Did LeBron James know about the Luka trade, and did he want Anthony Davis out? 

The dust has finally settled after one of the biggest midseason trades in NBA history. Luka Doncic seems to be over the initial shock of being traded from the team he thought he would retire with, and Anthony Davis finally returned to action after getting injured in his debut in Dallas.

A not-so-secret deal?

The Lakers have shot up the standings since Luka’s arrival. LA has their superstar for the next generation, and they are in the running for a top seed heading into the playoffs. The Luka and LeBron connection has immediately made the Lakers one of the most dangerous teams in the league.

While injury problems have kept the two from playing together in a handful of games, when ever both generational talents are on the floor together magic is made in LaLa Land. That hasn’t been the case for the Dallas Mavericks who traded away their superstar in exchange for an aging, injury prone Anthony Davis and a couple of role players.

The deal caught everyone off guard and was reported to be an overnight negotiation between Lakers general manager Rob Pelinka and Mavs GM Nico Harrison. New broke on the first night of February and send the NBA into a state of shock.

LeBron wanted Markieff with Luka

Harrison said he stuck his neck on the line and made the deal all on his own. Pelinka surely just wanted to get the deal done before the Mavs had a chance to come to their senses. There was an aura of secrecy around the deal that stunned even the most connected insiders in the league.

Almost two months after the trade, rumors are starting to swirl that maybe, just maybe the deal wasn’t so secretive after all. Marcus Morris, brother of Markieiff who came to LA with Luka as part of the deal has revealed that Luka and his brother have a good relationship and LeBron wanted Markieff to be included in the trade.

“The part about it I don’t think a lot of people see is that ‘Kieff and Luka have a really good relationship. Like, a really good relationship,” he said. “So I think that they probably noticed that and they wanted Luka to feel better going to a new place where you have somebody who has been a teammate. Also Dorian Finney-Smith has been [Dončić’s teammate]. Maxi Kleber. So I think that really helped. Also ‘Kieff played there, so the Lakers really wanted him to come. ‘Bron asked for him to come.”

Marcus also said LeBron thought Anthony Davis was getting in the way of the Lakers success. While none of these accusations have been confirmed or denied by LeBron, there is no denying that the Lakers look like they are better off with Luka and their new look roster. They have 10 more games left in the regular season and have a realistic shot at the two seed in the West.

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