[WSJ] Silver: “Another player could have said ‘Oh, now I’m part of the Lakers’ Luka didn’t try to hide his disappointment and was in a bit of a funk for a while. It was the first true setback of his career. I was hoping personally for him that he would ultimately see this as an opportunity to reset”
In trying to explain the inexplicable—why on earth Dallas traded one of the best young players in NBA history for a talented but older and oft-injured center, Anthony Davis—stories began to arrive that questioned Doncic’s commitment, his fitness, his long-term durability. It was the sort of leakage that happens after big trades—“A lot of it untrue,” says Doncic’s manager, Lara Beth Seager—but it was jarring to a beloved player who’d never really gotten bad press.
“Putting aside the merits of the trade, you could argue that it was a bit of a kick in the ass to Luka,” says Adam Silver, the NBA’s commissioner. “He didn’t try to sugarcoat this trade.”
To be clear: Silver says this admiringly. “Another player could have said, ‘Oh, now I’m part of the Los Angeles Lakers organization,’ ” he continues. “He didn’t try to hide his disappointment, and I think he was in a bit of a funk for a while, because it was probably the first true professional setback of his career. And I was hoping personally for him that he would ultimately see this as an opportunity to reset.”