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Luka Doncic led Dallas to the NBA Finals last season. Anthony Davis won a championship with the Los Angeles Lakers. Now they’re switching teams in an absolute blockbuster trade.
Doncic is being traded by the reigning Western Conference champion Mavericks to the Los Angeles Lakers for Davis, a person with knowledge of the agreement said early Sunday.
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 to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because neither team can announce the deal while it awaits league approval. The Utah Jazz also are involved in the deal, said the source.
ESPN, which first reported the trade, said Jalen Hood-Schifino and two draft picks will 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 beat New York at Madison Square Garden. Davis was not with the Lakers for the game; he has been back in Los Angeles because of an abdominal injury that needed assessing.
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 1-2 punch in Los Angeles, while Davis would be forming a new star duo with Kyrie Irving in Dallas. And it also reunites 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.
There was one game still going on in the NBA on Saturday night when reports began swirling of the trade, that being Phoenix-Portland. 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.
Booker wasn’t 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 added: “Insane. It’s crazy. Crazy. Damn, would of never thought Luka Doncic would get traded. At his age, midseason, the NBA is a wild place, man. If he can get traded then anybody is up for grabs.”
And 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.”
Knicks guard Jalen Brunson wondered in another post if it was a joke: “April fools right?” he asked.
Dallas plays at Cleveland on Sunday, while the Lakers are off until visiting the Los Angeles Clippers on Tuesday night. It’s not clear when Doncic or Davis could play for their new clubs as the trade needs NBA approval, and both are dealing with injuries without any publicly known firm timetable for their returns.
Among players with at least 400 games, Doncic’s 28.6-point average is third in NBA history behind only Michael Jordan and Wilt Chamberlain who are both at 30.1. When healthy, he’s typically somewhere between dynamic and unstoppable. He was third in the MVP voting last season after averaging 33.9 points, 9.8 assists and 9.2 rebounds per game, easily one of the greatest statistical seasons in league history.
Doncic, who turns 26 later this month and has referred to James as an “idol”, had a 73-point game against Atlanta on January 26, 2024, tying the fourth-highest scoring total ever in an NBA game. Only Chamberlain (100), Kobe Bryant (81) and Chamberlain (78) scored more.
Davis, an All-Star pick this year for the 10th time in his career, turns 32 next month. He’s part of the NBA’s 75th anniversary team, helped the Lakers win the NBA title in the bubble in 2020, and is a five-time All-NBA selection.
For Doncic, there could be a massive $115 million cost to this trade. Doncic could have signed a supermax contract this coming summer, one that could have paid him about $345 million over five seasons. He’s still extension-eligible, but likely cannot sign a five-year deal worth more than $230 million this summer now.
Doncic is averaging 28.1 points, 8.3 rebounds and 7.8 assists this season. Davis is averaging 25.7 points and 11.9 rebounds.
