Among those who did not know in advance that the Lakers were trading for Doncic was LeBron James. ESPN's Ramona Shelburne and Brian Windhorst reported that James did not know, but also didn't mind in the end after the trade was finalized.

Just to make things clear, there is no trade request from James. The Los Angeles Lakers superstar has not formally asked out from the organization. For starters, the Warriors have been highlighted as one of the teams known to have done a double take about Rich Paul's comments following James accepting his player option for 2025-26.