A key member of the Los Angeles Lakers’ organization recently opened up on the Luka Doncic trade that shook the sports world.
In a recent appearance on the Pretty Tough podcast with Maria Sharapova, Lakers governor Jeanie Buss said Doncic had a different introduction to Los Angeles compared to other players. In the past, other players said it was their dream to suit up where players like Magic Johnson, Kobe Bryant, Shaquille O’Neal and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar once played.
“Luka didn’t come into the Lakers like that. He was still, I could see — he was trying to figure out, why is this happening? As soon as a trade happens, the first thing, we had a private jet to bring him to LA. To assimilate him and bring him into the organization,” Buss said. “You could see that he left his heart in Dallas and it was going to take him time to process.”
According to Buss, Lakers general manager Rob Pelinka kept trade conversations private as he and Nico Harrison discussed a move that would send Davis to Dallas. Buss said the conversations started at the beginning of January 2025.
“It required a lot of strategy and a lot of small steps in order to pull it off. Rob Pelinka, our general manager, was able to do that, all without it leaking to the media because I think Mark Cuban might have jumped in front of a train to keep it from happening,” Buss said. “Nobody knew, including Luka. And Anthony Davis. And LeBron James. We had a game in New York that night, so the coach knew that this was going to happen but we still had to play the game. We won the game that night. It wasn’t a distraction.”
Since the blockbuster trade, Doncic has solidified his stance as one of the Lakers’ best players and one of the NBA’s top stars. Davis only appeared in 29 games for the Mavericks before he was traded to Washington this February.