Mounir Lazzez to launch new MMA promotional company with big fight night in Dubai

The trade was put together in secret, with only a precious few people knowing what was happening. Luka Doncic didn’t know. Anthony Davis didn’t know. Their coaches didn’t know. Their teammates didn’t know.
And then it happened — an absolute blockbuster. Doncic led the Dallas Mavericks to the NBA Finals last season, Davis won a championship with the Los Angeles Lakers in 2020 and now they’re switching teams in a move that stunned most everyone in the league.
“I thought I’d spend my career here, and I wanted so badly to bring you a championship,” Doncic said in a written farewell message to Mavs fans. “The love and support you all have given me is more than I could have ever dreamed of.”
Doncic was traded by the reigning Western Conference champion Mavericks to the Lakers for Davis as part of a three-team deal. The trade was announced Sunday morning after the teams got the required league approval.
The trade talks, which took place over about a month, were kept extremely tight-lipped by Mavericks general manager Nico Harrison and Lakers GM Rob Pelinka.
Mavs coach Jason Kidd’s first reaction? “Shock,” Kidd said, though he later added that he believes it’s the right move for his team going forward.
Maxi Kleber and Markieff Morris also headed to the Lakers, while Max Christie went to Dallas. The Utah Jazz also were involved, getting Jalen Hood-Schifino and a 2025 second-rounder from both the Mavs and Lakers.
“Sports are about transformative moments,” Pelinka said. “We are inspired by these moments Lakers fans know, expect and love with a franchise that continually ushers in new eras of greatness. ... Luka is a one-of-a-kind, young global superstar who will lead this franchise for years to come. His killer instincts and commitment to winning championships will be a driving force for the team.”
The trade news broke shortly after the Lakers beat the Knicks at Madison Square Garden. Davis was not with the Lakers for the game; he has been in Los Angeles because of an abdominal injury that needed assessing.
Doncic has not played for Dallas since Christmas, when he exited a game with a strained left calf. The trade may come at a serious price for Doncic, who now can’t sign a five-year supermax contract extension this summer that could have been worth around $345 million.
It was never clear if the Mavs would have offered such a massive deal. Doncic also would have had an option to leave as a free agent after the 2025-26 season, and it’s certain that other teams with hopes of landing the Slovenian star would have planned for such scenarios.
“There’s other teams that were loading up,” Harrison said Sunday. “He was going to be able to make his own decision at some point of whether he wants to be here or not, whether we want to supermax him or not, or whether he wants to opt out. We had to take all that into consideration and I feel like we got out in front of what could have been a tumultuous summer.”
Doncic is still eligible for an extension this summer, with the max that the Lakers could offer him being five years at about $230 million — a $115 million difference than what the supermax could have been.
“Luka absolutely did not deserve this. ... He really respected Dallas,” Sasa Doncic, Luka’s father, said on Slovenian television Sunday.
The deal pairs Doncic with LeBron James as the new 1-2 punch in Los Angeles, while Davis would be forming a new star duo with Kyrie Irving in Dallas. And it reunites Doncic with his former teammate, Lakers coach JJ Redick.
Doncic was one of the Mavericks players on the floor when Redick came out of a game for the final time on May 11, 2021.
For the Mavericks, the decision largely came down to what Davis does on the defensive end of the floor.
“We think defense wins championships and we’re bringing in one of the best two-way players in the league,” Harrison said. He added that Davis’ ability to be elite at both ends makes him “a unique unicorn” in the NBA.
“We feel like we’re built to win now as well as in the future,” Harrison said.
There was one game still going on in the NBA late Saturday night as the trade began emerging, that being Phoenix-Portland. Suns guard Devin Booker said someone in the stands told him and his teammates of the trade.
“They said Luka. I said, ‘Luka Garza?’” Booker said, referencing a Minnesota center.
Booker wasn’t trying to be funny. He just thought what many probably thought — that there was no way the Mavs would move Doncic.
“It’s crazy, man. I really don’t know what to say about it,” Booker said. “Luka being a guy that everybody has claimed is untouchable and untradeable. The NBA shows you again. Can’t predict. It’s a business. They’re always having a conversation about you. So don’t think you’re safer than you are.”
Added fellow Suns star Kevin Durant: “Insane. It’s crazy. Crazy. Damn, would of never thought Luka Doncic would get traded. At his age, midseason, the NBA is a wild place, man. If he can get traded then anybody is up for grabs.”
Dallas played at Cleveland on Sunday, while the Lakers are off until visiting the Los Angeles Clippers on Tuesday night. It’s not clear when Doncic or Davis could play for their new clubs; there is no firm timetable for their returns from injury.
Among players with at least 400 games, Doncic’s 28.6-point average is third in NBA history behind only Michael Jordan and Wilt Chamberlain — both at 30.1.
He was third in the MVP voting last season after averaging 33.9 points, 9.8 assists and 9.2 rebounds per game, easily one of the greatest seasons in league history. Doncic — who turns 26 later this month and refers to James as an “idol” — had a 73-point game against Atlanta on Jan. 26, 2024, tying the fourth-highest scoring total ever in an NBA game. Only Chamberlain (100), Kobe Bryant (81) and Chamberlain (78) scored more.
Davis, an All-Star pick this year for the 10th time in his career, turns 32 next month. He’s part of the NBA’s 75th anniversary team, helped the Lakers win the NBA title in the bubble in 2020, and — like Doncic — is a five-time All-NBA selection.
Doncic is averaging 28.1 points, 8.3 rebounds and 7.8 assists this season. Davis is averaging 25.7 points and 11.9 rebounds.
Harrison understands the risk and the anger among some in the Mavs fan base; some people protested outside the team’s arena in Dallas on Sunday. He has traded away a young superstar, someone who easily could be one of the game’s best players for the next decade, for a player in his 30s with a challenging injury history.
“I understand the magnitude of it,” Harrison said. “The easiest thing for me to do is do nothing and everyone would praise me for doing nothing. But we really believe in it and time will tell if I’m right.”

