No matter what trades are made from now until the end of existence, nothing will ever come close to the shocking and time-stopping trade the Dallas Mavericks and Los Angeles Lakers made at the start of February 2025. Never in a million years could someone have predicted that the Mavs would ever trade Luka Doncic, and the Lakers trading Davis was unfathomable at the start of the 2024-25 season.
However, there is always a story to every case of madness in sports, and the one between Davis and the Lakers is no exception.
When Davis requested a trade from the New Orleans Pelicans in 2019, he harbored a desire to play for the Lakers, not only to team up with LeBron James but also to win a championship. Davis was traded to the Lakers in July 2019, and that pursuit of a title with James began.
About 15 months later, battling through a worldwide pandemic and all, the Lakers could once again call themselves champions of the NBA. It was definitely different given the circumstances of the NBA Bubble in Florida, but in his first season with the Lakers, he won a championship.
All was great in Los Angeles. James and Davis formed a strong bond with one another, and their ties ran deeper than just on the court due to Rich Paul and Klutch Sports. Paul, who has been one of LeBron's closest friends throughout his career, represents both James and Davis, along with several other notable stars around the league, like Draymond Green, De'Aaron Fox, Brandon Ingram, and others.
Along with a strong bond between Davis, James, and Paul, Klutch Sports and Paul had also formed a strong connection with Lakers executive Rob Pelinka and the organization since James decided to join the Lakers in 2018.
This relationship led to constant communication between the two sides when Davis became available in trade talks in 2019, and it has also led to countless Klutch clients signing with the Lakers through the years. At the same time as all this success was resulting in a title, it was also the start of a clock that would eventually lead to Davis' departure from Los Angeles five years later.
As great a talent and competitor as Davis is, his injury struggles and availability in Los Angeles were concerning.
From the start of the 2019-20 season to when he was traded in 2025, Davis played in about 71.5 percent of the Lakers' total games, only eclipsing the 60 games played mark twice in his five and a half years with the franchise.
There was always a level of concern with Davis' soft-tissue injuries following the team's championship run in 2020, but the organization pushed forward with the All-Star big man alongside James.
After capturing their last championship in 2020, the Lakers made it out of the opening round of the playoffs just once in 2023, when they advanced to the Western Conference Finals. While Los Angeles' struggles on the court, and specifically in the postseason, were at the front of everyone's minds, what was happening behind the scenes ultimately led to the Doncic-Davis trade this past February.
Over the last several months, ClutchPoints has been gathering information from a variety of league and team sources to discover what exactly happened with Davis and the Lakers, a marriage that was destined to end, whether Doncic was on the table or not. Here is what was discovered, starting with secret trade talks involving Davis.
Lakers began contemplating Anthony Davis' future
The bright lights of Los Angeles were exactly what Davis wanted as he entered the peak years of his career. As soon as he won a championship with James, the Lakers' ideology was simple: have Davis lead the team into the future.
Even with LeBron still playing at the highest level possible and performing at an All-NBA level, Davis represented the future of the Lakers.
Originally, the hope in Los Angeles was that it wouldn't just be Davis by LeBron's side in the later stages of his career, as Pelinka had dreamed of adding a third superstar to compete for championships during the league's “Big 3” era. The goal of landing Kawhi Leonard never happened, as he ultimately chose to sign with the Los Angeles Clippers.
Looking back on how this played out, the Lakers dodged a bullet when it came to potentially signing Kawhi. Perhaps it was fate that their pursuit of Leonard in free agency did not work out, as it eventually led to the Davis-Doncic trade.
Years before the coffee shop meeting between Nico Harrison and Pelinka that ultimately led to this groundbreaking trade in 2025, the Lakers constantly challenged Davis and his ability to cement himself as the face of the organization because of injury concerns.
He only played in 36 games the season after winning a championship due to calf and Achilles strains, and then Davis only played in 40 games during the 2021-22 season because of a left MCL sprain and a right ankle sprain. The very next season (2022-23), Davis missed 26 games with a right foot injury.
Throughout these three years, in which Davis was constantly in and out of the lineup as a result of many injuries, internal concerns about the way Davis took care of his body began to loom large, multiple league sources told ClutchPoints. There were points before the 2024-25 season when Davis' side and his representation would not see eye to eye with how the Lakers wanted to handle his injury recovery and prevention.
