Months later, and it still doesn’t feel real that Luka Doncic is a member of the Los Angeles Lakers.
Doncic was traded to the Lakers in a blockbuster deal that no one saw coming and the reaction was lopsided depending which fanbase someone belonged to. The Dallas Mavericks fans have been in an uproar since the trade, while Lakers fans have been overjoyed to have someone like Doncic to lead the franchise.
During his first back to Dallas, Doncic was showered with cheers which Dorian Finney-Smith said he rightfully deserved. Meanwhile, Mavericks general manager Nico Harrison was booed at every turn and continues to be ridiculed for his controversial move.
Harrison has remained largely silent on the Doncic trade, but recently doubled down on his stance, via Tim MacMahon of ESPN:
“There’s no regrets on the trade,” said Harrison, whose only other media availability since the trade was a brief pregame session the following day in Cleveland. “Part of my job is to do the best thing for the Mavericks, not only today, but also in the future, and some of the decisions I’m going to make are going to be unpopular. That’s my job and I have to stand by it.”
Harrison added that not all of his moves have been well-received, though is confident in the direction Dallas is heading in:
“Well, the beauty of Dallas is it is a passionate fan base,” Harrison said. “For us to reach our goals, we need that fan base. And to be honest with you, every trade I’ve made since I’ve been here has not been regarded as a good trade, and so sometimes it takes time. When I traded for Kyrie, it was met with a lot of skepticism and it was graded as a terrible trade and you didn’t see it right away, but eventually everyone agreed that that was a great trade. When I traded for [Gafford] and [Washington] again, it was like, ‘Oh, he gave up way too much. These guys aren’t going to help us.’ Now that trade, you saw the evidence a lot sooner. So I think a lot of times trades take a little bit of time.
“But our philosophy, like I said, going forward is defense wins championships and we’re built on defense. And this trade cements us for that.”
It remains to be seen who will end up on the right side of history, though right now it’s hard not to think that the Lakers fleeced the Mavericks for Doncic.
Luka Doncic leads NBA in jersey sales
Luka Doncic is a global superstar and is the perfect successor for LeBron James and the Lakers. The Slovenian star is one of the most popular basketball players in today’s game and it was recently announced that he led the NBA in jersey sales this past season after being traded to L.A.
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