) as the most by any opponent at Toronto.

James, who turns 41 later this month, is in the Top 20 on that list for helpers and also sits third all-time in scoring (27.9 points averaged in 30 regular-season games at the Air Canada Centre/Scotiabank Arena).

Of course, James also has piled up the numbers in Toronto in the playoffs, much to the chagrin of the Raptors and their supporters.

James is finally looking a bit mortal in his record-setting 23rd NBA season. He was hurt early on and doesn’t have the lift of his earlier years.

In only five games, he has averaged just 15.2 points and 4.0 rebounds — about half his career norms — though his assist average has held up (mostly thanks to the presence of Doncic, which won’t be the case on Thursday).