In the offseason, Davis wouldn't always communicate with the Lakers, sources said, and his fitness levels entering training camps, including before the 2024-25 season, were said to be “well below average.”
“There were moments in the preseason where we wondered if he had even worked out at all in the summer,” one team source who was granted anonymity to speak freely said of Davis entering the 2024-25 season. “He would come back, go through warmups, and then either sit out to be with the training staff or basically half-ass what the team was doing.
“When he first got here, that wasn't the case. He was always wanting to go above and beyond, and he was one of the first in the gym, last out of it. Over the years, that changed, and he almost became content in a way. It was clear he was out of shape and didn't seem to care what the higher-ups were telling him. Something definitely changed.”
Even before the Davis-Doncic trade became a thought, there was ongoing tension building between Davis' team and members of the Lakers' front office, multiple sources said. This rising tension was not only from his injury struggles and conditioning levels not being up to the standard the team wanted, but there were also genuine concerns about how he took care of his body, which directly resulted in some of his injuries.
Serious doubts began to form internally for the Lakers among a small group, some holding front-office roles. Eventually, as this noise grew louder, Pelinka and his inner circle began to take notice.
The strong bond the Lakers and Klutch Sports once shared, with many fans calling the organization the “Klutch Sports Lakers” because of all the clients Paul had with Los Angeles, began to show some cracks.
Multiple Klutch Sports clients had left the Lakers since that 2020 championship run, and many around the NBA began to wonder if this was a result of Paul and James' influence with the team's front office. Neither side commented on whether Paul or LeBron impacted the roster decisions being made since Davis was acquired in 2019.
But the answer seemed all too obvious, with the team becoming discouraged by Davis' side and his willingness to fully commit to what the Lakers wanted of him. Between worries about Davis' offseason conditioning, commitment, and ability to become the “alpha” of the team once LeBron was ready to move on, Pelinka and the Lakers began making calls to some teams in December 2024, multiple sources said.
Minor conversations were held between Pelinka, other team front-office personnel, and rival teams around the league. Davis was the topic at hand. Although Pelinka and the Lakers as a whole didn't hold virtually any desire to trade Davis, they began reaching out to some teams about Davis' value and the possibility of putting him on the trade block in the summer after the 2024-25 season ended.
Initially, other organizations didn't think much of the Lakers presenting Davis' name in conversations, and the belief was that it was nothing more than a ploy by Los Angeles to try and pull a fast one on them. In fact, one source from an Eastern Conference team who was present for these conversations about Davis and the Lakers claimed they were “laughable” at first because they didn't believe for a second that Davis was truly available.
“When AD (Anthony Davis) was the name that came up, we all kind of looked at each other like, ‘Yeah, okay.' But the conversation was actually serious, and things began shifting to the point where they were seriously wanting to know whether we would be interested. That's as far as it got. We kept all of it in-house to make sure that opportunity didn't disappear, whether it be at the deadline or in the offseason.
“Little did we know, they did the same thing with Nico and the Mavs, and obviously nobody was going to beat a Luka deal.”
Of the teams that the Lakers spoke with when they were first putting out feelers for Davis, the Boston Celtics held a couple of calls with Los Angeles, sources said. Nothing ever progressed to where there was any actual momentum, but Los Angeles was receiving signals that Brad Stevens and his front office were receptive to the idea.
The five-word message the Lakers got back from Boston was enough to let them know they would consider such a move in the summer: “We'll keep it in mind.” It is worth noting that the Celtics were next to the Lakers in terms of pursuing Davis when he was traded from the Pelicans in 2019.
Before Jayson Tatum tore his Achilles in the playoffs, the Celtics were already signaling that they were going to cut costs in the offseason. This still could have been achieved by trading Jrue Holiday and Kristaps Porzingis, both of whom were dealt in the summer, along with other assets in a big deal for Davis. It was certainly something for the Celtics to consider.
Two other Eastern Conference teams were also intrigued by the Lakers bringing up Davis' name. These organizations were the Milwaukee Bucks and the Cleveland Cavaliers, multiple sources said. Of course, the Lakers were simply putting out feelers for Davis and still didn't have interest in trading him during the 2024-25 season, but Los Angeles was serious about putting together real trade packages in the offseason.
