More shocking truths about the Luka Doncic blockbuster trade: Anthony Davis' agent speaks

It’s been 18 days since the Dallas Mavericks made the most shocking trade in NBA history, sending Luka Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers in exchange for Anthony Davis, Max Christie, and a 2029 first-round pick. 18 days, and three games that Doncic has played in a Lakers uniform, and it still feels surreal.

Anthony Davis played one game in a Mavericks uniform before injuring his abductor. He’s been out ever since, and it’s unclear when he’ll return. Mavericks general manager Nico Harrison, the mastermind behind this plan, simply explained that the reason for this trade is that he thinks it will help them win a championship. This, despite that they were in the championship just last year, much thanks to Luka.

Anthony Davis' agent reveals another shock

What was perhaps just as shocking as the trade itself is the fact that almost no one knew about it. Neither Doncic nor Davis knew anything about the trade before it was executed.

Now, Davis' agent and one of the most influential in the league, Rich Paul, revealed that he didn’t know either.

“99.9% of the time, I’m going to know what’s going on. The one time I didn’t was the one time we all didn’t,” Paul said on the Gil’s Arena podcast.

It seems the only two people who knew about the deal at all were Harrison and Lakers general manager Rob Pelinka. Paul said that the deal was unlikely to have happened had the big secret actually gotten out.

“I’m glad I didn’t know,” said Paul. “I’m glad whoever else didn’t know because it probably wouldn’t have happened if you did know because now you start to open up the opinions and the can of worms. So you can’t get those things done with people knowing."

Paul explained that he wasn’t at all surprised that the Mavs went for AD. He knew they’d been interested for a while, but he said he didn’t expect it to happen at that time, and he certainly didn’t expect it to be in exchange for Luka.

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“The timing of it was a shock, who it was was a shock, but I’m not shocked that AD’s in Dallas. I’m not shocked about that at all,” Paul said. “I’ve known Nico for 20-plus years, and I know how he felt about AD. So that doesn’t shock me at all. But just like everyone else, the timing of it was a shock, and who he was traded for was also a shock."

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