In the aftermath of the Dallas Mavericks' shocking decision to trade franchise cornerstone Luka Doncic, the club's general manager Nico Harrison, keeping things strictly about basketball, offered an explanation for the stunning about-face, saying that " defense wins championships ."

The Lakers host Dallas on Tuesday night, giving the Slovenian star an early showdown against the team that shipped him away three weeks ago in a shocking trade.

Though not much has been revealed about Dallas' motive behind trading their star, reports have indicated that the Mavericks were unhappy with Doncic's work ethic and conditioning. Recently, a former Mavericks coach spoke about Doncic and shed some light on these reports.