As the sports world tried to puzzle together why on earth the Dallas Mavericks would seek to trade Luka Doncic, one line of thinking became popular: the Mavs must have been nervous Doncic would want to enter free agency following the end of his contract in 2026, rather than sign a supermax extension worth nearly $350 million. That reasoning seemed to be supported by GM Nico Harrison, who said on numerous occasions he was trying to get ahead of a possibly "tumultuous summer" where Dallas might've seen Doncic walk and gotten nothing in return.
However, while saying that, Harrison admitted there was nothing "verbally" communicated to the Mavericks that Doncic would turn down such a huge contract or had a desire to leave Dallas. The qualifier in that sentence left some room for interpretation. So Doncic was asked about it on Tuesday during his introductory press conference with the Los Angeles Lakers.
