The landscape of the NBA has shifted overnight.
In an astonishing deal, MVP candidate Luka Doncic is set to be traded to the Los Angeles Lakers in exchange for 10-time All-Star Anthony Davis, who will head to the Dallas Mavericks.
Doncic, Maxi Kleber and Markieff Morris are all moving to LA, while Davis and Max Christie, as well as a 2029 first-round pick, are heading to Dallas.
The three-team deal will reportedly also include the Utah Jazz, which will receive Lakers guard Jalen Hood-Schifino, and two 2025 second-round draft picks.
Doncic, widely regarded as one of the greatest European basketball players of all-time, is set to join LeBron James in Los Angeles, while Davis will soon partner with Kyrie Irving in Dallas.
News of the blockbuster trade sent shock waves through the NBA, with fans, players and analysts all left stunned.
ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith was quick to take to social media, sharing the perfect reaction in the form of an iconic meme.
He posted the short video of his and Michael Wilbon’s stunned reactions to Deandre Ayton’s game-winning dunk that saw the Phoenix Suns beat the Los Angeles Clippers in Game 2 of the 2021 Western Conference finals.
The footage, which still delights fans to this day, perfectly sums up a majority of the reactions to the Doncic-Davis trade.
Smith later appeared on ESPN to discuss the news.
“I’m shocked, like the entire basketball world,” he said.
“It’s not something that you would have ever anticipated, primarily from the Dallas Mavericks. Luka Doncic is a global superstar, you know what he can bring to the table.
“When you look on the Anthony Davis side, this is a big time player, he’s an All-Star, one of the elite defensive players in the game of basketball.
“There’s a whole bunch of questions, a whole bunch of intrigue, and it’s a shocker. Maybe the biggest shocker of a trade that many of us have seen in NBA history.”
David Aldridge, a veteran sports journalist who has covered basketball for nearly 40 years, also took to social media to share his reaction to the trade.
Now writing for The Athletic, Aldridge previously contributed to ESPN, NBA TV, NBA.com and The Washington Post.
He described the Doncic-Davis news as a ‘holy s***’ trade.
“I’ve been covering the NBA for 37 years,” he wrote.
“Almost nothing that happens – deals, free agent signings, coach hirings/firings – rises to the level of, as the great Ben Bradlee used to call them, ‘Holy s***’ stories.’
“You just get used to the unexpected. This is a ‘Holy s***’ trade.”
A number of NBA stars also took to X to share their shock.
New York Knicks guard Jalen Brunson couldn’t believe the news, which was initially broken by ESPN’s Shams Charania, questioning if it was an early April Fools joke.
“WOWWWWW NO F WAY,” Philadelphia 76ers center Joel Embiid added.
Kevin Durant, meanwhile, discussed the ‘transactional’ nature of the NBA, and suggested there is a ‘double-standard’ of loyalty in basketball.
With Doncic and Davis being traded between Dallas and LA in a historic deal, plenty more fallout is expected before the two teams meet on the court on February 25.