Doncic, who had dragged an otherwise unremarkable Mavericks team through the Western Conference, became the face of their failure. Dallas coach Jason Kidd was forced to come out and defend his maligned star, even though without Doncic, the Mavericks were a faded Kyrie Irving and a bunch of role players.

The Dallas Mavericks blew the collective minds of NBA fans around the world when they traded Luka Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers on Sunday just after midnight. The announcement is one that instantly shakes up the league in the middle of the regular season as Doncic teams up with Lebron James while Anthony Davis slides in alongside Kyrie Irving.

It's been a few days, but the passionate – okay, let's call it angry – reaction from Mavericks fans to the Luka Doncic trade to the Lakers is not easing. Some would say that fan resentment toward team management is still brewing.

Mavericks center Anthony Davis was ruled out for Thursday night's NBA Finals rematch against the Boston Celtics, coach Jason Kidd said, pushing his Dallas debut back to Saturday at the earliest. Davis was acquired for Luka Doncic,

The Celtics are 9-1 against the Mavericks in their past 10 games, the only loss coming in Game 4 of the NBA Finals last season.

Outside of trading Luka Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers, the Dallas Mavericks made more moves on their team by acquiring Caleb Martin from the Philadelphia 76ers. That trade took some time to go through because of Martin's current injury, and they opted against voiding the trade due to his timetable on returning, according to Marc Stein.

The Mavericks are optimistic that Caleb Martin can return from a sprained hip in 2-3 weeks after the severity of his injury prompted an amendment of their trade with the 76ers, sources told ESPN.

The Philadelphia 76ers and the Dallas Mavericks hooked up on Tuesday to come up with a deal to send Caleb Martin to the Mavs in exchange for Quentin Grimes and a 2025 second-round pick. The Sixers are acquiring a sharpshooter in Grimes who is shooting 39.