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While everyone was still trying to get over the shock of Luka Doncic being traded to the Lakers, there were whispers that Los Angeles wasn’t the first team Dallas’ management approached, but the rumor was light on details.
That team was the Minnesota Timberwolves, with Dallas checking Minnesota’s temperature on a Doncic for Anthony Edwards trade, reports Sam Amick of The Athletic.
“League sources tell The Athletic that the Mavericks and Timberwolves informally discussed the prospect of swapping Dončić for 23-year-old, three-time All-Star Anthony Edwards in the weeks before the Lakers deal went down. More specifically, Mavericks general manager Nico Harrison reached out to the Timberwolves and asked if there was any chance they’d be willing to trade Edwards. He was promptly told no. The Timberwolves, league sources say, were stunned that Dallas was contemplating parting ways with Doncic.”
Not only would that trade have been pretty clean (Doncic and Edwards make within $1 million of each other this season), but it would have addressed one of Dallas’ primary concerns about Doncic — the massive five-year, $345 million contract he could sign with the team this summer. Edwards is in the first year of a five-year, $244.6 million contract.
Faced with Minnesota’s rejection, Harrison focused on acquiring Anthony Davis from the Lakers, a player he saw as a more professional and better fit next to Kyrie Irving than Doncic, even if that made the Mavericks much older (Davis is 31 compared to Doncic’s 25).
Lakers governor Jeanie Buss discussed how important it was to keep the circle of people involved small and prevent trade rumors from spreading in an interview with ESPN’s Dave McMenamin.
“It was really important to me that we didn’t blow up the team,” Buss said… “If it had leaked out and the trade hadn’t happened, that would be really unfair to the progress that the coaching staff had made with the team. Because it’s a huge distraction.”
The Lakers are 4-2 since Doncic entered the lineup, and while he has averaged 19.3 points, 9.7 rebounds and 6.7 assists a game for his new team, he has described his play as “horrible.” That’s because he has yet to find his shooting touch consistently since coming back from a strained calf, he is shooting 36.5% overall and 22.4% on 3-pointers. As that picks up the Lakers become even more dangerous, and already after the trade they look like one of the genuine challengers to Oklahoma City in the West.