'It's Just Sad,' Lakers' Luka Doncic Reacts to Nico Harrison Comments

Apr 9, 2025; Dallas, Texas, USA; Los Angeles Lakers guard Luka Doncic (77) during the game between the Dallas Mavericks and the Los Angeles Lakers at American Airlines Center. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-Imagn Images | Jerome Miron-Imagn Images

The most shocking moment of the 2025 NBA season was when the Dallas Mavericks traded franchise star Luka Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers in exchange for their star player Anthony Davis.

While both players are superstars for a reason, the trade was surprising because Doncic had just led Dallas to an NBA Finals appearance, led the NBA in points scored, and is only 26 years old, meaning he still has plenty of basketball left to play.

Nico Harrison gotta be the biggest villain in the NBA.

— IndianaMedia (@ColtsMediaGuy) April 18, 2025

This controversial move has caused a massive amount of vitriol thrown toward Mavericks general manager Nico Harrison. Despite this, Harrison stands by the decision.

"There's no regrets on the trade," Harrison said. "Part of my job is to do the best thing for the Mavericks, not only today, but also in the future, and some of the decisions I'm going to make are going to be unpopular. That's my job, and I have to stand by it."

"When I traded for Kyrie, it was met with a lot of skepticism and it was graded as a terrible trade and you didn't see it right away, but eventually everyone agreed that that was a great trade. When I traded for [Gafford] and [Washington] again, it was like, 'Oh, he gave up way too much. These guys aren't going to help us.' Now that trade, you saw the evidence a lot sooner. So I think a lot of times trades take a little bit of time."

In the end, Harrison reiterated his main philosophy on the Mavericks going forward: "Defense wins championships," seemingly saying that Doncic doesn't play defense.

Naturally, this move had an emotional effect on Doncic, so much so that he threw his phone in anger and broke it. Now, the five-time NBA All-Star has responded to the Dallas GM's criticism.

"It's just sad," Doncic said in an interview with Malika Andrews of ESPN. "The way he's talking right now. I never said anything bad about him. I just wanna move on. My fans, my ex-teammates, I'll always keep at heart. It's time for me to move on from there.

Luka Doncic tells @malika_andrews about throwing his phone and breaking it when he found out he got traded to the Lakers 😳

"My heart was broken honestly." 💔 pic.twitter.com/rfsIGlOaBC

— ESPN (@espn) April 18, 2025

Since joining the Lakers, Luka has averaged 28.2 points, 8.1 total rebounds, 7.5 assists, and 1.6 steals per game. He has scored 30+ points in over half of the 28 games he has played with Los Angeles.

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