Doncic, who had dragged an otherwise unremarkable Mavericks team through the Western Conference, became the face of their failure. Dallas coach Jason Kidd was forced to come out and defend his maligned star, even though without Doncic, the Mavericks were a faded Kyrie Irving and a bunch of role players.

The trade centered around Anthony Davis and Luka Doncic was a shock to everyone, especially the players involved. According to multiple reports, the only people who knew about the trade were the executives,

Not everybody believes that LeBron James had no idea this trade was coming, as people have called him "LeGM" for years. But the stories between Rob Pelinka, Nico Harrison, Luka Doncic, Anthony Davis, and LeBron James all match up - no one outside of the GMs and owners were in on this until the end.