Luka Doncic trade doesnt feel real to Mavericks after whirlwind day

Even with plenty of time to digest the news — and to make sure the stunning Luka Doncic-Anthony Davis trade had actually occurred and wasn’t the result of someone hacking a popular reporter’s account — Mavericks players still had a hard time coming to terms with the reality of the blockbuster trade.“Stunned is a good word,” Lesley McCaslin of Bally Sports Southwest reported Sunday.“I think it’s safe to say there’s still a little bit of shock in the locker room.

One of the players told me it just doesn’t feel real.P.J.

Washington said, ‘Look, we love Luca.When you come to battle with a guy, he’s your teammate and brother and obviously we wish him the best,’ but they understand that it’s also a business and they had a team meeting this morning where they could discuss everything.

“Naji Marshall said, ‘Of course, everything was business as usual.’ He said, ‘We love Luca.But we are all professionals and they are looking forward to getting to meet (Davis) and Max Christie and look forward to winning games.”Hopefully, the meeting and greeting of the new teammates goes better than the attempt to win games, with the Mavericks opening the post-Doncic era with a blowout 144-101 loss on Sunday night to Cleveland.Dallas allowed 50 points in its first 12 minutes since it opted to move on from Doncic in exchange for Davis, Christie and a 2029 first-round pick.

The team also trailed by 45 points at halftime.Dallas, however, did not have Kyrie Irving, Washington, Daniel Gafford, Dereck Lively II or Dwight Powell for the matchup against the Eastern Conference’s top team.That being said, it’s understandable that the Mavericks would provide an uninspiring effort after the front office made one of the most shocking trades in NBA history.Dallas traded one of the NBA’s best scorers for a 31-year-old who is injury-prone and just one first-round pick at a time when lesser players like the Knicks’ Mikal Bridges can fetch five first-rounders....