While other teams were rumored to have spoken with the Lakers about Davis in December 2024, these organizations would not be confirmed by either side. Still, there were at least five teams that held dialogue with the Lakers more than once after Los Angeles' initial feeler to discuss Davis and minor details regarding his status.
Interest from the Lakers' side in terms of gauging interest in Davis was very real, and the possibility of moving on from the multi-time All-Star big man during the offseason grew more with every conversation they held around the league.
The idea of trading Davis, aside from concerns about commitment to becoming the face of the franchise, was due to uncertainty surrounding LeBron possibly opting out. If James were to leave and the Lakers traded Davis, the idea was that they could instantly set themselves up for a soft rebuild to bring in assets and make a push for a superstar like Giannis Antetokounmpo or a young, emerging superstar.
Coincidentally enough, Luka Doncic was right next to stars like Giannis and Nikola Jokic in terms of being a player the Lakers planned on targeting in the upcoming free agency periods, sources said. Doncic was clearly a player Pelinka and the Lakers were prepared to make a push for in life after Davis and LeBron, but they believed his commitment to Dallas would never waver.
That didn't matter, though, as Harrison was not committed to Doncic whatsoever, leading to multiple conversations that only he, Pelinka, Jeanie Buss, and Patrick Dumont originally knew about. It was then that all prior conversations about trading Davis in the summer went out the door, and the right momentum to trade him became right then and there… for Luka Doncic.
The “last straw” that led to the Luka Doncic trade
When the 2023-24 season ended, the Lakers held various meetings with their personnel and players. Among the topics at hand was replacing head coach Darvin Ham, who led the team to a 90-74 record, a trip to the 2023 Western Conference Finals, and a win in the league's first NBA Cup championship.
James, Davis, and other players met with the Lakers' brass to discuss the direction of the franchise after firing Ham, and AD held direct conversations with Pelinka about the hiring process, which led to JJ Redick being named the new head coach. At the same time, Davis' conversation between his team and the organization also revolved around keeping him fresh and finding more frontcourt depth.
Davis and his camp held a meeting with the Lakers before the 2024 offseason was in full swing, sources said, to stress the importance of him having more help, specifically at the center position. It was clear that Davis' demands were to play fewer minutes at center and for the team to leverage assets in order to bring in another experienced center who could directly impact their championship pursuit.
From the point of view of Davis' camp, the idea of making such a move was to preserve his overall body health, as wear and tear had resulted in several of his soft tissue injuries through the years. This wasn't seen as a necessity from the Lakers' point of view, as their focus was on preserving future assets and maintaining cap flexibility for 2025, with LeBron owning a player option.
Los Angeles did not completely shut the door on pursuing more frontcourt help, as they attempted to do so multiple times before the 2025 trade deadline, but this was not viewed as a core need of the franchise. Instead, more focus was on Austin Reaves emerging as the third key talent alongside James and Davis.
This decision to continue having Davis play heavy minutes with virtually no frontcourt help did not sit well with his camp, creating more friction and tension leading into the 2024-25 season, sources said.
“Showing up after the Olympics, AD looked the best we could've asked for,” a different team source, who was also granted anonymity, told ClutchPoints. “He was definitely fresher than in previous years, and that showed with his start to the year. Energy was good, and he bought into JJ's plans. After those (NBA) Cup games, that's when we started hearing more from AD's side about him being tired and needing help.
“That narrative was constantly being pushed, and it never went away. It's hard to describe, but there was just this weird energy when you'd see him talking with Rob, JJ, and others about it. Honestly, the idea of wanting to add another center seemed more forced from an external factor than from AD himself, because he was always fine at practice. There were never any direct complaints inside the facility.”
Rich Paul and Pelinka have always shared an easy relationship with one another, especially given the Lakers executive's past as an agent himself. Their conversations have always been fluid, and it never appeared any animosity was brewing between the two parties.
However, the internal tension growing as a result of Davis' demands and the fear of him no longer being the future of the organization in a post-LeBron James era was kept within the walls of the Lakers' facility. At no point did Pelinka or anyone else tell Paul about these concerns, nor was he informed about trade discussions happening.
