Doncic, who had dragged an otherwise unremarkable Mavericks team through the Western Conference, became the face of their failure. Dallas coach Jason Kidd was forced to come out and defend his maligned star, even though without Doncic, the Mavericks were a faded Kyrie Irving and a bunch of role players.

Kristaps Porziņģis, who played alongside Dončić in Dallas for 2 1/2 seasons, sounded as surprised as anyone. Porziņģis said his phone wasn’t working, so he learned about the trade when someone told him about it on the streets of Philadelphia, where the Celtics were in town to meet the Philadelphia 76ers.

After a seismic trade that made Luka Doncic a member of the Los Angeles Lakers and sent Anthony Davis to the Dallas Mavericks, the dust has begun to settle ever