LeBron James was just as shocked as the rest of the NBA world when he found out that the Los Angeles Lakers had traded Anthony Davis for Luka Doncic. According to former NBA player and ESPN analyst Richard Jefferson, James was having dinner with his inner circle when the news broke, and his reaction was nothing short of stunned.
Speaking on the Road Trippin podcast, Jefferson detailed exactly how James learned of the blockbuster deal:
“Let me tell you this—so I’m at JFK this morning, I got an 8 o’clock flight, and I see Ramos’s wife walk in. So I see her, and for you guys who don’t know, Ramos is Bron’s executive assistant.”
“He’s with us on all the road trips, he’s on the plane, he’s our brother, he’s family, he’s the best—great dude. So his wife—I, you know, I haven’t seen her in a while—she walks into the little lounge.”
“I see her, and she was like, ‘Yo.’ She’s like, ‘We were all sitting at dinner and the s**t pops off, and Bron’s like, “What the hell?”‘ So, like, for me, people are saying, ‘Oh, they didn’t know, they didn’t know.’ I’m sitting there with family, and at 6:00 in the morning, we’re all sleepy, and I’m like, ‘Y’all get any sleep?'”
“She’s like, ‘No, we were all sitting at dinner—it was Rich Paul, Bron, Savannah, everybody sitting at dinner—and the phones start blowing up.’ She was the one telling me, man, like, ‘Bron was like, “What the hell?”‘ Bron jumped on the phone, looking at Rich like, ‘Rich, did you know?’ She was telling me the story bit by bit of what they were doing at dinner, right? Just like, everybody was flabbergasted.”
“And she said the whole restaurant picked up their phones, and everyone was now looking at Bron because, you know what I’m saying, they see him in the spot. I say that to confirm what you’re saying—no one knew. No one knew this s**t was going down.”
The confirmation from Jefferson aligns with what other NBA insiders have reported—LeBron James had no idea this trade was happening. Despite years of speculation that James pulls the strings in Lakers’ roster moves, this situation proved otherwise.
James was visibly stunned at the table, immediately turning to Rich Paul to ask if he knew anything. But, as previously reported, Paul only learned about the deal 48 hours before it happened and was sworn to secrecy by the Lakers’ front office.
This trade was executed in complete secrecy, catching not just the fans, but even the players involved off guard. Anthony Davis was reportedly sending congratulatory texts to teammates minutes before he was traded, Luka Doncic was stunned by the Mavericks’ decision, and even head coach Jason Kidd had no clue what was coming.
If the look on LeBron’s face at dinner was any indication, this trade sent shockwaves throughout the league. The Lakers now have a new franchise superstar in Luka Doncic, but they also lost a key pillar of their championship identity in Anthony Davis.
LeBron may have been caught off guard, but now that the dust has settled, all eyes will be on how he and Doncic mesh on the court. One thing is certain—this was one of the most shocking trades in NBA history, and no one, not even King James, saw it coming.
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