The Dallas Mavericks trading Luka Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers was so stunning, that fans have been asking NBA Commissioner Adam Silver to veto the trade.
Silver, 62, explained that he does not have the power to veto any trade during a recent appearance on Barstool Sports’ “Pardon My Take.“
“The answer is no, believe it or not. There’s some confusion people have yelled out to me for some reason in the last week or so when I’ve been at games that I should be vetoing that trade the way David Stern vetoed a trade back in the old days and there’s always some confusion there,” Silver said.
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Late NBA Commissioner David Stern vetoed a blockbuster three-way trade following the 2011 lockout.
The Lakers would have acquired 26-year-old superstar point guard Chris Paul to team up with Kobe Bryant from the then-New Orleans Hornets. The Lakers would have shipped out Lamar Odom and Pau Gasol. The NBA owned the Hornets at the time, and the general manager, Dell Demps, did not get Sterns’ approval for the trade.
Once Stern found out, he vetoed the trade, but he was only able to veto that blockbuster because the league owned the team, not because he was a commissioner.
Silver said regardless of the merits of the trade, he cannot veto a deal that he does not like.
“I mean the way we don’t put a thumb on the scale, so to speak, when a trade comes into the league office, what our basketball and legal folks do is they make sure that that trade works under the confines of the collective bargaining agreement, whatever rules are in place,” he said. “Then it’s up or down, it gets approved or not based on those rules. We don’t get to weigh in on what we think the merits of the trade are or should be.”
LUKA DONCIC MAKES LAKERS DEBUT AFTER BLOCKBUSTER TRADE
When asked if he at least thought it was cool that Doncic would be in a big market now in Los Angeles, Silver pointed out that Dallas is a large media market.
“Frankly, Dallas is a big market, and was I surprised that he was traded from that standpoint? Yeah, I’m a fan and the teams don’t necessarily give the league inside information on those kinds of things, so that trade wasn’t one that I saw coming. By the way, I love Luka. I’ve known him since the day he came into the league. He’s obviously a great player, he’s a great young man and teams make these trades for reasons that in some cases only they know,” Silver said.
Silver added he wanted both the Lakers and Mavericks to be successful following the seismic trade.
“The one thing I’ll say is having been with this league for a long time, like truly nothing is written. People who say they can predict the future generally can’t and we’ll see. I’m sort of rooting for Dallas, and I’m rooting for the Lakers. I’m rooting for Anthony Davis to recover quickly and be the All-Star, we know he can be and stay healthy for a long time and I’m definitely rooting for Luka to demonstrate to the world what a great player he is in LA.”
Davis suffered a groin injury in the Mavericks’ win over the Houston Rockets on Saturday and is expected to miss multiple weeks, per ESPN.
Doncic made his Lakers debut on Monday and scored 14 points in 24 minutes in the Lakers win. It was his first game back from injury since hurting his calf on Christmas.
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