Ex-NBA exec doesn’t believe Luka trade was huge secret in Lakers front office: ‘This was not kept quiet’

The trade that sent star guard Luka Doncic from the Dallas Mavericks to the Los Angeles Lakers earlier in the month of February shocked plenty of folks. Doncic had just led the Mavericks to an appearance in the NBA Finals and stood out as seemingly an ideal player to build around at just 25 years old.

A lot of people didn’t see the Doncic trade coming, but The Ringer’s Kirk Goldsberry, a former NBA executive, believes that more people within L.A.’s front office knew about the trade than some may think.

Doncic has officially been a member of the storied Lakers franchise for nearly a month now. His tenure to this point has been a mixed bag. He certainly didn’t get off to an ideal start to his stint with the team.

In his first three games played with the Lakers, he didn’t shoot the ball all that well from the field. He didn’t score more than 16 points in any of those contests, and Los Angeles had a record of 1-2 in that stretch.

But Doncic has looked more like himself lately. He scored 32 points against a Denver Nuggets team that was hotter than fish grease back on Feb. 22 and followed up that performance by notching a 19-point triple-double against his former team in the Mavericks on Feb. 25.

He will have a chance to build on his string of recent standout showings when the Lakers take on a solid Minnesota Timberwolves squad on Thursday night. Minnesota maybe hasn’t lived up to expectations this season after the team reached the 2024 Western Conference Finals, but the team is still in the mix in the postseason race with a record of 32-27.

Doncic is looking to help the Lakers pick up their fourth win in a row as they face the current No. 7 seed in the conference.

Regardless of how many people within the Lakers knew about the Doncic trade before it happened, L.A. is certainly happy to have him around.