Luka Doncic changes to the Lakers: One of the most spectacular deals in the NBA

There can hardly be a better response to this megalomanic exchange between the Los Angeles Lakers and the Dallas Mavericks than this emoji by Dirk Nowitzki. The Mavericks legend played in Dallas for 21 years and won the first and so far only NBA title of the Mavericks in 2011. Now Nowitzki did not write a word, but only set a smiley face on X: the variant with wide-opened eyes and open eyebrows, red cheeks and a horizontal line as lips.

This facial expression contains pretty much all the emotions that the deal has triggered around the North American basketball league NBA. Optionally: “Waaaaaas?” Or: “Isn’t there!” Especially with the Mavericks-Aficionados, which also includes Nowitzki, shocked.

The multiple exchange store says that the Slovenian exceptional player Luka Doncic, the German winger Maxi Kleber and Markieff Morris move to La; Dallas gets the Center Anthony Davis, Max Christie and additional voting right in the second round of the Talentbörse 2029. And, a marginal note: Utah Jazz was also involved and receives Jalen Hood shipino and two additional two-round picks during this summer break.

The core of the deal is, however, this: Doncic, 25, the most dangerous offensive individual könner worldwide, who led the Mavericks into the final series last season and has come into the most productive phase of his most likely Hall-of-fame-compatible career, will Part of the word for 50 years Showtime Associated Lakers! Davis, on the other hand, also a safe candidate for glory and the best defensive player in the NBA at the age of 31, goes to the Mavericks. It is a so-called “blockbuster deal”, possibly the most surprising in NBA history.

After the first bewilderness-there are videos with astonished faces of NBA stars like Kevin Durant when you learn about the deal-the question is of course: Why this exchange? And then the gaze immediately goes to Lebron James, 40, who tries the sporting quadrature of the circle this season: he wants to remain relevant in terms of sport and seriously play for the title with the Lakers; The fifth championship had him pull him with Lakers legend Kobe Bryant. But he also wants to stand on the field with son Bronny in the NBA. As on Saturday evening in Madison Square Garden in New York, when LeBron was against the Knicks in the 128:11 win Triple Double (33 points, twelve rebounds, eleven passes) achieved – and Bronny sank his only throwing attempt in the basket in his almost two minutes on the field.

“I understand why people are initially shocked,” says the Dallas Mavericks manager

Lebron James is said to have had no idea from the Doncic-Davis exchange. He learned about it at dinner after the game in New York. His first reaction was two emojis plus a kind of sentence construction, which, because of the grammar, shows how applied he must have been when typing: “You a fkn”, James wrote on the reference of a reporter that he, LeBron, “It was more and more frustrated with Davis”. He added a Pinocchio and a clown emoji. So a grotesque lie, this claim!

As is well known, James and Davis are close friends. And so narrow that the NBA was compelled at Davis’ change to the Lakers in 2019 to send a memo to all NBA teams with the reference to stick to the “tampering” rules and no actors to lure unauthorized agreements to the own club. James, who had come to LA a year before, had repeatedly emphasized how great it would be to hunt with Davis. They actually did that and they became champions (in the covid bubble of Florida) in autumn 2020. It was therefore a matter of emphasizing his ignorance and non-participation in the deal, because one thing is also true: Davis is prone to injury in all quality; He has missed a total of 119 games since the title in October 2020, and is currently laboratory to a abdominal muscle strain.

There is therefore now shocking in Dallas, in a negative sense. The Mavericks manager Nico Harrison can say so often that NBA titles can only be won with outstanding defensive. “I understand why people are initially shocked,” said Harrison: “But I think we are better up for the present and the future. It is my job to make difficult decisions. ”However, it can be heard from the Mavericks environment that the reasons for the Rochade are different than just Davis’s defensive qualities on the one hand-and on the other hand, and on the other hand, the lack of interest from Doncic in conscientious defense . Rather, the Mavericks are said to have been afraid of having to offer Doncic in summer a so-called Supermax extension of the contract, for which only a very exclusive circle of NBA professionals comes into question: $ 345 million for five years! But he is also considered Hallodri, who does not even try to hide the fact that he likes to perform his bodyless Medium. And who sometimes prefers to play happily on the square than to win the games at all costs. So one who makes valuable contributions to a title win, but a team cannot lead there with the intensity of Michael Jordan or LeBron James.

The Lakers now benefit from this fear that Doncic could become the happy and spectacular but Titellose face of the Mavericks. Most of their fans are also in shock, but in the cheerful way. There is no such thing that we get Doncic, who provides outstanding numbers this season – 28.1 points, 8.3 rebounds and 7.8 assists per game! Yes, he too is injured, on the calf, and the Mavericks were obviously concerned about his commitment to rehab. But the Lakers believe that it could be operational until the all-star weekend in mid-February. Then there would be enough time to integrate yourself with James for the playoffs (and also to integrate Maxi Kleber as a basket guard and reliable three-way shooters).

The fact that neither Davis nor Doncic were asked by their clubs what they think of this Rochade-this is almost a petite in the high-priced human trafficking system of the US professional port. It is also completely uncertain whether this will work out what the managers have come up with in Dallas and Los Angeles. That is why the most apt reaction to one of the most surprising, spectacular and astonishing deals in NBA history is actually: the emoji of Dirk Nowitzki.