Did the Dallas Mavericks trading Luka Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers make a Boston Celtics repeat title more likely? The deal shook the NBA down to its foundations, to the point where fans, analysts and even players were trying to see if they had been fooled by a fake report.

T he Boston Celtics longtime rival, the Los Angeles Lakers, drastically altered the course of the NBA before the trade deadline expired, landing star guard Luka Doncic from the Da

Kristaps Porziņģis, who played alongside Dončić in Dallas for 2 1/2 seasons, sounded as surprised as anyone. Porziņģis said his phone wasn’t working, so he learned about the trade when someone told him about it on the streets of Philadelphia, where the Celtics were in town to meet the Philadelphia 76ers.