The Lakers began the 2024-25 season, and everyone was on the same page about competing for a championship. James and Davis were happy to have Redick as their coach, and his ability to relate to his roster as a recently retired player himself who spent 15 years in the NBA facing off with his stars earned Redick immediate respect.
Despite the franchise holding secret conversations with teams in December 2024, the Lakers were finding success on the court as the calendar flipped to 2025. Los Angeles won five of their last seven entering the new year, and the team had extra purpose to find success on the court for their community as a result of the devastating wildfires throughout California in January 2025.
Davis was playing well, he was healthy, and it appeared as if the Lakers were gearing up to make a big addition before the trade deadline in February in order to capitalize on their championship window.
What nobody knew at the time is that when Nico Harrison and the Dallas Mavericks heard about the Lakers gauging early trade interest in Davis for the 2025 offseason, the Mavs' executive immediately contacted Pelinka, whom he has always shared a strong relationship with dating back to Harrison's time as an executive at Nike when Pelinka was Kobe Bryant's agent.
Both Harrison and Pelinka made sure their conversations were secure among a tight-lipped group, which included Lakers' governor Jeanie Buss and new Mavs owner Patrick Dumont.
At no point were others made aware of these advanced trade discussions between the Mavs and Lakers focused on Doncic and Davis until it was all finalized, multiple sources confirmed to ClutchPoints. Not even Paul and Davis knew about Dallas discussing Doncic's future, let alone Davis' time in Los Angeles likely coming to an end after the 2024-25 season.
Harrison always held a lot of interest in Davis during his tenure with the Mavericks, and he had spoken with Pelinka and the Lakers after the 2022-23 season about the possibility of pursuing him, sources said. No trade talks were held at that time, and the Lakers were fully committed to their LeBron-AD duo.
Shortly after Harrison expressed interest in Davis in 2023, the All-Star big man agreed to a three-year, $175 million contract extension with the Lakers to keep him there through the 2027-28 season.
As the conversations between Harrison and Pelinka continued to progress and the dream of acquiring Doncic started to look like a real possibility for the Lakers, Pelinka, Buss, and other key members of Los Angeles' front office began devising the logistics of the trade.
At least one other team would need to be involved, hence the Utah Jazz being the third team as a salary dump to complete the Doncic-Davis swap without even knowing what Dallas and Los Angeles were getting.
While this was happening in mid-January, Davis continued to make it known that the team needed another center, a narrative that had worn thin on the front office.
If the Lakers needed any other reason to want to move Davis other than acquiring Doncic, they got it when his frustrations led the 10-time All-Star to make it clear to management that they needed to be willing to do what it takes to not only keep him healthy but also put the team in the best position to win a title during the 2024-25 season.
“I think we need another big,” Davis hesitantly told Shams Charania of ESPN in an exclusive sit-down interview at the end of January, as if he knew his answer would stir the pot. “You've seen the teams who have been effective… And our biggest matchup the past couple of years has been Denver. But then you watch Minnesota (Timberwolves) — Minnesota beat Denver (with) two bigs.
“I've always been at my best when I've been a four and having a big out there. We know it worked when we won the championship with JaVale (McGee) and Dwight (Howard) at the five and I'm at the four… I think our 2019-20 team was like the perfect construction of a team. We had shooters, we had dogs defensively, we had scorers — we knew, like everyone knew, their role. We had size… and it's just like everybody knew their role.
“I think adding another big and guys who can get downhill… I think we add those elements, you know, we right there.”
Multiple higher-ups in the Lakers organization took exception to Davis' words, which basically claimed they did not put the team in a position to succeed like they did during the team's championship run in 2020, sources said. With conversations Pelinka held with Harrison already advancing and this relationship with Davis reaching a point of no return, the Lakers pulled the trigger on the historic trade.
What Davis said in this interview was essentially the “last straw,” as one team source said, that put the nail in the coffin for his time in Los Angeles. The last inch of approval to make the trade happen was given by both the Lakers and Mavs by way of Buss and Dumont, resulting in Charania breaking the internet with his report, which many believed to be fake at first.
Roughly nine months after this trade changed the NBA landscape and the Lakers' future, these two stars and organizations find themselves in completely different positions.