NEW YORK: Noah Lyles powered to victory in the men’s 60m while fellow Olympic champion Grant Holloway extended his 11-year unbeaten streak with victory in the 60m hurdles at the New Balance Indoor Grand Prix meeting in Boston on Sunday.

American sprint king Lyles, the reigning Olympic and world 100m champion, scorched over the line to win in 6.52sec with the Bahamas’ Terrence Jones second in 6.57sec and P.J. Austin third in 6.60sec.

Italy’s Tokyo Olympic 100m champion Marcell Jacobs was fourth in 6.63sec.

Lyles said afterwards he has finally put victory in Paris last year behind him as he prepares to tackle a new season.

“I’m not gonna act like it’s easy, it’s a little difficult,” Lyles said. “But I know there’s a job to be done and I’m trying to transcend my sport.

“My first job is to make sure that everybody knows that even though I won the (Olympic) medal, I’ll go everywhere and I’m gonna win because I’m the world’s fastest man.”

In other events on Sunday, reigning Olympic 110m hurdles champion and three-time world champion Holloway scorched to victory in the men’s 60m hurdles in a season-best time of 7.42sec. Fred Crittenden was second in 7.54sec with Cordell Tinch third in 7.54sec.

Holloway has not lost an indoor hurdles race since 2014, and said afterwards that with world and Olympic golds in the bank, he is now running to cement his legacy.

“It’s just about building legacy, man,” Holloway said. “I’ve been doing this for so long. I’ve accomplished all my goals. So now it’s just about motivating the youth and then continuing just to build whatever I got to do.”

Holloway joked though that he has not been thinking about being remembered as the greatest sprint hurdler in history.

“I don’t even want to be the G.O.A.T (greatest of all time),” he said. “Usually, when people start calling themselves the goat, that’s when they get worse.”

Elsewhere Sunday, the USA’s women’s Olympic 100m hurdles gold medallist Masai Russell was a comfortable winner of the 60m hurdles in 7.80sec, edging out second-placed Grace Stark (7.81sec) and the Bahamas’ Devynne Charlton, who was third in 7.85sec.

In the women’s 300m meanwhile, Olympic 100m gold medallist Julien Alfred impressed with a blistering victory in 36.16sec.

The 23-year-old Alfred — whose 100m gold in Paris last year was St. Lucia’s first ever Olympic medal— cruised home ahead of Britain’s Dina Asher-Smith, who took second in 36.87sec, with France’s Emma Montoya third in 38.37sec.

In the men’s 300m, Olympic 400m hurdles champion Rai Benjamin secured a comfortable victory in 32.21sec, taking first ahead of compatriot Vernon Norwood (32.39sec) with Matthew Boling third in 32.82sec.