As the fallout continues from the blockbuster trade that sent Anthony Davis to Dallas and Luka Doncic to Los Angeles, it’s clear that the power centers of both teams have shifted.
It’s also certain that the truth about LeBron James’ role in this deal has consequences nearly as jolting as the trade itself.
Much remains unknown about the behind-the-scenes moves that led to the stunning news Saturday night that a three-team trade had rewritten the fabric of the league and delivered us the most surprising trade in NBA history. The stealth it took to pull off the deal without a single leak has also, at least so far, masked exactly how this went down, why it happened and which power players truly pulled the strings.
Either way, neither team, on or off the court, will be the same again.
CBS Sports reported Saturday night that multiple NBA sources believed Doncic — perhaps for personal reasons, perhaps because of organizational factors — did not plan to stay with the Mavericks after his contract expired in 2026. Mavs GM Nico Harrison spun it this weekend as though this was all his idea, though, telling reporters he never talked to any other team about Doncic other than the Lakers and that he was not approached by Doncic before this move.
If true — and it’s hard to believe an NBA GM would actually move a 25-year-old generational talent without driving up the price by checking in on other would-be bidders — it would be basketball malpractice.
“We believe it sets us up to win not only now but also in the future,” Harrison said. “When we win I believe the frustration will go away.”
Either way, trading Doncic also shines a light on the fact that the Mark Cuban era in Dallas is officially over. Cuban, now a minority owner team of the team, had once been its beating heart and majority owner. When he sold the team in December 2023, he was supposed to remain in charge of basketball operations.
That idea was laid to waste as the shock of the trade set in on Saturday night, and reinforced Sunday morning when Cuban told a local radio station he had nothing to do with the move.
In Los Angeles, a similar shift of power, philosophy and approach may well be one of the most interesting facts yet to emerge from this trade.
There are only two options surrounding LeBron’s influence — or lack thereof — over AD being shipped out and Luka brought in.
One side of the story that has been reported over the weekend holds that despite sharing an agent with Davis, LeBron had no idea about, nor influence over, the move. One such report said that he “learned of the Davis-Doncic trade after the Knicks game when it broke while he was out to dinner with his family.”
If true — if the Los Angeles Lakers actually traded Anthony Davis without informing LeBron or giving a single iota of a worry about what he would think about finding out just before the rest of us — then the LeBron James era in Los Angeles is over as surely as Cuban’s in Dallas.
The other option is that those close to LeBron are pushing a narrative to try and protect this all-time great from the consequences of cutting AD loose.
It would not be the first time that’s happened. LeBron runs a well-oiled machine, has incredibly smart and loyal people around him and would have reason to try and protect himself from the fallout from having his fingerprints all over this move. That mentality also serves to protect Klutch Sports founder and CEO Rich Paul, who reps James and Davis, from the problems that might arise from an agent playing two top clients off each other and sending one from Los Angeles to Dallas unexpectedly.
If LeBron did know in advance, the temptation to get Doncic in an effort to upgrade the Lakers’ ceiling enough before his championship window closes would require publicly explaining any role he or Paul had in such a cutthroat move.
Maybe they did not get warning or have a say. But there are ample reasons to think that view is willfully ignorant or startlingly naive.
The common sense factor alone would argue the Lakers are a team that in the past eight months hired LeBron’s podcast partner to be his head coach and drafted his unqualified son to be his teammate — and that might therefore, at a minimum, inform someone who refers to himself as “King James” about what’s coming.
This view would also point out that the Lakers have a history of respecting and leaning into the wishes of their all-time greats, even at the end of their careers. That has always defined this organization, from Dr. Jerry Buss to Jeanie Buss today.
There’s also the fact that LeBron has always — always — thrown his weight around, pulled strings and had influence over his teams. And why not? He’s LeBron James. Is he more likely to allow himself not to know something this important to his present and future — or to lie?
The reported information that does exist lies in conflict. As some media members do their best to understand what’s happening, others carry water for those they’ve hitched their stars to, and even NBA players are trying to make sense of it all.
But there have been credible suggestions LeBron was in the know, including one NBA insider reporting Sunday that the Lakers were appreciative that Paul and LeBron “made this process a seamless process, and (the Lakers) appreciated them for their efforts in helping this whole thing all come together in the way that it did.”
At the risk of stating the obvious: How can you help this whole thing come together and be appreciated by the Lakers brass for that help if you didn’t know about it?
That’s certainly more than I reported Saturday night, when I reminded CBS Sports HQ viewers that in 2023 there were rumblings that LeBron had been a little frustrated with Davis. That fact seemed worth knowing — along with, say, reminders about Bronny and JJ Redick’s roles with the Lakers and what they suggest about LeBron’s power within the organization.
That reminder did not sit well with LeBron.
The truth of this matters because it holds the answer to the most important unanswered question in this saga.
If LeBron was in fact involved, either by helping pull the strings to acquire Doncic or at least approving the deal — well, then, the plan in L.A. must be to pursue a LeBron-Doncic tandem however long James chooses to keep playing.
That would tell us the Lakers are likely more inclined toward a win-now mode, with perhaps more deals to come before Thursday’s NBA trade deadline. It would also mean landing Doncic’s long-term co-star in LA is a matter for down the road, after LeBron has retired.
But if those pushing the idea that LeBron had no knowledge of this trade are telling the truth, then LeBron’s reign is over in L.A., regardless of how long he dons the purple and gold.
In that case, it opens the door to a move that would be as shocking as Saturday’s, should the moment arise: The Lakers trading LeBron, were he to waive his no-trade clause, or LeBron playing out the string and leaving when his player option arrives in the summer of 2026.
Because in that scenario, the Lakers don’t care what LeBron thinks, are happy to drop the biggest news of his career on him while he’s eating dinner with his family and shifted the team from LeBron’s Lakers to Luka’s Lakers without bothering to offer the courtesy of telling the King, his agent, or anyone else in advance.
The Cuban era is over in Dallas. And either LeBron’s people are pushing false truths about their guy’s role in this move – or he, too, is now on the outside looking in of a team that not long ago catered to what he wanted for his team.
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