When the Dallas Mavericks made the blockbuster trade of the decade - sending Luka Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers in exchange for Anthony Davis, among other pieces - the basketball world was seemingly flipped on its head.
The now 26-year-old superstar was coming off a trip to the NBA Finals and leading the league in scoring. He was seen as a cornerstone of the franchise and presumed to be untouchable by most - and now months after the deal, fellow superstar Jimmy Butler spoke on how shocked he was by the trade.
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Now Butler is no stranger to blockbuster deals, especially given the fact that he was traded from the Miami Heat to the Golden State Warriors a few days after Doncic. Still, he recently opened up to The National about his initial thoughts on the deal.
"I thought it was fake like everybody else," said Butler. "So did you. I don't even have to ask. You know what I mean? It was like this guy got hacked or something. I just thought when you used the word 'untradeable,' 'untouchable,' you'd think Luka Doncic is one of those guys, honestly."
When asked if there were potentially more details in the story than what the public currently knows, Butler gave a somewhat vague response, citing that what the general basketball world sees is just one aspect of the story.
"There's always more to it. Everybody else is always on the outside looking in, so you only know what you read, you only know what you read from socials. You don't know what was really going on behind closed doors.
"And everybody's going to latch onto whatever narrative they want to believe and whatever clickbait is put out there. But there's always more to these stories. I don't know, I don't know, but I can guarantee you there is more, and there's always a reason behind everything. Do I know the reason? No."
A trade involving someone as impactful as Doncic is head-scratching, to say the least, and to assert that there is more to the story in this situation is far from laughable.
Various members of the Mavericks organization, specifically general manager Nico Harrison, have spoken out about the reasons for pulling the trigger on this deal, but no reasons stopped the criticism from fans.
Only time will tell if the Mavericks made the right move, or if more details surrounding the trade will come to light, as Butler alluded to.
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