Austin Reaves shares Anthony Davis’ immediate reaction to trade in Lakers group chat

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Los Angeles Lakers guard Austin Reaves and forward LeBron James were on the heels of standout performances in a Feb. 1 victory over the New York Knicks when they caught wind of the team’s apparent decision to trade big man Anthony Davis.

The Reaves-James duo had just combined for 60 points in the contest with Davis sidelined, leading to chatter between Reaves and James about how effective the Lakers could be with Davis also in the mix.

“Me and Bron were talking in the locker room after the game,” Reaves told ESPN. “It was like, if we play like that and add AD to that, we could be dangerous.”

Shortly thereafter, as L.A.’s team bus worked its way through traffic in New York, Reaves stumbled upon a post on Instagram that cited a report from ESPN’s Shams Charania. According to the post, the Lakers and Dallas Mavericks had agreed to a blockbuster trade headlined by Davis and then-Mavs guard Luka Doncic. Reaves initially thought the report was a hoax.

“First thing, I was like, ‘Oh this is [false],'” Reaves said. “‘He got hacked.'”

Reaves then started to get text messages.

“The group message started going crazy,” he said. “AD, texting the [team] group message, was like, ‘They traded me.’ And I was like, ‘OK, AD is bulls——- with us.’ He’s a kid at heart, had his fun. He literally has a prank TV show. I thought it was one of those.”

In the end, it wasn’t a prank, as Davis was indeed traded as part of a blockbuster deal bringing Doncic to L.A. The involved teams also shuffled some other players and assets in what ended up being a three-team deal.

Interestingly, Davis is slated to face off against the Lakers for the first time since he was dealt to the Mavericks very soon. On Wednesday, Los Angeles will take on the Mavericks in Dallas, and Davis recently made a succinct statement about the looming matchup against his former team.

Davis was asked what his emotions are like heading into the contest and claimed that he isn’t feeling any emotions at all.

The Mavericks will try to get back in the win column when they take on the Lakers. Dallas has dropped each of its past two contests and sits as the No. 10 seed in the West.

Conversely, the Lakers first have a game to play on Tuesday before their bout against the Mavericks. Los Angeles will face off against an Oklahoma City Thunder team that holds the NBA’s top record. The Lakers just beat the Thunder over the weekend and will look to do it again.

Reaves’ comments provide some additional context regarding one of the more memorable trades in NBA history, and it should be interesting to find out how Davis will fare versus the Lakers on Wednesday.