Mavs’ Kyrie Irving ‘Shocked’ By Luka Dončić Trade to Lakers, in ‘Grieving Process’

Dallas Mavericks guard Kyrie Irving told reporters that he was “really shocked” and in a “grieving process” right now after the team traded away five-time All-NBA First Team guard Luka Dončić to the Los Angeles Lakers.

ESPN’s Tim Bontemps provided the quotes after the Mavericks’ 118-116 road loss to the Philadelphia 76ers on Tuesday.

Irving added more remarks:

Irving and Dončić became teammates after the former player was traded from the Brooklyn Nets to the Mavericks in Feb. 2023. In their first full season together (2023-24), Dončić and Irving led the Mavs to their third-ever Western Conference title and first since 2011.

Needless to say, this was an historically shocking move. Luka Dončić is inarguably one of the NBA’s top five players, and he just got moved in his prime at the age of 25.

Unsurprisingly, this clearly hurt Irving, who just helped author an NBA Finals run with Dončić. Now Dallas has to completely reboot without its leader. The Mavericks do have some reinforcements coming via big man Anthony Davis, who will play the four and be a tremendous defensive presence. That’s on top of his offensive prowess (25.7 points on 52.8 percent shooting).

Davis is out right now with an abdominal strain, but he told reporters (h/t ESPN’s Tim Bontemps) that he could return by the end of this week.

Davis and Irving could form a great one-two duo, although the team certainly will find its share of struggles without Dončić’s offensive creativity, playmaking and scoring prowess.

In the interim, Dallas has gone 0-2 in the post-Luka era, falling 144-101 to the Cleveland Cavaliers before the Philadelphia loss to drop to 26-25. The Mavs are going to need to fight just to make the play-in tournament, let alone the playoffs, and will look to avoid falling to .500 on Thursday at the Boston Celtics.