LeBron James posts farewell message to Anthony Davis after trade to Mavericks

LeBron James took to Instagram on Sunday to share a goodbye post to Anthony Davis following his trade to the Mavericks.

In his long career, few players formed as much of a bond with LeBron James as Anthony Davis. The pair spent five-and-a-half seasons together, won a title and were part of some special moments together in purple and gold.

With that in mind, the idea of the two of them no longer being teammates hits hard for many fans. Saturday’s trade between the Lakers and Mavericks will bring in a generational superstar but will also send out someone who most had envisioned would be a piece of the franchise for the rest of his career.

It’s a shock that wasn’t solely felt by fans but the players themselves, who were reportedly kept in the dark about these negotiations.

On Sunday, LeBron James took to Instagram to share a goodbye post for AD.

LeBron and AD are going to forever be linked together. In terms of seasons, few teammates in LeBron’s career have spent over five seasons with him. In terms of games, AD ranked 12th in games played among teammates for LeBron.

On the flip side, LeBron was just 22 games away from becoming the teammate AD has played with the most, an honor currently held by Jrue Holiday.

In short, this is an all-time pair that will go down in Lakers history, which is neither an exaggeration nor a small feat. Thinking of the best duos in the franchise's storied history leads to a discussion of all-timers. LeBron and AD winning a title together, and specifically a title in 2020 that had so many other things tied to it, is going to etch them into that Laker lore.

It’s a gut punch of a trade, no question. But it was a joy to get to watch the pair of them play at an elite level together for as long as we did.

You can follow Jacob on Twitter at @JacobRude.