Giannis Talks Loyalty in NBA in Reaction to 'Insane' Luka Dončić-Anthony Davis Trade
Joseph Zucker@@JosephZucker
Featured Columnist IVFebruary 3, 2025
Milwaukee Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo was like a lot of fans and initially thought the blockbuster trade involving Luka Dončić and Anthony Davis was "fake news" and "insane."
That was the reaction from some when ESPN's Shams Charania first broke the news, to the extent he posted, "Yes, this is real," when providing the full details.
Antetokounmpo said after Sunday's 132-119 loss to the Memphis Grizzlies the Dallas Mavericks' decision to deal Dončić was a reminder of the harsh realities of playing in the NBA.
"This is the world we're living in," he told reporters. "It's a business, you have to understand nobody's safe, nobody's safe. … At the end of the day—I've said this in the past—you get evaluated every single day. You don't take nothing for granted."
Antetokounmpo also referenced the "double standard" that can often be applied to star players. He said that "we cannot crucify the person and say that he's not loyal" when a player makes the same calculation Dallas did when it offloaded its franchise cornerstone.
Granted, the Luka trade is a bit of an exception because plenty of skeptics are questioning whether the Mavericks made a decision in their best interests.
It was one thing when the Los Angeles Clippers traded Blake Griffin to the Detroit Pistons in 2018 only months after they made an elaborate pitch to re-sign him, which included a mock jersey retirement ceremony. The Clippers, and others, could foresee Griffin's decline and knew his contract would become pretty onerous down the line.
Dončić, on the other hand, is in the prime of his career at 25 and one of the five best players in the NBA. Teams simply don't move off of stars this good and this young unless their hand was forced, and that doesn't appear to be the case here.
Look no further than the immediate response from Mavs fans Sunday as everything sunk in to get an idea of how unpopular this was.
Elias Valverde @elias_valverdeDozens of Dallas Mavericks fans gathered Sunday outside the American Airlines Center to pay tribute to Luka Doncic after he was traded to the LA Lakers. <br><br>Two <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/MFFL?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#MFFL</a> even brought a coffin to mourn the loss of their favorite player.<a href="https://twitter.com/dallasnews?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@dallasnews</a> <a href="https://t.co/fNKEcXlN1k">pic.twitter.com/fNKEcXlN1k</a>
In a sense, the extraordinary circumstances of the Luka/AD trade prove Antetokounmpo's point more than any NBA transaction in recent memory.
Dončić should've been bulletproof, somebody who had a place in Dallas for as long as he wanted one. Instead, even he was ultimately deemed expendable by general manager Nico Harrison.
That sends quite a message to any other star who might consider joining the Mavs.
