Luka Doncic, who led the Dallas Mavericks to the NBA Finals last season, and Anthony Davis, who won a championship with the Los Angeles Lakers, are switching team in a blockbuster trade.
Doncic is being traded by the reigning Western Conference champion Mavericks to the Lakers for Davis, a person with knowledge of the agreement said early yesterday.
Doncic, Maxi Kleber and Markieff Morris are headed to the Lakers, while Davis and Max Christie are going to Dallas, said the person who spoke on condition of anonymity, as neither team can announce the deal while it awaits league approval.
Photo: AP
The Utah Jazz are also involved in the deal, the source said.
ESPN, which first reported the trade, said Jalen Hood-Schifino and two draft picks would be headed to the Jazz. The Dallas Morning News also reported those details on the trade.
The trade news broke about an hour after the Lakers halted the New York Knicks’ five-game NBA winning streak 128-112 at Madison Square Garden. Davis was not with the Lakers for the game, due to an abdominal injury.
Doncic has not played for Dallas since Christmas Day, when he was sidelined with a strained left calf.
“I believe that defense wins championships,” Mavericks general manager Nico Harrison told ESPN. “I believe that getting an All-Defensive center and an All-NBA player with a defensive mindset gives us a better chance. We’re built to win now and in the future.”
The deal, at least for now, would pair Doncic with LeBron James as the new one-two punch in Los Angeles, while Davis would be forming a new star duo with Kyrie Irving in Dallas. It would also reunite Doncic with his former teammate, Lakers coach JJ Redick.
Doncic was one of the Mavs on the floor when Redick came out of a game for the final time on May 11, 2021.
The Phoenix Suns and Portland Trail Blazers, who won 127-108, were playing when reports of the trade began swirling.
Suns guard Devin Booker said someone in the stands told him and his teammates of the trade.
“They said Luka. I said: ‘Luka Garza?’” Booker said, referencing a Minnesota center.
He was not trying to be funny. He just thought what many probably thought — that there was no way the Mavericks would move Doncic.
“It’s crazy, man. I really don’t know what to say about it,” Booker said. “Luka being a guy that everybody has claimed is untouchable and untradeable. The NBA shows you again. Can’t predict. It’s a business. They’re always having a conversation about you. So don’t think you’re safer than you are.”
Fellow Suns star Kevin Durant agreed.
“Insane. It’s crazy. Crazy. Damn, would of never thought Luka Doncic would get traded,” he said. “At his age, midseason, the NBA is a wild place, man. If he can get traded then anybody is up for grabs.”
There was immediate shock on social media when the news hit as well.
“Luka getting traded from Dallas has to have a deeper story behind it,” Cleveland center Tristan Thompson wrote on X. “This just doesn’t happen on a random Saturday night.”
“Wait what?” posted Patrick Mahomes, the star Kansas City Chiefs quarterback who sits courtside at Mavs games occasionally during the offseason, NBA playoffs included.
Knicks guard Jalen Brunson wondered in another post if it was a joke.
“April fools right?” he asked.
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