When news first broke that Doncic was headed to the Los Angeles Lakers, many thought the social media account of ESPN’s Shams Charania, who first reported the trade, had been hacked. He even had to write a post affirming that his account hadn’t been tampered with and that the trade did actually take place.
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Golden State Warriors star Jimmy Butler, who was involved in his own blockbuster trade in February, talked about his thoughts on Doncic being sent to the Lakers in an interview with The National.
“I thought it was fake like everybody else. So did you, I don’t even have to ask, you know what I mean? It’s like this guy got hacked or something. I just always thought like, when you use the word untradable, untouchable, you’d think Luka Doncic is one of those guys honestly. I don’t know, it don’t got too much to do with me, I still just, I was baffled by it, I’m still baffled by it. It just doesn’t look right. It’s just, it’s crazy.”
Harrison said publicly he made the trade, which brought the Mavericks superstar big man Anthony Davis, because “defense wins championships.” But Butler added that he feels there was some additional reason the deal was executed.
“There’s always more to it. Because everybody else is always on the outside looking in, so you only know what you read. You only know what you see from socials. You don’t know what was really going on behind closed doors. And everybody’s gonna latch on to whatever narrative that they want to believe and whatever clickbait is put out there. But there’s always more to these stories. I don’t know, but I can guarantee you that there is more and there’s always reason behind everything. Do I know the reason? No.”
The Mavs took shots at Doncic following the trade for his lack of dedication to his health and fitness. It apparently helped motivate him to drop roughly 30 pounds and get into better shape this summer.
So far during EuroBasket 2025, he has been sensational and has led the Slovenian national team to the quarterfinal round, where it will face Germany on Wednesday. The Lakers and their fans are absolutely excited about the prospects of a fit, 26-year-old Doncic leading the team this coming season and for many seasons to come.
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This article originally appeared on LeBron Wire: Jimmy Butler on Luka Doncic trade: ‘There’s always more to it’