Blockbuster NBA trade sends Doncic to Lakers

The trade was put together in secret, with only a precious few people knowing what was happening. Luka Doncic didn’t know. Anthony Davis didn’t know. Their coaches didn’t know. Their teammates didn’t know.

And then it happened — an absolute blockbuster. Doncic led the Dallas Mavericks to the NBA Finals last season, Davis won a championship with the Los Angeles Lakers in 2020 and now they’re switching teams in a move that stunned most everyone in the league.

Doncic released an emotional farewell to Dallas on Sunday, the same day a trade sending him from the Mavericks to the Los Angeles Lakers in a swap for fellow All-NBA player Anthony Davis was finalized.

Doncic was traded by the reigning Western Conference champion Mavericks to the Lakers for Davis as part of a three-team deal. The trade was announced Sunday morning after the teams got the required league approval.

The trade talks, which took place over about a month, were kept extremely tight-lipped by Mavericks general manager Nico Harrison and Lakers GM Rob Pelinka.

Mavs coach Jason Kidd’s first reaction? “Shock,” Kidd said, though he later added that he believes it’s the right move for his team going forward.

Doncic said in a letter to the city that he “wanted so badly to bring you a championship” and that he thought he’d spend his career in Dallas.

“For a young kid from Slovenia coming to the U.S. for the first time, you made North Texas feel like home,” Doncic wrote. “In good times and bad, from injuries to the NBA Finals, your support never changed. Thank you not only for sharing my joy in our best moments, but also for lifting me up when I needed it most.”

Doncic was enormously popular in Dallas -- and everywhere else. His No. 77 Mavericks jersey ranked eighth among best-sellers through NBAStore.com over the first half of the season. On Sunday night, some Doncic items remained for sale on the Mavs’ shopping site.

His jersey sales will likely skyrocket again now, when the Lakers make his new ones available.

“Grateful for this amazing opportunity,” Doncic wrote in another social media post, linking it to one from the Lakers’ accounts welcoming him to Los Angeles. “Basketball means everything to me, and no matter where I play the game, I’ll do so with the same joy, passion and goal — to win championships.”



(AP Photo LM Otero)