Before being traded to the Mavericks, Anthony Davis reached out to Lakers legend Pau Gasol for advice. According to Gasol, Davis thought he had done enough to secure a long-term home with the Lakers. As such, the Spaniard was shocked when news broke of Los Angeles shipping off the All-NBA big man to Dallas.
“I was just talking to AD when they came to play here versus the Warriors, and we were going to get together,” Gasol told “The Knuckleheads” podcast. “He wanted to help the Lakers win another championship and prolong and extend. He wasn’t thinking he was going anywhere.”
To Gasol’s point, a report surfaced in early December 2024 that Davis had purchased a $31M mansion in Los Angeles shortly before being traded.
Gasol further noted that he was “shocked” not just because the Mavericks traded Doncic but because he had close ties with both Mavericks GM Nico Harrison and Lakers GM Rob Pelinka.
Gasol Couldn’t Believe The Trade
“It was hard to kind of digest that that actually happened, that that type of player gets traded at 25 years old,” he said. It just doesn’t happen, never happened, might not happen ever again. But it happened for whatever reason.
“It’s crazy because I’ve known Nico and Rob personally for a long time.”
Gasol couldn’t believe the Mavericks traded Doncic, the youngest player in NBA history to earn five consecutive All-NBA First Team selections. Furthermore, Doncic led the Mavericks to the NBA Finals in 2024 for the first time since 2011.
“Then you have Luka — a generational talent, a guy who has put up crazy, crazy numbers his first five-and-a-half years of his career,” Gasol said. “Five, I think, first All-NBA teams, took the team to the Finals with Kyrie [Irving] and the rest of the guys last year and then boom [he gets traded.”
Mavericks Unlikely To Bring Back Anthony Davis
Gasol wasn’t the only one who felt that way. Scores of analysts and former players couldn’t believe the Mavericks traded a perennial All-Star in the prime of his career.
The aftermath of the trade made the Mavericks look even worse, with Davis injuring his adductor strain in his very first game with the team on February 7. As of March 19, the Mavericks (33-36) were in a tough spot in the Western Conference without a realistic path to the playoffs, given the slew of injuries. Besides Davis, Daniel Gafford (knee), Dereck Lively II (ankle), Kyrie Irving (ACL tear) and Caleb Martin (hip) had all been sidelined.
As such, there’s been chatter of the Mavericks potentially shutting down Davis for the season, avoiding further risk of injury ahead of the 2025-26 season.
“If I’m the Dallas Mavericks, I shut everybody down,” Kendrick Perkins told ESPN’s “Get Up” on March 4. “If you don’t have a healthy Anthony Davis and a healthy Kyrie Irving, there’s no reason to try to finish the season on a strong level.”
With Davis, Irving, Lively and Co. healthy, the Mavericks project to be a dangerous team in the 2025-26 season. For the time being, the Lakers are the victors of the blockbuster trade that shook the NBA landscape.
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