The Wildest Reactions to Luka Doncic-Anthony Davis Blockbuster Lakers Trade on 1-Year Anniversary
"Yes, this is real."
The trade that sent Luka Dončić from the Dallas Mavericks to the Los Angeles Lakers on Feb. 2, 2025, was so shocking that ESPN's Shams Charania included those four words when reporting on the breaking news.
It certainly didn't seem real at the time considering Dončić was the 25-year-old franchise cornerstone of the Mavericks who had just led them to the 2024 NBA Finals. But it was, and now the Lakers have one of the best players in the league leading the way while former Mavericks general manager Nico Harrison has since been fired.
Anthony Davis was part of the return package to Dallas, but Dončić remains the headliner even at the one-year anniversary of the trade on Sunday.
With one year now in the books since the move, here is a look back at some of the reaction at the time of the trade:
While the 2024 NBA Finals appearance was the highlight of Dončić's tenure with the Mavericks, it seemed like there would be plenty of deep playoff runs down the line given his age and overall talent level.
He led the league in scoring in 2023-24 at 33.9 points per game and was a fan favorite in Dallas who seemed next in line to become a franchise icon after Dirk Nowitzki. It appeared fitting that Nowitzki played the final season of his Hall of Fame career as teammates of Dončić during the latter's rookie season.
Yet it turned out that was not a passing of the torch from one star who spent his entire career with the Mavericks to another who would do the same.
Dončić wrote a letter to Dallas fans after the trade that explained he believed he would follow Nowitzki's footsteps and remain with the organization for the long run.
"I thought I'd spend my career here and I wanted so badly to bring you a championship," Dončić said in the statement. "The love and support you all have given me is more than I could have ever dreamed of. For a young kid from Slovenia coming to the U.S. for the first time, you made North Texas feel like home."
Instead, he was thrown into quite the situation with the Lakers with the chance to play alongside LeBron James on one of the most famous franchises in the entire sports world. While Los Angeles lost in the first round of the playoffs to the Minnesota Timberwolves, it is again in playoff position in the Western Conference this season.
Dončić, 26, figures to be the franchise cornerstone for the foreseeable future even if the 41-year-old James retires or ends his career on another team.
But he will always be connected to the Mavericks even after the stunning trade.
