As the texts started flying in last Saturday night regarding the Anthony Davis for Luka Doncic trade (was it real?), I harkened back to another supposed trade between the Lakers and Mavs. In 1986 the Lakers almost traded James Worthy for Mark Aguirre and the draft rights to Roy Tarpley. Jerry West fortunately put the kibosh on that deal.
Here, however, despite the loss of AD’s great defense and overall outstanding play, I’m glad this trade came to fruition primarily because of Luka being five years younger.
Ken Feldman
Tarzana
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The only thing the Lakers organization and the Laker fans will miss with the Anthony Davis trade is his spot on the bench in street clothes.
Russell Morgan
Carson
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Jeanie Buss knows when Laker Nation needs change. Even when it’s delivered on a silver platter by the Mavericks. Thank you Dallas for getting the Dodgers off the sports page for a day. Thank you, AD, for your service. Welcome home, Luka.
Jim Fredrick
Manhattan Beach
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I have a feeling that the big mistake made by the Lakers in the trade was allowing Max Christie to go. This reminds me very much of the Clippers sending Shai Gilgeous-Alexander to Oklahoma City in exchange for Paul George.
Don’t hear much about how that deal worked out, unless you’re in OKC.
See the Mavericks in NBA Finals again this year, with Christie playing a great role, and Doncic out with an injury. Again.
Ron Brumel
West L.A.
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This is the worst trade ever, a great defender, rebounder, scorer and team leader for a ball-hogging guy who can make baskets. This is worse than the Babe Ruth trade.
Amos Evans
View Park
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Losing Anthony Davis was a big mistake. Championships are won and lost with tough, shutdown defense. The combination of Davis, Jarred Vanderbilt, Dorian Finney-Smith and Max Christie masked the defensive deficiency of Reaves, James and others. Doncic might be younger than Davis, but his knees and calf has him looking quite a bit older. This is the same Lakers GM that thought blowing up the championship team for Westbrook was a good idea.
George Metalsky
Redondo Beach
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Luka Doncic might be a Laker now, but to me, Anze Kopitar will forever be L.A.’s favorite Slovenian.
Johnny Tsai
Long Beach
Analyzing some analysis
So Dylan Hernández is qualified to label LeBron James ” a notorious passive aggressive.” Thanks for your analysis. Anybody who watched James respond to every provocative question put to him in the aftermath of the trade could easily marvel at his willingness to give more than single-word cliche answers. Each quote Hernández cited actually illustrates his effort to be supportive while still reeling from surprise of it all. But Hernández can see through his comments to his inner more manipulative intentions. Reminiscent of his opinions about Freddie Freeman for showing inner emotion about leaving Atlanta and his negativity towards a teenage Caleb Williams for decorating his fingernails.
Maybe there’s a different section of the paper for his psychoanalysis.
Steve Miller
Ventura
Kupp is empty?
I’ve seen the Dodgers trade Maury Wills, the Rams trade Roman Gabriel, the Lakers trade Shaquille O’Neal and now the Rams want to trade Cooper Kupp. I waited 67 years for the Rams to win a Super Bowl. They don’t win without Kupp. You don’t trade the heart of a team or the heart of a city.
Ed Villanueva
Chino Hills
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Any further notice that the NFL is big business has been sadly confirmed once again with the announcement that the Rams will drop Cooper Kupp from the team because of contract issues. Here’s a guy who loved the Rams dearly and was a most impressive voice in the community. Oh yes, let’s not forget his eight years of excellence on the field, leading to the pinnacle of Super Bowl MVP. All this because of the all-mighty dollar. Bye bye, Cooper. It was great while it lasted. You will be missed!
Marty Zweben
Palos Verdes Estates
DodgerFest fiasco
What a horrible fan experience at DodgerFest this year. Clearly the fans were not taken into account when planning this event. First, the parking lot was full of thousands of fans still waiting to get in, like myself (and I got there early), when Shohei Ohtani first comes out on the main stage. Then the stage was so low that unless you were standing in front you couldn’t even see the guys when they were sitting down except for maybe their heads. Then we go up by the Top Deck store to get food and drinks and the lines were so long that we missed even more of what was going on and there was no TV and/or speaker up there for us to follow the discussions on the main stage. And don’t get me started on how long that wait for the UberEats counter was. If they ever do this again in the parking lots don’t waste your time. The Dodgers didn’t waste their time planning for a good fan experience. No wonder they changed the name from FanFest.
Danny Balber Jr.
Pasadena
No comparison
For Angels fans, it’s hard to watch player after player signed by Dodgers, some with modest salaries, while the Angels are getting guys with one foot on retirement and the other on a banana peel.
Richie Locasso
Hemet
Classy move
Demonstrating sportswomanship and respect, USC’s players remained courtside after the upset loss at Iowa to watch Caitlin Clark’s jersey retirement ceremony because, as coach Lindsay Gottlieb put it, “We had decided prior to the outcome of the game that we were going to stay out there and be a part of that, to honor her and women’s basketball.”
A classy gesture by a classy team with a classy coach.
Steve Ross
Carmel
Thrown a curve
I always appreciate Bill Shaikin’s excellent insights on Major League Baseball and was intrigued by his piece on the current ownership battle engulfing the Padres. However, I couldn’t let him slip this fastball by a native Bostonian. Calling the Padres-Dodgers “the best rivalry in baseball” is just egregious. But I sure enjoyed the fifth inning of Game 5 of the World Series so all is forgiven!
Steve Bosselman
Huntington Beach
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