The Los Angeles Lakers’ trade for Luka Doncic took pretty much everyone as a surprise, including Lakers legend Pau Gasol.
On the Knuckleheads Podcast with former NBA players Quentin Richardson and Darius Miles, Gasol explained his initial reaction and thoughts about the Lakers acquiring Doncic in exchange for Anthony Davis.
“Obviously, at first, surprised, shocked,” Gasol said. “It was hard to kind of digest that that actually happened, that that type of player gets traded at 25 years old. 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 [Harrison, the Dallas Mavericks’ general manager], I know Rob [Pelinka, the Los Angeles Lakers’ GM] personally for a long time. I was just talking to AD when they came to play here vs. the Warriors, and we were going to get together. He wanted to help the Lakers win another championship and prolong and extend. He wasn’t thinking he was going anywhere. 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. Five, I think, first All-NBA teams, took the team to the Finals with Kyrie and the rest of the guys last year and then boom.”
The Lakers traded Davis, Max Christie, and a 2029 first-round pick to the Mavericks in exchange for Doncic, Maxi Kleber, and Markieff Morris. Jalen Hood-Schifino, the Lakers’ 2023-first round selection, was also traded to the Utah Jazz, which received a pair of second-round picks for facilitating the trade.
Doncic, who had missed more than a month of action due to a calf injury at the time of the trade, came out of the proverbial gates slowly upon joining the Lakers. In his first six games in purple and gold, he averaged 19.3 points and shot 36.5% from the field and 22.4% on 3-pointers.
Since then, however, despite a four-game losing streak in this span, he is averaging 30.8 points, 8.2 rebounds, and 9.0 assists per game while shooting 39.2% from beyond the arc. He has scored 30 or more points in six of his last nine games, including a 45-point outing against the Milwaukee Bucks last week.
Meanwhile, the Mavericks are struggling to even put a team together amid numerous injuries, including a season-ending torn ACL to Kyrie Irving. Davis, who went down in his first game as a Maverick, is expected to return to action soon.
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