It’s been more than six months since the Los Angeles Lakers made the franchise-altering move of trading big man Anthony Davis and other assets to the Dallas Mavericks for guard Luka Doncic. Yet a recent report has come out about forward LeBron James’ reaction in the team’s group chat after Davis got moved.
According to Christian Arnold of the New York Post, James texted a succinct message in the group chat that spanned just three letters. James’ text was in response to a message from Davis expressing disbelief that the Lakers moved on from him.
He spent five-plus seasons with them and helped them to their 17th championship in franchise history in 2020.
“LeBron James had a three-letter response in a group chat when he found out that Anthony Davis had been traded as part of a deal that sent Luka Doncic to the Lakers earlier this year,” Arnold wrote.
“‘WTF,’ the NBA superstar wrote on the February night one of the biggest trades in NBA history took place, according to details in NBA journalist Yaron Weitzman’s new book ‘A Hollywood Ending: The Dreams and Drama of the LeBron Lakers.’
“Bronny James, LeBron’s son and a rookie with the Lakers, was the one to post the NBA-shattering breaking news from insider Shams Charania in the players’ group chat.
“Bronny, like the rest of the sports world that night, was unsure if the post had been a hack.
“That’s when Davis entered the chat, according to the book.
‘”Did these [N-word] just trade me?’ Davis wrote in the group chat before wishing his now-former teammates luck and leaving the group.
“That prompted James’ three-letter message in the group chat.”
The elder James and Davis formed a dynamic duo on the storied franchise for several years, and while that era of Lakers basketball was full of ups and downs, it did produce a championship at the start of the decade. Plus, Los Angeles made another deep playoff run with Davis and the elder James in the 2023 NBA Playoffs and reached the Western Conference Finals despite being just the No. 7 seed in the West.
It shouldn’t come as a shock that the elder James expressed surprise over the Lakers’ decision to trade Davis considering how long they played together and all they accomplished as a duo. Still, with Davis getting up there in age and being injury-prone, such a trade was the right move for the Lakers’ future.
In Doncic, the Lakers have someone they can build around long after the elder James retires from the best basketball league in the world. Doncic is only 26 years old, and all signs point to him being an elite NBA player for many years to come. If the Lakers didn’t make that trade for Doncic, their future would be looking a whole lot more murky.
Hopefully, the Lakers’ trade for Doncic will pay off in the form of them winning their 18th championship in franchise history this season. While the Lakers aren’t clear-cut favorites to come out of the West by any means, they look new and improved on paper compared to last season.