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I don’t want to sound like too much of an expert, but this past weekend, something big and weird happened in the world of basketball.

As someone who doesn’t pay all that much attention to sports, stories from that world only cross my radar when no one can stop talking about them. But as a gossip, I really love mess. If you’re like me, you might notice that the discussion you’re overhearing about the Dallas Mavericks trading star Luka Dončić to the Los Angeles Lakers on February 1 has been confusing, emotional, and seemingly very, very juicy. Angry fans? Bad business deals? What is going on here?

To better understand why so many people have strong opinions and wild theories about a tall Slovenian man and a billionaire power broker named Miriam, I asked a self-made expert, Vox senior correspondent and big, big basketball fan Dylan Scott to break it all down for us.

Dylan, why are all our coworkers talking about someone named Luka?

Luka Dončić, one of the best young professional basketball players in the world, was traded from the Dallas Mavericks, where he had been a star player for six seasons, to the Los Angeles Lakers. It is hard to capture in words how shocking this was even for people who follow the league closely. Hell, even for people in the league. I can send you multiple quotes of players saying they don’t understand how this could have happened.

We’re all prone to hyperbole after a big story breaks, but you could easily make the argument that it’s the most surprising transaction in the history of the NBA. I saw the news when I was about to go to bed on Saturday night and stayed up for another two hours scrolling Reddit — and I don’t even root for these teams!

Is it really all that weird to trade a........

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