The trade between that sent superstar guard Luka Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers will go down as arguably the most shocking in the history of American sports. The other side of that, of course, is that the Lakers sent star big man Anthony Davis to the Dallas Mavericks as the centerpiece of the return package.
The response to the trade in Dallas has not been great as fans have protested outside of the Mavericks arena and showered general manager Nico Harrison with ‘Fire Nico’ chants, which were especially loud during the contest between the teams. It also didn’t help that, while the Lakers began thriving, the Maverick season spiraled following injuries to Davis and star point guard Kyrie Irving, not to mention many others.
Following the Lakers’ win over the Mavericks, Doncic and Davis shared a few words on the court and the former revealed that he believes the two will always be compared to each other thanks to that monumental trade but wished the latter well, via Spectrum SportsNet:
“In the end with AD, we got traded for each other, so from now on everybody is gonna compare us to each other. But I think he’s an amazing player and I think he’s gonna do really good in Dallas.”
There is no doubt that the two will be linked together forever now, which could be a bit unfair to Davis. He is already an NBA Champion, made the NBA Top-75 list and is a future Hall of Famer without a doubt, but to many a major part of his legacy will now be the player who was traded for Doncic.
Fair or not, it seems to be the case and the best way Davis can combat this is by being a dominant force with the Mavericks and helping lead them to great success in the playoffs. That won’t be the case this season thanks to injuries, but once Irving is healthy the Mavericks do still have a very talented roster that can do some damage.
But if the Mavericks continue to struggle while Doncic thrives with the Lakers and, potentially, brings this franchise a championship or two, the comparison that is unavoidable will not shine a positive light on Davis.
Lakers’ Luka Doncic appreciates love in return to Dallas but feels its time to move on
Luka Doncic’s return to Dallas as a member of the Lakers was the most anticipated regular season game of the year and he delivered in a big way. But now that this has finally happened, Doncic feels its time for everyone to move on.
Doncic said that everyone saw how he reacted to the pregame tribute video and he truly appreciated all of the love shown to him by the fans in Dallas. He added that he loves the fans and the city of Dallas, but now it is time to move on.
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