Luka Doncic getting traded to the Lakers for Anthony Davis was not something anyone saw coming outside of Nico Harrison, Rob Pelinka, and a handful of other people in the Mavs and Lakers front offices. The players involved didn’t know it was happening, the co-stars still left on the two teams didn’t know it was happening, and fans and other folks around the league sure as hell didn’t know it was happening.
As word broke late Saturday night, it spread across the league rapidly and reactions started to pour in. Stars around the league tweeted out their disbelief, LeBron James had to shut down a rumor he had “grown frustrated” with Anthony Davis, and in Portland, the Suns and Blazers were learning about it and discussing amongst themselves on the bench late in a fourth quarter blowout win by the Blazers. Kevin Durant spoke in detail about what the trade meant and how it could embolden other front offices to look to pull the plug and make a dramatic trade if things don’t seem to be working — which was perhaps a bit of him wondering what might happen to the listless Suns this week.
Devin Booker, on the other hand, decided to have a bit of fun at the expense of the Mavs, as they have never let him live down the Game 7 blowout win in Phoenix that Luka led in 2022. The picture of Luka staring at Booker during some late free throws became an instant meme and one the Mavs have used regularly, including just a few days ago as part of a social media trend of posting a photo with no context, with a caption of “ok last one we swear”.
Booker, in the wee hours of Sunday morning, retweeted that with “kept their word” in an elite post — and one that led Mavs fans already in their feelings to let out some of their anger on the Suns star guard.
It’s an excellent post, and I have to imagine it made his teammate Kevin Durant, who is the NBA’s best poster, very proud to see him fire this one off. Mavs/Doncic fans, of course, used it as another opportunity to remind Booker that Doncic has dominated that matchup and this doesn’t change that, but Booker is certainly enjoying seeing Mavs fans in shambles over the trade after hearing so much from them in recent years.
