The Los Angeles Lakers and Dallas Mavericks have reportedly agreed to a deal that swaps Luka Doncic and Anthony Davis, per ESPN’s Shams Charania. This blockbuster trade includes other moving pieces, but none bigger than Doncic and Davis.
A five-time NBA All-Star, Doncic has spent his entire seven-year career in Dallas. As for Davis, the five-time All-Defensive star helped lead the Lakers to an NBA championship in 2020, making four All-Star teams with the franchise (including this season).
Reactions to this trade have been pouring in on Saturday evening from around the NBA, including one from Phoenix Suns forward Kevin Durant.
Speaking after a loss to the Portland Trail Blazers, Durant had a message on the loyalty double-standard in the NBA.
“Players are held to a different standard of loyalty and commitment to a program but the organizations don’t get held to that same standard from the outside,” Durant said (via Duane Rankin of azcentral).
On the potential ripple effect of blockbuster NBA trades, Durant added, “For sure. You start seeing stuff like that, as an organization, you might get a little more courage to do some stuff. You see another team trade away somebody like that.”
Durant continued, saying, “This got to be the biggest trade I’ve seen since I’ve been in the league or since I’ve been watching the sport. This is insane. So yeah, every other team might get confidence and say (expletive) it, I’ll trade a few of my top players if this ain’t working.”
Having been in the league for 18 years, Durant has seen a lot of major trades. According to him, Doncic to the Lakers is the biggest.
