The Los Angeles Lakers were able to score a big win when they were able to trade Anthony Davis for Luka Doncic. It is still a shocking trade all of these months later.
Davis and the Mavericks weren’t able to make the playoffs, and Doncic was picked on in the series against the Wolves defensively. Neither franchise was happy at the end of the season.
Still, the Lakers have a player who can be the face of the franchise for the next decade. Davis was clearly unhappy being traded and said as much in interviews in the weeks following the big deal.
Lakers owner Jeanie Buss made it clear that Davis’ comments about wanting to play with a center played into trading him away. Still, Buss doesn’t want there to be any hard feelings about the trade.
Buss wants to meet with Davis this summer to try and smooth things over between the organization and the star big man. In an interview on SiriusXM NBA Radio, Buss said she looked forward to seeing Davis face-to-face in the offseason.
I haven’t seen him face-to-face, and I look forward to in the offseason. But you know, you have to remember that he’s now under contract with another team. We’ve had too many instances of people accusing us of tampering, so I have to be really careful with stuff like that.”
Buss clearly wants to give Davis the proper goodbye that he wasn’t able to get when the trade was made, but it sounds like she’s not sure exactly how to do it.
Davis did help the Lakers win the 2020 title in the bubble, so he certainly deserves a proper send-off. He was a big part of why the team was able to win that championship.
Both teams are trying to move forward with this decision and focus on the future. The Lakers have Doncic while the Mavs won the draft lottery and will now have the number one pick.
After he was traded to the Mavericks, Davis averaged 20 points, 10.1 rebounds, and 4.4 assists per game in the nine games he was able to play.
