As the Los Angeles Lakers traded for Luka Doncic in what sent shockwaves throughout the entire NBA, they would send away such players as Anthony Davis and Max Christie. While Lakers president Jeanie Buss was proud of the Doncic trade, she would also answer about her late father Jerry Buss and what his thoughts would be about the blockbuster deal.
Her father, who passed away in 2013 at the age of 80 years old, was the owner of the team leading to 10 championships, starting with the Showtime-led squads in the 1980s. Jeanie would be asked how he would feel about the trade for the former Dallas Mavericks superstar and mentioned how he would’ve been “proud” according to Dave McMenamin of ESPN.
“He’d be very proud,” Buss said. “When you get a player of that stature, you have to give up a lot. But it’s like, my dad was such a great poker player, and he said that he always wanted me to remember that poker was a game of patience. That you had to wait for the right cards, but once you got the cards, you had to go from zero to 100 and play the cards and not be afraid to play them. So it was difficult because we were not looking to trade Anthony Davis or Max Christie. But it was a deal that he would’ve made, and we had to go for it.”
The 26-year-old looks to be the face of the franchise after James retires as he’s considered widely to be one of the best players in the NBA, being not only a five-time All-Star, but also being on the All-NBA first team five times.
Lakers’ Jeanie Buss on what was important about the Luka Doncic trade
As Doncic looks to overcome shooting struggles with the Lakers currently, there is no doubt that the team-up with fellow superstar LeBron James is one that’s anticipated by most fans. Especially for what they gave up being Davis and Christie, it was important for Buss that they “didn’t blow up the team.”
“It was really important to me that we didn’t blow up the team,” Buss said Thursday before the Lakers’ 111-102 win over the Minnesota Timberwolves. “If it had leaked out and the trade hadn’t happened, that would be really unfair to the progress that the coaching staff had made with the team. Because it’s a huge distraction.”
While there have been conversations about whether the Lakers trade should have been rescinded like how the team went through the Chris Paul ordeal in 2011, the shock is still palpable with the basketball world. People were also surprised with how under wraps the deal was and that there were no leaks, an aspect that Buss was proud about.
“The trade deadline is part of the business. It increases the level of stress for everybody,” Buss said. “And I’m really proud that it didn’t leak out and that we were able to execute the trade in a way that still was surprising to all the parties involved. But that goes with this business.”
At any rate, the Lakers are currently 36-21 which puts them fourth in the Western Conference as they next take on the Los Angeles Clippers on Friday night.
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