Luka Dončić is now a member of the Los Angeles Lakers, and he will appear in the playoffs with his new team on Saturday against the Minnesota Timberwolves. But it has been barely two months since trade heard people around the world learning that Dončić had been exchanged by Dallas Mavericks, a team he has just led to the NBA final last season, in Lakers.
From the point of view of the Lakers, it was a fantastic news. They exchanged Anthony Davis for a younger superstar to set up this team for the next decade. But while fans of Lakers applauded, Mavericks fans were – and are still – crying the loss of Dončić, someone whom they have darled a lot since the team withdrew the night trade to land in 2018. Dončić, too, spent a range of emotions since the trade, and shared with ESPN that he had launched his phone after receiving the call he had been exchanged.
“I was actually in bed, my television did not work, so I was on an iPad watching a film about to fall asleep,” said Dončić. “The first thing I probably said three times was:” Is it April 1? “… (I felt) especially sadness, I was always in shock. I had the impression that my heart was broken, honestly.”
Dončić is known for having worn his heart on his round, and we saw these emotions come out when he and the Lakers played the Mavericks last week in his first match in Dallas since trade. Dončić was visibly emotional before the match while watching a tribute video showing all his highlights throughout his stay with the team, but when it was time to get into business, he lost 45 points on the Mavericks.
The best moments of the return of Dallas by Luka Dončić: the Lakers star tears up for homage, then marks 45 on the old team
Sam Quinn
This moment served as a closure to Dončić, but everything that came out of Dallas on it since the trade tried to paint him in a negative light. Reports came out to suggest that the Mavericks did not like Dončić to always be out of shape, that he drank too much beer in his spare time or did not commit to improving in certain areas of his game, mainly in defense. The day after the announcement of the trade, when asked why this agreement had been concluded, the director general of the Mavericks, Nico Harrison, said – and still maintains the same saying – that “the defense wins the championships”, alluding to the fact that Dončić was not good enough to this end for Dallas him.
“It’s sad, the way he is talking about at the moment,” said Dončić about Harrison’s comments since the profession. “I never say anything wrong about her, and I just want to move on. Fans, my ex-teams will always remain hard, but it’s time for me to move on.”
Harrison harassed in defense as one of the reasons why he exchanged Dončić, and also said on several occasions that the Mavericks did not know if Dončić would sign the Supermax extension that he was eligible to sign this summer. Harrison said that despite Dončić saying at the Lakers’ introduction press conference that he intended to sign him. No player in the history of the NBA has refused to sign a Supermax extension due to the amount of money you are on an agreement like that.
Dončić was not going to sign the extension, he had no intention of leaving Dallas. He reiterated this to Andrews when she asked if he intended to play all his career with the Mavericks, to which he replied: “Of course, this is an easy question.”
Unfortunately for the Mavericks, it is no longer a reality, and fortunately for the Lakers, Dončić does not intend to leave the organization anytime soon. Andrews asked if staying in Los Angeles is what Dončić wanted to do, to which he replied: “Yes”.
