The Dallas Mavericks stunned the basketball world on Feb. 2, 2025, by trading Luka Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers. There was widespread disbelief after NBA insider Shams Charania broke the news, and the full reaction of the Golden State Warriors‘ players to it has now gone viral.
Stephen Curry and Draymond Green could not believe what they were seeing. Warriors’ assistant GM Kirk Lacob thought it had to be fake and wondered if Charania had been hacked. That’s what most of the world thought, too.
There was no way the Mavericks were trading a generational talent like Doncic, and there had been no murmurs regarding a move either. It soon dawned on the basketball world, though, that the Slovenian had indeed been moved.
The Lakers gave up Anthony Davis, Max Christie, and a 2029 first-round pick to acquire Doncic. It was quite an underwhelming return, which made the trade all the worse.
The Mavericks had offered Doncic to the Lakers in secrecy, which meant there was no bidding war. Teams around the league didn’t have the faintest idea that the five-time All-Star was being moved, as evidenced by Lacob’s reaction. The Warriors almost certainly would have tried to acquire Doncic if they knew.
Doncic himself had no idea and was stunned by the trade. He broke down in tears when a tribute video was played before his first game back in Dallas. Doncic never wanted to leave, but general manager Nico Harrison wanted him out of the building.
Harrison was widely criticized for that decision, but it did end up working out in one way for the Mavericks. They won the 2025 NBA Draft Lottery and are set to select Cooper Flagg with the first pick of the draft on June 25.
Quentin Grimes Revealed Mavericks Players’ Reaction To The Luka Doncic Trade
Quentin Grimes was with the Mavericks when the Doncic trade went down. During an appearance on The Young Man and the Three podcast, Grimes shared that he heard about the trade from a friend and revealed how the Mavericks player reacted to the news.
“It was a FaceTime,” Grimes stated. “All I could hear, his audio wasn’t working, and he like, ‘You traded Luka? I’m like, ‘What?’ He like, ‘Lu got traded!’ I’m like, ‘Stop playing with me, what you mean Luka got traded?’ And I go to Shams [Charania], and it’s like, ‘Luka for AD.’
“I heard like ten seconds later, all I hear in the hallway is, ‘Ayo, what the f***,'” Grimes added. “I looked out my door and it’s Naji [Marshall], [Dereck Lively II], I think P.J. [Washington], and we just looking at each other like, ‘What the f*** just happened?'”
Hours earlier, the Mavericks players had been told there would be a mandatory meeting with the staff. They thought someone on the team might be getting traded, but not in their wildest dreams did they think it would be Doncic.
A couple of days later, Grimes would also be traded. He was sent to the Philadelphia 76ers and would average 21.9 points, 5.2 rebounds, 4.5 assists, 1.5 steals, and 0.4 blocks for his new team in 2024-25. His success led to Harrison coming under even more fire, but he has kept his job and doesn’t appear to be at risk of losing it.
