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.

Doncic's former Mavericks teammate Kyrie Irving spoke to reporters on Tuesday following Dallas's 118-116 loss to the Philadelphia 76ers and shared his heartbreaking reaction to the club's trade of his friend and former teammate.

Dallas Mavericks star Kyrie Irving says he is in the “grieving process” after the shock news over the weekend that the team had traded Luka Dončić to the Los Angeles Lakers.