When the Dallas Mavericks traded Luka Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers ahead of the NBA trade deadline, the move sent shockwaves throughout the basketball world. The idea of dealing away one of the very best players in the league, in his prime — to a rival within the conference, no less — left fans and even some players in the NBA stunned.
On Friday, a video from professional poker player Alan Keati surfaced that quickly went viral. The video showed Stephen Curry and the rest of the Golden State Warriors reacting in real time to the news during a Warriors charity poker event in Las Vegas.
In the video, Curry, Draymond Green and Warriors EVP of basketball operations Kirk Lacob couldn't believe the news and were shown gasping in disbelief, while Buddy Hield says, "That's not true." Lakob also asks whether the news was fake, joining the millions of us who just assumed ESPN's Shams Charania had been hacked that night.
Stephen Curry and the Golden State Warriors left stunned by the trade that shook up the NBA
To no one's surprise, Curry and company were just as shocked by the blockbuster news as the rest of the world. The Mavs traded Dončić for Anthony Davis, Max Christie and a 2029 first-round pick, all without even shopping their top-five player to the rest of the league — a deal that, at least so far, has worked in favor of the Los Angeles Lakers.
L.A. managed 50 wins. The Lakers, even with Dončić, eventually got bounced in the first round of the NBA Playoffs by the ascending Minnesota Timberwolves. But acquiring one of the best players in the league in his mid-20s gave the team a path beyond the current core of LeBron James and Davis and a blueprint for roster-building moving forward.
The Warriors also lost to Anthony Edwards and the Minnesota Timberwolves in the postseason, losing in five games. Most of the series was played without Curry, who suffered a hamstring injury in Game 1.
Looking ahead, the Warriors would look to build on this season with a full season of Jimmy Butler. But with Dončić and the Lakers looming large in the West, the road to contention just got a lot tougher.