Anthony Davis called out the Los Angeles Lakers organization in the aftermath of the Feb. 2 shocking trade that saw him getting shipped to the Dallas Mavericks for Luka Dončić.
“Everybody’s saying nobody knew and all this other [expletive],” Davis told the Los Angeles Times after the Lakers beat the Mavericks on Tuesday, Feb. 26, in their first meeting since the trade. “I just don’t believe it. But, hey man, I’m past that. I’m ready to move forward with Dallas, try to get a championship there with these guys. First off, getting back on the floor and get ready to compete. All the emotions, that [expletive] lasted that night when it was just a shock.”
Davis revealed to LA Times it was Rob Pelinka, the Lakers vice president of basketball operations and general manager, who delivered him the news via phone call.
FaceTime Call With LeBron
According to multiple reports, it was only team owner Jeanie Buss and Pelinka at the Lakers organization who knew about the trade before it was finalized. On the other side, it was only Nico Harrison, Pelinka’s counterpart at Mavericks, and team governor Patrick Dumont who were privy to the trade discussions.
Davis did not believe this was the case.
So immediately after he got off the phone call with Pelinka, he FaceTimed LeBron James who was having a late dinner with his family in a restaurant in New York following their big win over the Knicks earlier that night.
“When it happened, I honestly didn’t know [expletive],” Davis told LA Times. “He’s been my running mate for six years … so the first thing I wanted to do was call him. … Obviously, I know there are going to be a lot of political things in the front office when they talk to me.
“The front office has to do what it has to do and obviously they’re going to do what’s best for the organization. So I don’t know if I ever got the ‘real’ about any of it. I don’t know what’s true or what’s not, coming from upstairs. So, my thing is I’m gonna go to my counterpart who I’ve been running with and see what’s going on, get his reaction and that’s all it was. We had a conversation. That was it.”
LeBron’s Reaction
James was as shocked as Davis.
“My emotions were all over the place,” James said after the trade. “The first time I heard it, I thought it was for sure fake. I thought it was a hoax. People messing around or whatever. But AD FaceTimed me, and I talked to him for quite a while. Even when I got off the phone with him, it still didn’t seem real. Pretty much didn’t seem real until I saw Luka today, and then I saw the clip of AD at the Dallas shootaround. That’s when it finally hit me, like, ‘This is real.’”
James considers Davis as one of his best friends. They are both under Klutch Sports.
The Lakers’ messaging — from hiring JJ Redick to moving D’Angelo Russell for Dorian Finney-Smith — was to build around Davis.
So Davis and James were caught by surprise.
“Ain’t never seen this,” James said. “I haven’t. I’ve seen it all, up until this one. I’ve never been a part of a transaction like that. That was different. … It was shocking when I heard the news, but at the end of the day, I understand the business of basketball.”
Lakers Owner: ‘We Were Not Looking to Move Anthony Davis’
Buss said Davis was not on the trade block when the Mavericks came to them, offering Dončić.
“You know, in my position, there are certain players in the league that you think, ‘There’s no way I’ll ever have that player on my team.’ It’s just impossible—unless you draft a star like that, they usually don’t move,” Buss said on “The Rich Eisen Show” on Tuesday, Feb. 25. “When the opportunity came up, we were not looking to move Anthony Davis.”
It was Harrison, Buss revealed, who coveted Davis, which is the sole reason why he only offered Dončić to the Lakers.
As much as it broke Buss’ heart to see Davis go, acquiring a 25-year-old generational player was simply too good to pass up.
“He was our rock-solid player, and we had to give up a lot to get Luka,” Buss said of Davis, who helped them win their 17th NBA title in 2020.
The Lakers gave up Davis, Max Christie and their 2029 first-round pick.
“They wanted who they wanted. They did what they had to do,” Davis told LA Times. “I don’t know if they had to, but it’s what they wanted to do. I moved on. I got a wife and kids to worry about, you know what I’m saying? And I’m figuring out how I’m going to get them to Dallas and get adjusted to that.
“It’s over with, and I’m moving on with my new team and what we got going on.”
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