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The Lakers were about to shock the NBA. But Shabbat had to end first.
Luka Dončić was headed to Los Angeles — if the Lakers could keep it quiet for one more Shabbat.
The Feb. 2 trade that brought Dončić, widely touted as one of the two or three best basketball players on the planet, to Los Angeles blindsided the NBA — and Dončić himself. It was the most shocking and controversial swap in the history of the league, if not the history of American sports. The reporter who broke the story had to convince readers he hadn’t been hacked.
Yet a new book reveals a surprising final hangup before the deal went through. In A Hollywood Ending: The Dreams and Drama of the LeBron Lakers (Doubleday), veteran hoops writer Yaron Weitzman reveals that an unsuspecting stakeholder’s Sabbath observance put the trade — and indeed, the future of the NBA — on hold. It’s one of a few fun Jewish details in the deeply-sourced book (whose author is Jewish, in case the name didn’t give it away).
Secrecy was essential to the trade. Dončić, then 25, was beloved in Dallas, where his future with the Mavericks seemed utterly secure. Because mere rumors of a developing trade would irreversibly damage their relationship with Dončić, the Mavs had to negotiate below the radar of the scoop-hungry NBA media. For that reason, Mavericks general manager Nico Harrison only told his Lakers counterpart, Rob Pelinka, that Dončić was on the market. In turn, Pelinka only told his boss, Lakers owner Jeannie Buss.
It took three weeks for the blockbuster deal to come together, with the Lakers’ Anthony Davis — a future Hall-of-Famer in his own right — and a first-round draft pick headed to Dallas in return. By Jan. 31, a Friday night, the terms were in place.
But the Lakers couldn’t pull the trigger — yet. For salary cap reasons, they needed to complete a separate trade with the Utah Jazz — and before the Jazz could accept, they needed to do a trade with the L.A. Clippers that involved another four players, including 16-year veteran Patty Mills. Because Mills was in the last season of his contract, league rules required his agent to certify that no future contract had been agreed to under the table.
There was just one issue, Weitzman reports: Mills’ agent, Steven Heumann, was observing Shabbat and therefore offline. “This meant that all parties had to wait until an hour after sundown on Saturday night,” Weitzman writes. “In the meantime, Pelinka and Harrison [the respective general managers of the Lakers and Mavericks] agreed to keep the details quiet. Neither side wanted to risk anything leaking.”
What if something had leaked? It’s possible and maybe likely that the deal would have fallen apart. Mavericks fans would have rioted — perhaps literally — to stop a trade. Competing offers might have come in from other teams. Or Dončić’s agent might have tried to force him to a different destination. But the gag order held, and the next Laker dynasty began.
Ironically, Heumann (who did not immediately respond to an inquiry), wouldn’t have known that he was holding up The Luka freaking Dončić Trade even after Shabbat, because none of the adjacent teams or players or agents was wise to the NBA earthquake they were facilitating. Instead, his observance inverted an experience many Jews are familiar with — the excruciating wait for Shabbat to end so you can start working — by giving it to non-Jews. (Now let Pelinka try turning off his phone for 25 hours.)
The trade was as consequential as it was surprising. It rejuvenated the league’s most iconic franchise from also-ran to championship contender and doomed the Mavericks — led by Dončić to the NBA Finals the season prior — to irrelevance. Mavericks fans — who might have kept 100 Shabbats in a row if it meant keeping their hero in town — will hold Harrison in contempt for decades. And one man’s Jewish observance will always be a small part of a landscape-altering basketball story.
A Hollywood Ending: The Dreams and Drama of the LeBron Lakers hits shelves Oct. 21. The Lakers season starts Wednesday.
The post The Lakers were about to shock the NBA. But Shabbat had to end first. appeared first on The Forward.
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Rep. Ilhan Omar says Stephen Miller’s comments on immigrants sound like how ‘Nazis described Jewish people’
Rep Ilhan Omar, Democrat of Minnesota, on Sunday likened the Trump administration’s immigration rhetoric to Nazi depictions of Jews.
“It reminds me of the way the Nazis described Jewish people in Germany,” Omar said in an interview on CBS’s Face the Nation, commenting on a social media post by Stephen Miller, President Donald Trump’s senior adviser, in which he suggested that “migrants and their descendants recreate the conditions, and terrors, of their broken homelands.” Miller, who is Jewish, is the architect of the Trump administration’s immigration policy.
Omar called Miller’s comments “white supremist rhetoric” and also drew parallels between his characterization of migrants seeking refuge in the U.S. to how Jews were demonized and treated when they fled Nazi-era Germany. “As we know, there have been many immigrants who have tried to come to the United States who have turned back, you know, one of them being Jewish immigrants,” she said.
