Luka Doncic #77 of the Dallas Mavericks reacts during the second quarter of the game against the Oklahoma City Thunder at American Airlines Center on January 17, 2025 in Dallas, Texas. Sam Hodde/Getty Images/AFP
It was just after midnight Sunday in the Eastern time zone when the social media post from ESPN nearly broke the Internet.
“The Dallas Mavericks are trading Luka Doncic, Maxi Kleber and Markieff Morris to the Los Angeles Lakers for Anthony Davis, Max Christie and a 2029 first-round pick, sources tell ESPN. Three-team deal that includes Utah,” the message on X, formerly Twitter, read.
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Immediately, fans and even NBA players expressed doubts that a trade of such mega proportions could have happened. And when other media outlets quickly confirmed the news, the sports world began to process a league-shifting and an unprecedented trade involving two All-NBA players, one of whom – Doncic – is a 25-year-old global superstar who led his team to the NBA Finals last June.
READ: NBA: Lakers land Luka Doncic, trade Anthony Davis to Mavericks
Neither Davis nor Doncic had yet to comment on the trade as of early Sunday morning, but after having time to process the news, some NBA players weighed in on just what the trade means: that no player is a sure thing to remain with his team with the trade deadline approaching on Thursday.
“Gotta pack them bags just in case now a days,” CJ McCollum of the New Orleans Pelicans posted to X. “If the Don (Doncic) got traded only lord knows.”
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Phoenix star Kevin Durant told reporters gathered around him in the locker room after the Suns’ 127-108 road loss to the Portland Trail Blazers that the trade underscores that the NBA is a business.
“Players are held to a different standard of loyalty and commitment to a program but the organizations don’t get held to that same standard from the outside world,” Durant said, adding the door has opened to allow more shockers to follow.
“You start seeing stuff like that, as an organization, you might get a little more courage to do some stuff,” he said of teams swapping superstars. “You see another team trade away somebody like that. This has got to be the biggest trade I’ve seen since I’ve been in the league or since I’ve been watching the sport. This is insane. So yeah, every other team might get confidence and say F— it, I’ll trade a few of my top players if this ain’t working.”
READ: NBA: LeBron James’ triple-double leads Lakers past Knicks
It wasn’t just basketball players who reacted to the trade with disbelief.
Dallas Cowboys All-Pro linebacker Micah Parsons summed up what many athletes and non-athletes were expressing on social media.
“Yoo wtf going on in Dallas?” he wrote.
For Emmanuel Acho, a former NFL linebacker, current television analyst and local product, the news hit hard.
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“As a Dallas native, who went to the Mavs’ first NBA finals in 2006 and the parade in 2011, I can confidently say trading prime Luka Doncic is one of the biggest mistakes in the history of sports. This is organizational malpractice. I am sick.”
