The Los Angeles Lakers have never recoiled from making seismic moves, but when Jeanie Buss spoke on the Anthony Davis for Luka Doncic trade, Stephen A. Smith wasn’t subscribing to her explanation.

In multiple interviews, Buss framed the deal as a necessary shift, one that stemmed from Davis’ dissatisfaction with his role in L.A. and the team’s repeated failures against the Denver Nuggets in the playoffs.

Stephen A. dismantles Jeanie Buss’ explanation

To Smith, the notion that Davis, 31, was moved simply because he was unhappy didn’t hold up. There was a much bigger force at play — one that wore No. 77 in Dallas.

“The bottom line is nobody’s buying that,” Smith said Thursday on ESPN’s “First Take.” “You didn’t trade Anthony Davis because he was complaining. You traded Anthony Davis because you got a call that you could have Luka Doncic. If that hadn’t presented itself, she wouldn’t have given a damn about his complaints.”

AD’s frustrations with his role were well-documented. He wanted to avoid playing center full-time and had vocalized his concerns behind closed doors before publicly expressing his feelings in a sit-down with ESPN’s Shams Charania in January. But even as he battled injuries and inconsistency, the Lakers never seriously entertained moving Davis — until Doncic became an option.

The Lakers controlling owner, speaking to NPR’s “Morning Edition,” insisted that AD’s discontent played a role.

“Anthony Davis was complaining about where he was being played and he wasn’t happy,” said Buss, 63, who has been the matriarch in L.A. since 1999.

But Smith didn’t give credence to that angle, and neither did Davis himself. The 10-time All-Star, now in Dallas, admitted he was blindsided by the trade and wasn’t sure if he ever got the full truth.

“The front office has to do what it has to do, and obviously they’re going to do what’s best for the organization,” Davis told the Los Angeles Times. “So I don’t know if I ever got the ‘real’ about any of it. I don’t know what’s true or what’s not, coming from upstairs.”

The 2020 champion even recalled FaceTiming LeBron James — one of his closest friends and the person in the Lakers’ organization he felt he could trust — to get some clarity.

“Everybody’s saying nobody knew and all this other s–t,” Davis said. “I just don’t believe it. But, hey man, I’m past that.”

The real reason behind the blockbuster

Davis, who was acquired from the New Orleans Pelicans in exchange for a haul of assets in the 2019 offseason, was James’ preferred target. The Lakers, wanting to honor their franchise player’s wish, even made a stab at trading for AD ahead of the 2019 trade deadline.

“It’s not that [Davis] didn’t get along with LeBron James, he didn’t get along with his teammates, he hated being in Tinseltown,” Smith said. “… My point is that is what happened. So when Jeanie says what she says, respectfully, nobody’s buying that.”

To Smith, there was only one reason the Lakers sent the superstar big man packing: Dallas GM Nico Harrison picked up the phone, called L.A. and made Doncic available. And when such a generational talent — one of the most gifted offensive players who has already been named All-NBA First Team five times since being drafted in 2018 — can be had, you don’t hesitate.

“You’re acting like there was a reason you pushed Anthony Davis out the door,” Smith surmised. “There is one. And that one reason was there was a superstar, a global, iconic figure that was averaging 28 [points] a game in his career, one of the all-time great scorers who became available to you.”

Doncic, who had spent his entire career in Dallas, exited his former team acrimoniously. Despite his brilliance and a trip to the 2024 NBA Finals, postseason success had been fleeting. Concerns were raised about his conditioning and habits away from basketball, especially in the immediate aftermath of the stunning trade.

Meanwhile, the Lakers, for all their struggles in recent years, still represent a historic franchise with a championship pedigree. Adding the 26-year-old Doncic to a trophied organization glittered with some of the most celebrated names in NBA history only feels right.

“We have lost the last three years in a row to the Denver Nuggets in the playoffs, and we really didn’t have anything that was going to look different going into the playoffs again,” Buss said.

The Lakers weren’t dealing from a position of comfort. They were desperate. James, at 40, though he has shown minimal signs of attrition, needed a running mate who could carry the torch. Davis, for all his talent, had struggled to stay on the floor consistently. Doncic, young and mostly durable before an injury on Christmas Day kept him out for an extended period this season, gives L.A. a foundation for the post-LeBron era.