SVP's One Big Thing: Luka, Kyrie and the evaporation of the Mavericks - ESPN

Once a game, minimum, as I watch L.A., I will say out loud: Luka Doncic plays for the Los Angeles Lakers.

It's jarring to see him in the jersey and all that. Beyond the optics is the reality. A multiyear first team All-NBA player didn't just switch teams late at night one weekend in February. He joined the Lakers and left a team he led to the Finals a season ago. Dallas Mavericks fans were stunned and irate in the way a fan base is when they have absolutely no idea something so unexpected isn't just a possibility… it has already happened.

The dust wasn't close to settling when Anthony Davis, the prize they got back, was injured in his first game and now remains on the sidelines. They lost Daniel Gafford to injury three weeks ago and he has three more to go, minimum. It all felt more than a little star-crossed… and then Monday night happened.

Kyrie Irving being lost to an ACL tear is almost impossible to fathom. It feels like a cruel punch line at the end of a sick joke. But none of it is. It's just the reality where the Dallas Mavericks and their passionate fans now exist. Eight months after they were in the Finals, Luka is a Laker, the key player they got in return for him is injured, Kyrie is lost for the remainder of this season and who knows how much of next, but hey — at least Dallas increased ticket prices. That happened a month after they moved Luka. The gall to do that is almost impressive in its absolute lack of self-awareness.

It's all just such a stunning reversal for a team that took the massive step last season and made the Finals. It's often a process, and THAT hurdle was a huge one. They had Luka, they acquired Kyrie and it was all coming together in a way that doesn't always happen. Sometimes that's as