Life in the NBA has a way of flipping the script when you least expect it. Just ask Luka Dončić and Jalen Brunson.
Back in 2018, they entered the league together-two young guards with big upside, landing in Dallas with hopes of building something special. Fast forward to today, and they’re no longer teammates, no longer even in the same conference.
Brunson’s thriving in New York, while Dončić is putting up video game numbers out west in Los Angeles. And when they met Sunday night at Madison Square Garden, it was Brunson who walked away with the win, as the Knicks rode a dominant third quarter to a 112-100 victory over the Lakers.
It wasn’t Brunson’s sharpest shooting night-he finished just 4-of-13 from the field-but he made his presence felt in other ways, dishing out 13 assists and helping orchestrate the Knicks' offense with poise and pace. Dončić, meanwhile, put up the kind of stat line we've come to expect from him: 30 points, 15 rebounds, 8 assists.
He was everywhere. But even that wasn’t enough to carry L.A. past a Knicks team that’s finding its rhythm.
After the game, Brunson admitted it felt strange seeing his former backcourt partner in purple and gold. “Definitely weird,” he said. “I think we all expected him to be in Dallas for the longest time, but yeah, now he’s a Laker and he’s playing great, and he’s still doing the things he does.”
Brunson knows that version of Dončić well. He spent his early years in Dallas backing him up, learning alongside him.
But once he hit free agency in 2022, Brunson took a leap-signing with the Knicks and quickly blossoming into an All-NBA caliber player in his own right. It’s been a breakout stretch that’s turned him into the face of the franchise in New York.
Dončić, on the other hand, has always been the headliner. But even by his standards, this season has been something else.
He’s leading the league in scoring at 33.6 points per game, and his 8.8 assists per night are second only to Tyrese Haliburton. He’s not just putting up MVP numbers-he’s making a serious case for the award.
Of course, the paths these two stars have taken also shine a light on some of the missteps made by the Mavericks' former front office. Former GM Nico Harrison took heat across the league for the blockbuster trade that sent Dončić to the Lakers in exchange for Anthony Davis-who, at the time of Sunday’s game, was sidelined with a hand injury and isn’t expected back until at least March. That move grabbed the headlines, but it also helped obscure another costly decision: letting Brunson walk in free agency without getting anything in return.
Josh Hart, Brunson’s current teammate in New York, hasn’t forgotten the details of that trade either. After Sunday’s win, he recalled how the timing of the deal impacted a game from a year ago.
“I’m kind of used to it now,” Hart said of Dončić being a Laker. “The only thing I’m mad about that day is it didn’t happen earlier, because Max Christie gave us 15 and we lost. So it would have been nice for him not to be on the team, and maybe we would have won.”
Hart’s memory checks out. The Knicks faced the Lakers around the same time last season, and Christie dropped 15 in a game the Lakers won 128-112.
Hart led the Knicks with 26 points that night. Hours later, the trade went through-Dončić to L.A., with Davis and Christie heading to Dallas.
Now, Brunson and Dončić are on opposite sides of the country, leading their respective teams and carving out their own legacies. They’re no longer sharing the same backcourt, but the respect between them clearly remains. And soon enough, they’ll be sharing the court again-this time as starters in the All-Star Game.
From Dallas teammates to All-Star rivals, their journeys have taken different routes. But both are proof that in the NBA, talent finds a way to rise-and sometimes, it just needs a change of scenery to shine.