Danny Ainge had only 30 minutes notice he was facilitating Luka Doncic trade to Lakers

Andy Larsen: Former Mavs coach Rick Carlisle on the Luka Doncic trade: Look, it’s a historic event. You’re talking about the two principal players are two of the highest impact players, really, in the history of the game. I can speak to Luka because I worked with him for three years. He’s the most unique player I’ve ever seen, and his impact is so massive. Because not only does he have the personality and all the skill and the size and everything, he’s impossible to game plan for because he just decides how the game is going to be played, and he makes it his style of game. He’s a very, very unique player. And when we had the seven game series in ’21 against the Clippers, at that time, he was breaking rookie records every year for playoff production. His production numbers are just are staggering. There’s so much talk about out there, about everything – you’ve got to talk about how great Davis is too. He’s a different kind of dominant. He’s a guy you go out there and, how do you get near the rim, and how do you guard him? I think he can play three positions. I think he can play four or five, and I think he can play three. I think he’s that great. So, monumental event. And my hope is that both teams do well with it. Time will tell. -via x.com / February 3, 2025

The Lakers’ logic, according to league sources, was that parting with both of their first-rounders would be too perilous. Dončić’s contract can expire in 2026 when they couldn’t know his interest in re-signing. And they had no chance to find out before pulling off an exchange that shook the NBA. The Lakers could not talk to Dončić’s agent, Bill Duffy, about the trade because both sides, Dallas and Los Angeles, wanted to keep negotiations a secret. Mentioning the behind-the-scenes details to agents would put the information at risk of becoming public, which the Mavericks especially thought would be too flammable. If a trade didn’t materialize, then they believed the prospect of being left with a disgruntled franchise centerpiece could be disastrous. -via New York Times / February 3, 2025

Though Mavs general manager Nico Harrison seemed to indicate in a news conference Sunday that he spoke only to the Lakers about Dončić, Dallas called at least one other team to inquire about a deal that would flip Dončić for another star, league sources told The Athletic. But the Mavericks didn’t enter deep negotiations with anyone but the Lakers. -via New York Times / February 3, 2025