The Los Angeles Lakers are starting a new era, one fronted by superstar Luka Doncic after one of the most shocking trades in NBA history came to fruition over the weekend. Anthony Davis and Max Christie were the headlining return to the Dallas Mavericks, leaving LeBron James and Austin Reaves to lead the Lakers alongside Doncic.
Making this type of trade was a no-brainer for the Lakers. It extends their championship contention window by many years, turning the 31-year-old Davis into a 25-year-old Doncic. Losing Christie certainly hurts in the short-term as well, but there’s no way around the fact that the trade makes the Lakers better in the long-term.
Players still on the Lakers can be both aware of why the franchise had to make a deal like this as it was presented while still being sad about the loss of Davis and Christie. Davis was in his sixth season with the Lakers and Christie his third, and both were integral pieces.
Reaves spoke about what it means to him to lose Davis and Christie, recounting one of his favorite memories with the superstar big man.
“Yeah, it’s been tough,” Reaves admitted. “This is the first situation that’s kind of been like a shock since I’ve been in the league. Me and DLO [D’Angelo Russell] were really good friends, are really good friends. I think you could see that one coming. Then with this after the Knicks game, everybody thought it was fake. Everybody in the world thought it was fake. So, it’s been a tough couple of days.
“Forgetting all the basketball stuff, being around AD [Anthony Davis] three years, four years. Been around Max [Christie] for three, you create real relationships with these guys. That’s been the toughest part for me. After a couple games here recently, we would be on the bus and AD would bring his phone up to me and it would be his kid. He would be telling AD ‘I want to talk to Austin Reaves’, and I would also tell him to do the celebration, and he would start doing it. It’s just little things like that are why it’s tough, but it’s a business. You got to get past that and look forward to what I got now.”
Reaves was distraught enough from the trade that he felt the need to talk to LeBron about how to process the loss of teammates. And the Lakers superstar dispensed some important wisdom for the young guard.
“I asked 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. How do you deal with that?’ Because, like I said, the last couple days has been tough for me,” Reaves said.
“I feel like, for like, I have just like, an empty pit in my stomach just because we’ve, like I said, the last four years with AD, three years of Max [Christie], a couple years with [Jalen] Hood[-Schifino], like I said, you create real relationships and bonds. And out of nowhere, it’s just on a different team competing to do what they want to do.
“So to answer your question, I don’t know, continue to do it I do every day. Enjoy basketball, and every time I step on the court, kind of just letting it go and just have fun, as if I was a kid still playing basketball.”
This is the side of trades that rarely get discussed on a national level, and takes a trade of this magnitude to become a topic. The Lakers, Mavericks and everyone involved has to find a way to move forward. And it seems their love of basketball is what’s going to do that.
Anthony Davis over trade and ready to play for Mavericks
Even though the Lakers got a generational talent in Luka Doncic, it was still very difficult to see Anthony Davis traded away. The big man helped bring a championship to the Lakers in 2020 and had really grown into the team’s best player over the past couple of years.
Like the rest of the world, Davis had no idea this trade was even a possibility. He took to social media after it went down to thank the Lakers fans but is now over that initial shock and ready to make an impact on his new team.
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