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

Former Luka Doncic Teammate Breaks Silence on Blockbuster Deal

Originally posted on Los Angeles Lakers on SI
By Ryan Stano | Last updated May 21, 2025 12:00 PM ET

The Los Angeles Lakers have a starting point guard of the future in Luka Doncic. When they were approached by the Dallas Mavericks about trading Anthony Davis for Doncic, they were quietly ecstatic.

That makes sense when a player as talented as Doncic shockingly comes on the market. No one thought that he would ever be available in a trade.

Since the trade was made, the Lakers made the first round of the playoffs, while the Mavericks were able to luck into the number-one overall pick in the 2025 NBA Draft, which will be used on Cooper Flagg.

All of Doncic's teammates were surprised to see that he got moved. One former teammate recently broke his silence on the trade and what it meant for him and the rest of the team.

Speaking on the Young Man and the Three, Naji Marshall talked about how much it hurt him that the team decided to ship him to the Los Angeles Lakers.

“I mean I understood business is business as far as NBA, but I was hurt, man. Luka’s my dawg for real. And I love AD, that’s my guy right there, like he’s been great with us. He welcomed us with open arms, we welcomed him with open arms. That’s my guy. But as far as just personally like I was just hurt to lose Luka, man. I mean, it was a great time spent with him, the short time we did, and I mean I was just hurt to see him go.”

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Marshall was more hurt about losing a friend and a teammate than he was angry about the basketball part of the trade. That was secondary to his feelings about losing Doncic in general.

The Mavericks made a commitment to trade him because of his poor defense and conditioning. That's something that they are going to have to deal with.

Los Angeles is confident that they can get him to be in better shape and be better conditioned in the future. That's something they are going to focus in with him this offseason.

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This article first appeared on FanNation All Lakers and was syndicated with permission.

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