The panorama of the NBA has shifted in a single day.
In an astonishing deal, MVP candidate Luka Doncic is ready to be traded to the Los Angeles Lakers in change for 10-time All-Star Anthony Davis, who will head to the Dallas Mavericks.
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Doncic, Maxi Kleber and Markieff Morris are all shifting to LA, whereas Davis and Max Christie, in addition to a 2029 first-round decide, are heading to Dallas.
The three-team deal will reportedly additionally embrace the Utah Jazz, which can obtain Lakers guard Jalen Hood-Schifino, and two 2025 second-round draft picks.
Doncic, broadly considered one of many best European basketball gamers of all-time, is ready to hitch LeBron James in Los Angeles, whereas Davis will quickly companion with Kyrie Irving in Dallas.
Information of the blockbuster commerce despatched shock waves by means of the NBA, with followers, gamers and analysts all left surprised.
ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith was fast to take to social media, sharing the right response within the type of an iconic meme.
He posted the quick video of his and Michael Wilbon’s surprised reactions to Deandre Ayton’s game-winning dunk that noticed the Phoenix Suns beat the Los Angeles Clippers in Sport 2 of the 2021 Western Convention finals.
The footage, which nonetheless delights followers to this present day, completely sums up a majority of the reactions to the Doncic-Davis commerce.
Smith later appeared on ESPN to debate the information.
“I am shocked, like your entire basketball world,” he mentioned.
“It isn’t one thing that you’d have ever anticipated, primarily from the Dallas Mavericks. Luka Doncic is a worldwide celebrity, you already know what he can deliver to the desk.
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“Once you look on the Anthony Davis facet, it is a massive time participant, he is an All-Star, one of many elite defensive gamers within the sport of basketball.
“There’s a complete bunch of questions, a complete bunch of intrigue, and it is a shocker. Possibly the largest shocker of a commerce that many people have seen in NBA historical past.”
David Aldridge, a veteran sports activities journalist who has coated basketball for practically 40 years, additionally took to social media to share his response to the commerce.
Now writing for The Athletic, Aldridge beforehand contributed to ESPN, NBA TV, NBA.com and The Washington Put up.
He described the Doncic-Davis information as a ‘holy s***’ commerce.
“I have been masking the NBA for 37 years,” he wrote.
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“Virtually nothing that occurs – offers, free agent signings, coach hirings/firings – rises to the extent of, as the nice Ben Bradlee used to name them, ‘Holy s***’ tales.’
“You simply get used to the sudden. It is a ‘Holy s***’ commerce.”
Plenty of NBA stars additionally took to X to share their shock.
New York Knicks guard Jalen Brunson could not imagine the information, which was initially damaged by ESPN’s Shams Charania, questioning if it was an early April Fools joke.
“WOWWWWW NO F WAY,” Philadelphia 76ers heart Joel Embiid added.
Kevin Durant, in the meantime, mentioned the ‘transactional’ nature of the NBA, and steered there’s a ‘double-standard’ of loyalty in basketball.
With Doncic and Davis being traded between Dallas and LA in a historic deal, lots extra fallout is predicted earlier than the 2 groups meet on the courtroom on February 25.