Lakers president Jeanie Buss recently opened up about the circumstances of the Doncic trade and confirmed that Doncic had no idea he was being dealt and that he had unfortunately just bought a house in Dallas prior to the news. Buss went on to share an emotional tidbit of their first conversation in which Doncic mentioned Lakers great Kobe Bryant:

Arutyun Gozukuchikyan's new mural of Kobe Bryant and Luka Doncic captures them embracing each other at a Lakers game in December 2019, a month before Bryant died in a helicopter crash.