Throughout the entire trade window, there was one name that captured the spotlight– Jimmy Butler. While fans expected other teams to make their moves, nothing could match the buzz surrounding the Heat star. But then Rob Pelinka stepped in saying, ‘Hold my coffee,’ and pulled off a trade so unexpected it rocked the NBA community. Once it was finalized, executives and insiders rushed to dig into the details of the Luka Doncic-Anthony Davis trade. What they uncovered about the now-former Lakers star Davis is sure to turn some heads.

Brian Windhorst and his ESPN colleagues hopped on The Hoop Collective podcast to discuss the “most shocking trade” in the league. The host disclosed, “I had an executive hit me tonight, and he goes, because within an hour of the trade announcement, Bobby Marks had confirmed that AD had waived his trade kicker, which they still could have done the trade. So, AD got a $6 million bonus for being traded. He waived it. That would have been paid by the Lakers but would have gone on the Mavericks’ books.” Does it sound strange? Well, Davis certainly had a good reason for it.

Windy added, “The reason why that’s interesting is because that keeps the Mavericks out of the luxury tax… So, it helps the Mavericks going forward here, potentially even doing something buyout-wise at the deadline here.” Clearly, Davis wasn’t against the trade, he proved it by waiving the trade kicker, which could have hurt the Mavs, as confirmed by the ESPN reporter.

With that said, there were more revelations about some secret calls Rob Pelinka made after the trade went down. And the final one is sure to come as a shock.

Call records of Lakers GM Rob Pelinka come to light following Anthony Davis trade

Following the blockbuster trade, Shams Charania of ESPN reported that LeBron James had no prior knowledge of the trade, leaving many to believe that the Lakers star was caught off guard by the decision. However, a new report from Dave McMenamin may shift that narrative.

“After the Lakers and Mavericks agreed to the deal late Saturday night, Rob Pelinka made three calls in quick succession, sources told ESPN: a joint call with Anthony Davis and JJ Redick; a call to Davis’ agent, Rich Paul; and a call to LeBron James,” the insider stated.

The conference call was a basic but necessary one between the main parties, Anthony Davis and head coach Redick. Paul, on the other hand, being the 10-time All-Star’s agent, needed to have a hint about it. But LeBron? That was certainly something not many were expecting.

Nevertheless, Anthony Davis is fine with the trade, and so is LeBron James, who has long dreamed of playing with Luka Doncic. Now how well the two fit into their new franchises will be something to watch in the coming months.