Luka just signed a three-year, $165 million contract extension to be the future of the Lakers, and he has Los Angeles positioned near the top of the West alongside Austin Reaves with an 8-4 record entering Friday night's NBA Cup group stage game against the New Orleans Pelicans. Doncic and Reaves have found all of this success without LeBron on the court.
Over in Dallas, things are not as bright for Davis and the Mavs. Once again, Davis has missed a chunk of time as a result of injury, and the Mavericks are on the verge of collapse at 3-9 after firing Harrison. Now, the question of what the future holds for this franchise looms large over the NBA and Davis' immediate future.
Anthony Davis, Mavericks' uncertain future
It is still weird watching the Mavericks or Lakers play and seeing Anthony Davis in a Dallas jersey and Luka Doncic in a Los Angeles jersey. Honestly, it may never feel natural to see Doncic playing for the Lakers, but he is the face of the franchise and committed to their long-term future.
In Dallas, the opposite is true. With Nico Harrison finally being fired by Patrick Dumont after fans pleaded for such a move to be made since this insane trade was made, many around the league are wondering what the Mavericks' next steps are.
Cooper Flagg, the first overall pick from the 2025 NBA Draft, will be a foundational piece in Dallas for many years to come, but it truly appears as if nobody other than him is safe between now and the trade deadline.
Kyrie Irving won't return until sometime in 2026 as he recovers from his ACL tear, Klay Thompson is expected to hit the trade block, teams have expressed interest in Daniel Gafford dating back to last year, and Davis' future is very much a major question mark around the NBA after Harrison's exit from the franchise.
After all, Davis is the player Harrison pinpointed and specifically wanted, which is why he didn't hold a bidding war with other teams for Doncic — something any of the other 29 executives would have done and likely received a king's ransom for.
Davis has not played since Sept. 29 due to a left calf strain, and the team's only focus is on making sure he is 100 percent healthy before returning due to the risk of a possible Achilles tear. From there, assuming he can stay healthy through the holiday season and into the new year, Dumont and the Mavs will closely monitor this roster.
If Davis' return sparks a fight in this team and Irving's return turns things around in Dallas, then there is obviously no need to make substantial roster changes. But all of this is a major unknown at this time, which is why nobody around the NBA knows whether or not Davis will actually hit the trade market before the deadline on Feb. 6.
Dumont and Rich Paul have been in constant contact with one another, according to Marc Stein, and they will work together on the next steps for the All-Star big man once he returns and can consistently remain on the floor.
So, if the Mavs continue to stumble between now and the trade deadline, could Davis potentially be on the move?
It is much easier to trade a player making $50 million or more during the offseason compared to at the trade deadline. The only exceptions are when teams want to swap one superstar for another, like we saw in the Doncic-Davis trade last season. Very few teams would have the capability of pursuing Davis in a trade this year.
Many have pointed the finger at the Chicago Bulls, but would this young team want to move on from a handful of their young players and veteran center Nikola Vucevic, who has been fantastic to begin the 2025-26 season, for an aging, injury-riddled star from Chicago?
What about the Celtics? As previously mentioned, Boston pursued Davis in 2019 when he was still with the Pelicans, and the Celtics held conversations with the Lakers about Davis before the Doncic trade.
While it's unlikely Brad Stevens and his front office would make such a move in the middle of the season, given their position in the East with Jayson Tatum out, Davis is the type of big man who would thrive on a championship-contending team led by Tatum and Jaylen Brown.
Then again, the question that would need to be asked in Boston is whether giving up Derrick White for Davis makes sense, and that answer is probably not.
The Golden State Warriors have long been connected to Davis, and their frontcourt problems persist. However, pursuing Davis would mean the Warriors needing to part ways with either Jimmy Butler or Draymond Green and a combination of other talents. Since the start of the offseason, the Dubs have made it clear neither Butler nor Green will be moved, essentially ending any thought of Davis going to the Bay Area.
Until he actually plays and can sustain his availability, it is hard to pinpoint what exactly Davis' market looks like. He will undoubtedly enter the trade season as the biggest star potentially available, but his health concerns and contract are too much for over half the league to worry about.
The Mavericks' only choice after firing Harrison is to begin doing what the Lakers did about one year ago around this time: begin figuring out which teams would have a level of interest in Davis. Once there is an answer to this, the path forward for Dumont and the Mavs to move forward will present itself.
