The NBA is still buzzing months after Luka Doncic’s shocking trade from Dallas to Los Angeles, and even Jimmy Butler admits he’s struggling to wrap his head around it.
When the deal first hit timelines, many believed ESPN’s Shams Charania had been hacked.
Doncic in purple and gold felt impossible. Even Charania had to assure fans that his account was fine and the news was real.
Golden State Warriors star Jimmy Butler, who was part of his own blockbuster move in February, told The National his first thought mirrored the rest of the basketball world.
“I thought it was fake like everybody else,” Butler said. “So did you, I don’t even have to ask, you know what I mean? It’s like this guy got hacked or something. I just always thought like, when you use the word untradable, untouchable, you’d think Luka Doncic is one of those guys honestly. I don’t know, it don’t got too much to do with me, I still just, I was baffled by it, I’m still baffled by it. It just doesn’t look right. It’s just, it’s crazy.”
Mavericks general manager Nico Harrison defended the decision, saying he wanted to bring in Anthony Davis because “defense wins championships.”
But Butler believes there’s more beneath the surface.
“There’s always more to it,” Butler said. “Because everybody else is always on the outside looking in, so you only know what you read. You only know what you see from socials. You don’t know what was really going on behind closed doors. And everybody’s gonna latch on to whatever narrative that they want to believe and whatever clickbait is put out there. But there’s always more to these stories. I don’t know, but I can guarantee you that there is more and there’s always reason behind everything. Do I know the reason? No.”
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