INGLEWOOD — It has already been a wild, weird, wonderful week in L.A., and Luka Doncic hasn’t even played a game for the Lakers yet.
He spent Tuesday night at the end of their bench, wearing a Lakers’ black sweatsuit, looking a wee bit nervous while the game was somewhat close but yukking it up with the regulars during garbage time of the Lakers’ 116-87 rout of the cross-county rival Clippers.
He is expected to miss Thursday night’s home game against Golden State as well, in his recovery for a calf injury that has kept him out since Christmas. “Maybe Saturday,” coach JJ Redick mused after the game, thinking of a matinee home game against Indiana as Doncic’s debut in the purple and gold No. 77.
But this is still going to require some emotional adjustment, even though days have passed since the announcement Saturday night when ESPN’s Shams Charania prefaced his revelation on social media with, “Yes, this is real.” Even Charania, a couple of days later, said that he thought his phone had somehow been hacked when he received the text with the details of the deal: Doncic, Maxi Kleber and Markieff Morris to L.A., Anthony Davis and Max Christie to the Dallas Mavericks, Jalen Hood-Schifino to Utah, and draft picks changing hands as well including the Lakers’ 2029 No. 1.
Yes, this was seismic, arguably the biggest midseason NBA trade ever – two reigning all-NBA selections switching teams – and maybe the biggest the league had seen since the Lakers had acquired Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, then already a three-time MVP at age 27, along with journeyman center Walt Wesley for Junior Bridgeman, Dave Meyers, Elmore Smith and Brian Winters in June 1975.
Even beyond the personalities involved, this was an example of what is a most unsettling time of year in any professional sport, and particularly the NBA. As the deadline approaches, players wonder about their futures, or else have to say goodbye to teammates who have become close friends.
So before you find yourself marveling at Kevin Durant’s lack of self-awareness when he complains that organizations don’t practice the same loyalty they expect of players – with his own name in the middle of trade rumors as Thursday’s noon deadline approaches – stop and think about those brotherly bonds that are torn asunder at the deadline.
(Then again, when you consider that by trading Doncic the Mavs get out of having to offer him a five year, $345 million contract extension this summer, maybe Durant’s cynicism isn’t that far off. Since Doncic has been traded, he’s no longer eligible for that supermax deal, but can re-up for five years and $229 million with the Lakers this summer, according to ESPN’s Bobby Marks.)
But the turbulence leading up to the deadline is real for players who wonder if they might be dealt. After the fact, it really is a period of mourning friendships that have been interrupted by the business of basketball.
“I’ve lived it,” Redick said. “I’ve been part of trades. I’ve seen teammates get traded. For both teams, there’s a little bit of a loss. And for our group, getting to coach AD, getting to coach Max (and) Jalen, was incredible. … And then for our group, those guys are our brothers to them. It’s tough, and I have a great deal of empathy for that.
“But, you know, we’re excited to have Luka,” he added.
Redick played 15 years in the league, for six teams, and was traded thrice, two of them in midseason. Clippers coach Ty Lue spent 11 years as an active player with seven teams and was traded five times, three in midseason.
“It’s a tough business,” Lue said. “You get traded, you hear your name in trade talks, but it’s just part of the business. And so you got to go out and perform the best you can until the deadline is over.
“But you can’t tell a certain person how to handle it. It’s different for each person and how they handle it, how they go about it. So it’s a tough time of the year.”
It’s especially tough for those who are moved. But it’s also tough for those who are left behind.
“This is the first time I’ve been a part of kind of the shock of a trade,” Austin Reaves said Tuesday night.
“I asked Bron (LeBron James) earlier, ‘You’ve been in the league for a billion years. You’ve had a million teammates. You’ve seen people come and go and just like, how do you deal with that?’ Because, like I said, the last couple days has been tough for me. I feel like I have just like a empty pit in my stomach. (I’ve spent) the last four years with AD, three years with Max, a couple of years with Hood. You create real relationships and bonds. And then out of nowhere, (they’re) on a different team.”
Reaves didn’t reveal James’ answer to that question. But for James himself, this was a complicated equation. Not only did Lakers GM Rob Pelinka and Dallas counterpart Nico Harrison complete this transaction without any leaks or speculation, but James himself only learned about the deal after it was completed, a couple of hours after Saturday night’s victory over the Knicks in Madison Square Garden when James was having dinner with his family.
This would seem to contradict the popular wisdom of James – and/or Rich Paul of Klutch Sports, the agent for James and Davis – as Lakers unofficial co-general managers.
“First time I heard it I thought it was for sure fake, a hoax,” James said. “You’re messing around. Whatever. But then AD called me, FaceTimed me. I talked to him for quite a while, and even when I got off the phone with him it still didn’t seem real.”
It was only after Doncic arrived at the Lakers’ facility Tuesday, and after James said he’d seen a clip of Davis at the Mavericks’ shootaround, that he realized it was legit.
But there’s a lot to unpack here. James has been the dominant force at every stop in his career, and executives have been known to defer to his wishes. That’s how Davis got here in the first place when the New Orleans Pelicans traded him to L.A. in June 2019.
This time LeBron’s wishes weren’t paramount. Doncic, at 25, now represents the Lakers’ future. Asked following Tuesday’s game if he thought the organization might be prioritizing the future (and, it was inferred, sacrificing the present), James snapped: “What’s wrong with that? If I had concerns, I’d have waived my no-trade clause and got up out of here.”
Is there a subtle, passive-aggressive message there? It’s probably best to assume James is sincere in his appreciation of Doncic’s game and his willingness to work alongside him.
But it’s also wise to watch closely. That, too, is part of the fallout that accompanies the trade deadline.
jalexander@scng.com