The Dallas Mavericks and Los Angeles Lakers completed one of the most stunning trades in NBA history early on Sunday morning, with the Mavs acquiring Anthony Davis and the Lakers acquiring Luka Doncic. While the deal came from literally out of nowhere, it turns out the two sides had been discussing the parameters of this deal for quite some time.

Everyone was in the dark in regards to this deal, including the players themselves. However, reports have indicated that Mavericks general manager Nico Harrison and Lakers general manager Rob Pelinka had been discussing this deal for nearly a month, with their first in-person discussion taking place when their two teams squared off against each other on Jan. 7.

“The first conversation between Nico Harrison and Rob Pelinka on the broad concept of a potential Luka Dončić/Anthony Davis trade was in person Jan. 7 when the Lakers were in Dallas to play the Mavericks,” Marc Stein reported in a post on X, formerly Twitter.

Mavericks GM details Luka Doncic-Anthony Davis trade talks with Lakers

Dallas Mavericks guard Luka Doncic (77) drives to the basket past Los Angeles Lakers forward Anthony Davis (3) during the second half at the American Airlines Center.
Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-Imagn Images

Harrison and Pelinka have had a relationship with each other dating back to when the former worked for Nike, and the latter worked as a player agent. According to another report, that relationship helped these trade talks get off the ground, with things eventually taking off from there.

“Harrison cited his two-decade relationship with Lakers general manager Rob Pelinka, starting when Harrison was a Nike executive and Pelinka was a player agent. Harrison told The News that he and Pelinka began having ‘basketball' conversations more than a month ago.

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‘Then all of a sudden we’re like,' ‘Would you ever do this?’

‘Nah, you’re joking, right?’

‘Hmm. Interesting. Maybe I would.’

Added Harrison: ‘And then it just built over time over the last three weeks.'”

Even these two GMs were skeptical of each other when these talks got under way, but they eventually found out that they were both serious, and it resulted in one of the biggest trades in sports history. And while it may seem like this popped up out of the blue, it's clear that the two sides had been working towards this for quite some time.