'I feel bad for Luka': Anthony Edwards, Timberwolves stunned by Doncic trade

Anthony Edwards recently bought a house in Minnesota, so he felt for Luka Doncic, who had reportedly just bought a house in Dallas before news broke the Mavericks traded him to the Los Angeles Lakers in a mega deal for Anthony Davis.

"They say nobody knew about the trade, yeah, so that's crazy," Edwards said. "At 25, they traded probably the best scorer in the NBA, at 25. He didn't know about it, so it's a lot more digging somebody got to do to find out why he got traded because you just don't trade him at 25. He just went to the Finals. I feel bad for Luka, man. I saw something on YouTube that said he just bought a crib and everything in Dallas. That sucks, man, that sucks."

Edwards made it clear if Minnesota Timberwolves president of basketball operations Tim Connelly ever trades him, he wants to know about it. If Doncic isn't untouchable, no one is, and after all, Edwards just bought his house in Minnesota.

"I'm scared," Edwards joked. "(Connelly), if you gonna trade me, let me know dog."

As much as the Doncic trade shook the NBA world, Edwards isn't going anywhere. Timberwolves coach Chris Finch made it clear how much the team values their investment in Edwards before Monday's game against the Sacramento Kings. Finch was similarly stunned by the trade, but sees it as a domino effect of the new Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA).

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"My shock lifted pretty quickly, just because it's the NBA right now and I think anything can happen," Finch said. "And I think the new CBA environment is going to throw up more of these types of trades, just because organizations — it's a lot of money, and they're going to think twice about how they lock that money up and who they lock it up in."

The surprise was felt throughout the team, which lost to Doncic and the Mavericks in the Western Conference finals a year ago. Naz Reid said it's a trade you certainly wouldn't expect, but understands the business side of the NBA.

"I think once everybody gets a grasp of what went down, I think everybody’s going to understand, it’s a business at the end of the day. I think everybody kind of has a mindset to where you just have to go out there and compete, whether in a city for eight years or a city for two years, whatever the case may be, just go out there and compete," he said.

When Rudy Gobert saw the news of the trade on his phone, he had to double and triple check the social media account.

"All these fake accounts that post stupid stuff every day, I was making sure that ... it was a real one," he said.

To Gobert, the trade says a lot about the state of the NBA — not even a young superstar as talented as Doncic is untouchable. Gobert sees positives and negatives in that. On the one hand, no one should be untouchable. But on the other side, it degrades any sense of loyalty. Gobert was the centerpiece of a blockbuster trade himself that brought him to the Wolves. But Doncic was in the dark entirely. Gobert said it's still a special feeling for him to visit the Utah Jazz.

"The negative is that I think you lose a little bit of that loyalty aspect and that humanity aspect," Gobert said. "I think our sport is bigger than just a sport. ... We know what we signed up for when we come into this league, but I think when Dirk (Nowitzki) goes back to Dallas and sees the statue, it feels special. When I come back to Utah, it feels special to me. I don't have a statue — yet — but it feels special. And I think (Doncic) probably feels the same, I mean, would've loved to feel the same, but now he got traded and probably feels a little betrayed, right? But it's hard to know when you don't have all the information, and we'll see what time — time reveals everything, so we'll see how the next five years go."

The Timberwolves play the new-look Lakers on Feb. 27. They won't see the Mavericks again unless they meet in the playoffs.