When Luka Doncic was traded to the Lakers late on a February night for Anthony Davis, most fans and analysts didn’t believe it was true. In fact, many well-respected journalists denounced the move for around 30 minutes, despite it being reported by the highly regarded Shams Charania. Once confirmed, to say it was a shock to the public would be an understatement.
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Nobody had reported that Luka or Davis were being shopped, nevertheless, for each other. Before we knew it, AD and Doncic were saying goodbye to franchises that they’d been a part of for 6 years.
Furthermore, the Lakers were on the road when the trade went down. This meant that owner Jeanie Buss never got the opportunity to say goodbye to Davis before or after the deal went down. And she still hasn’t seen him since.
Buss spoke about how the shocking exchange went down and how they were able to keep it so secretive. Additionally, Buss revealed that she hasn’t been able to give AD a proper goodbye since the trade happened.
“I haven’t seen him face to face. I look forward to it in the offseason,” Buss told Rob Perez on SiriusXM NBA Radio. “But you have to remember, he’s now under contract to 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.”
It must be tough for Buss not to be able to give Davis a proper goodbye. After all, he accomplished so much with the team. Davis helped lead the Lakers to a Championship in 2020 while making the All-NBA first team. He was also an All-Star three times and a key piece of the team’s success for his entire time there.
"I haven't seen him face to face. I look forward to in the off-season"@JeanieBuss talks with @WorldWideWob and @adaniels33 about how tampering rules prevented her from giving AD a proper good-bye
Hear our three-hour discussion with Jeanie Buss: https://t.co/HW2xUHLXHm pic.twitter.com/rraZ7zybb8
— SiriusXM NBA Radio (@SiriusXMNBA) April 17, 2025
But it makes sense that Buss probably won’t get the chance to say goodbye in the offseason. Like she said, the team has been accused of tampering multiple times, and there’s no need for her to get them caught up in another scandal. Buss actually said they did a good job this past year, weeding out the front office and ownership.
How Jeanie Buss kept the trade under wraps
Perhaps the most surprising thing from the Luka and Davis trade was that it was never once leaked to the media. Usually, big blockbuster deals like that are somehow scooped up by the public. And most of the time, the source is from a person close to the team. Well, Buss and co. have officially muted said source.
“Keeping things under wraps is really, really important. Our circle is tight because, over the years, we did have problems with things leaking out. And that did disrupt plans and cause some problems in our basketball operations,” she said.“Finally, we got rid of the problem. Now we can keep things under wraps when we choose to.”
Now, Buss and the Lakers are down a big man in Davis, but the return of Doncic is incredible. Los Angeles gave up one first-round pick for the generational talent. Buss and the Lakers had to keep the trade secret, probably because if it got out that Luka was only worth one first and a legit star, several others would’ve jumped in with better offers.
All in all, LA is now a championship contender, while the Mavs are fighting for their lives in the NBA Play-In tournament. Jeanie Buss, JJ Reddick, LeBron James, and everyone involved with the organization must be feeling pretty good, even if the departure of Davis was a bit awkward.
