The Los Angeles Lakers shocked the basketball world last month when they made a blockbuster deal to acquire Luka Doncic from the Dallas Mavericks in exchange for Anthony Davis, Max Christie and a first-round pick. The trade came as a shock in large part because only Rob Pelinka, Nico Harrison, Jeanie Buss and the Dallas Mavericks’ governor knew about the deal as it was coming together.
All parties agreed that secrecy was the best way for a deal of this magnitude to actually get completed. Once it becomes public information, it can easily fall apart for any number of reasons. And it was especially important for the Lakers, as they were the ones receiving a generational superstar at the front end of his prime.
But Buss has since revealed that she was against the idea when it was first presented to her by Pelinka. On the Games with Names podcast, she explained the process of the deal and why everything happened the way it did:
“At that point, that’s when Rob was at the game and he met with the GM of Dallas. And they had a conversation. And Rob thought about it for a day and then came to me and said ‘here’s something that was talked about, a framework.’ And I said well, I hope you told him that we’re not trading Anthony Davis. We’re not trading him. And as we talked more and more, we figured out a framework that could work. And then the rest went on and I said that what the most important thing is that if the conversations become public, it could blow up our season. Because now you have a player who thinks they’re going to get traded, it’s hard for them to recalibrate. So it was completely kept under wraps and I think that’s why it took everybody by surprise.”
Buss has always been among the most loyal governors in the sport. She truly loves her players and does not like trading people away, especially superstars. The Lakers have built a star-friendly reputation dating back to Jeanie’s father — Dr. Jerry Buss — and she has done her best to not disrupt that model in the years since she took over.
But she realized that this was a deal that could not be passed up. And she also knew that by keeping it under wraps, the Lakers season would be salvaged regardless of whether or not the deal eventually came to fruition.
Jeanie Buss regrets breaking up 2020 team
After winning a championship in the Orlando bubble in 2020, the Lakers made wholesale changes to their roster in hopes of being even better the following season.
They let go of key players like Danny Green, Dwight Howard, JaVale McGee and Rajon Rondo while bringing in Dennis Schroder, Montrezl Harrell, Marc Gasol and Wesley Matthews.
For a while, those changes appeared to be good ones as the Lakers started off 21-6 in the 2020-21 season. Unfortunately, injuries then set in after essentially having no offseason due to the pandemic. The Lakers were never able to recover that year, losing to the Phoenix Suns in the first round with both LeBron James and Davis compromised physically.
The Lakers have been trying to recapture that 2019-20 magic ever since as despite some successful seasons, they have yet to get back to the NBA Finals.
On Games With Names, Jeanie Buss admitted she wishes the Lakers didn’t make so many changes that offseason.
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