From 2019 to 2025 with the Los Angeles Lakers, Anthony Davis averaged 24.8 points, 11 rebounds, 3.2 assists, 2.2 blocks and 1.2 steals in 312 games. The five-time All-NBA selection also won a 2020 NBA title with the Lakers. While the blockbuster trade to the Mavericks for Luka Doncic was life-altering for Davis, a smile has been commonplace for him since the dust settled in Dallas. “I’m great. I don’t feel it, but a lot of people have been coming to me and telling me they haven’t seen me smile like this in a long time,” Davis told Andscape. “Family is happy. Everybody is happy. It’s the nature of the business. Obviously, the first maybe 48 hours, it was just a shock because I wasn’t expecting it. Nobody was expecting it, so they say. But I know from my side, my team and my family and everybody who works with me, I wasn’t expecting it. Even when I was getting some of the calls [about the trade], I thought guys were playing. But it ended up being true and that first initial [emotion] was more a shock just seeing the position [we were in]; we’re in fifth in the West [Conference], we were rolling… “I know what Luka meant to the [Mavericks] organization, to the team. So, it’s like, what do I say to these guys coming in as a new leader and trying to lead these guys to do something special? And for them it’s like, ‘s—, he just went through probably the biggest trade in [expletive] sports history. What do we say to him?’ And I wasn’t playing. So, I just tried to feel everybody out and just kind of let it happen organically. And now we got a super-tight bond, man with all the guys. So, I’m happy, man. Happy I get to play.”