Jeanie Buss Reveals How The Luka Doncic Trade Went Down… And Why It Stunned The NBA!
Los Angeles Lakers team governor Jeanie Buss reiterated the team wasn’t shopping star forward Anthony Davis before sending him to the Dallas Mavericks to acquire Luka Dončić.
“When the opportunity came up, we were not looking to move Anthony Davis,” she said on The Rich Eisen Show. “He was our rock-solid player, so we had to give up a lot to get Luka.”
Shortly after the deal went down, ESPN’s Shams Charania reported how the Lakers had “never offered Anthony Davis in a trade before, ever.”
Ramona Shelburne and Tim MacMahon of ESPN then provided the details of how the transaction materialized. Lakers general manager Rob Pelinka met Mavericks GM Nico Harrison at a Dallas-area coffee shop, at Harrison’s request, on Jan. 7, and that’s when the negotiations began in earnest.
Los Angeles originally traded for Davis with the idea that he’d succeed LeBron James as the face of the franchise and the fulcrum of a championship-caliber roster. Davis’ bad luck with injuries and the Lakers’ inability to return to the NBA Finals after their 2020 title triumph raised questions over whether that plan remained feasible.
As Buss said Tuesday, the chance to land a talent as great as Dončić is rare and it was too good to pass up, even if it meant parting ways with Davis.
The general consensus around the swap was that the Lakers made out like bandits. They landed a five-time All-NBA honoree who’s six years younger than AD, and they did it without giving up their full complement of draft picks and complementary stars. Pelinka held onto Austin Reaves and Dalton Knecht along with a 2031 first-round pick and future pick swaps.
The 2020 championship doesn’t happen without Davis, and he averaged 24.8 points and 11.0 rebounds during his six years in purple and gold.
But you’d be hard-pressed to find a Lakers fan who didn’t immediately recognize the potential long-term benefits of getting Dončić and how it extends the Lakers’ window for contention.
Luka and Bron Trade Dimes