Now serving as Trump’s deputy chief of staff for policy, Miller is central to the White House’s plans for mass deportations and expanded barriers to asylum. During Trump’s first term, Miller led the implementation of the so-called Muslim travel ban in 2017, which barred entry to the U.S. for individuals from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen, and pushed to further reduce a longtime refugee program.
Rep. Ilhan Omar: “When I think about Stephen Miller and his white supremacist rhetoric, it reminds me of the way the Nazis described Jewish people in Germany.” pic.twitter.com/GAjIMqFq26
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) December 7, 2025
Miller’s comments echoed similar rhetoric by Trump after an Afghan refugee was accused of shooting two National Guard members near the White House last month, killing one.
Trump told reporters at a cabinet meeting last week that Somali immigrants are “garbage” and that he wanted them to be sent “back to where they came from.” The president also singled out Omar, a Somali native who represents Minnesota’s large Somali-American community. “She should be thrown the hell out of our country,” Trump said.
In the Sunday interview, Omar called Trump’s remarks “completely disgusting” and accused him of having “an unhealthy obsession” with her and the Somali community. “This kind of hateful rhetoric and this level of dehumanizing can lead to dangerous actions by people who listen to the president,” she said.
The post Rep. Ilhan Omar says Stephen Miller’s comments on immigrants sound like how ‘Nazis described Jewish people’ appeared first on The Forward.
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Nigeria Seeks French Help to Combat Insecurity, Macron Says
French President Emmanuel Macron at the Elysee Palace in Paris, France, Sept. 15, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Benoit Tessier/Pool
Nigerian President Bola Tinubu has sought more help from France to fight widespread violence in the north of the country, French President Emmanuel Macron said on Sunday, weeks after the United States threatened to intervene to protect Nigeria’s Christians.
Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country, has witnessed an upsurge in attacks in volatile northern areas in the past month, including mass kidnappings from schools and a church.
US President Donald Trump has raised the prospect of possible military action in Nigeria, accusing it of mistreating Christians. The government says the allegations misrepresent a complex security situation in which armed groups target both faith groups.
Macron said he had a phone call with Tinubu on Sunday, where he conveyed France’s support to Nigeria as it grapples with several security challenges, “particularly the terrorist threat in the North.”
“At his request, we will strengthen our partnership with the authorities and our support for the affected populations. We call on all our partners to step up their engagement,” Macron said in a post on X.
Macron did not say what help would be offered by France, which has withdrawn its troops from West and Central Africa and plans to focus on training, intelligence sharing and responding to requests from countries for assistance.
Nigeria is grappling with a long-running Islamist insurgency in the northeast, armed kidnapping gangs in the northwest and deadly clashes between largely Muslim cattle herders and mostly Christian farmers in the central parts of the country, stretching its security forces.
Washington said last month that it was considering actions such as sanctions and Pentagon engagement on counterterrorism as part of a plan to compel Nigeria to better protect its Christian communities.
The Nigerian government has said it welcomes help to fight insecurity as long as its sovereignty is respected. France has previously supported efforts to curtail the actions of armed groups, the US has shared intelligence and sold arms, including fighter jets, and Britain has trained Nigerian troops.
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Netanyahu Says He Will Not Quit Politics if He Receives a Pardon
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu participates in the state memorial ceremony for the fallen of the Iron Swords War on Mount Herzl, Jerusalem on Oct. 16, 2025. Photo: Alex Kolomoisky/POOL/Pool via REUTERS
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday that he would not retire from politics if he receives a pardon from the country’s president in his years-long corruption trial.
Asked by a reporter if planned on retiring from political life if he receives a pardon, Netanyahu replied: “no”.
Netanyahu last month asked President Isaac Herzog for a pardon, with lawyers for the prime minister arguing that frequent court appearances were hindering Netanyahu’s ability to govern and that a pardon would be good for the country.
Pardons in Israel have typically been granted only after legal proceedings have concluded and the accused has been convicted. There is no precedent for issuing a pardon mid-trial.
Netanyahu has repeatedly denied wrongdoing in response to the charges of bribery, fraud and breach of trust, and his lawyers have said that the prime minister still believes the legal proceedings, if concluded, would result in a complete acquittal.
US President Donald Trump wrote to Herzog, before Netanyahu made his request, urging the Israeli president to consider granting the prime minister a pardon.
Some Israeli opposition politicians have argued that any pardon should be conditional on Netanyahu retiring from politics and admitting guilt. Others have said the prime minister must first call national elections, which are due by October 2026.