PHILADELPHIA -- Anthony Davis was sitting down for a movie night with his wife Saturday night in Los Angeles, shortly after watching his Los Angeles Lakers pull off arguably their best win of the season in beating the New York Knicks without him 3,000 or so miles away at Madison Square Garden, when the future Hall of Fame center received a call from Lakers general manager Rob Pelinka and coach J.J. Redick.

What he heard in that conversation -- that he was being traded to the Dallas Mavericks in exchange for fellow future Hall of Famer Luka Doncic -- stunned him as much as it did the rest of the world when it was announced a short time later.

"I was shocked," Davis, while wearing a full Mavericks sweatsuit, said after Dallas held its morning shootaround here at Wells Fargo Center before facing the Philadelphia 76ers Tuesday night. "I had no idea.

"I had just sent the team a text about congratulations on the win against the Knicks, big win, and then looking forward to Tuesday's game against the Clippers, as far as standing purposes. And then, found out like an hour later I was no longer with the team. I was in shock, obviously. Had no idea that it was happening.

"But, I mean, now I'm kind of over it, and just kind of getting ready to play with Dallas."

Davis won't play with Dallas for the first time Tuesday night, as he remains sidelined with an abdominal strain that he suffered, ironically, one week ago here against the Philadelphia 76ers in what turned out to be the last game Davis would play for the Lakers.

He then returned home to get the injury examined and treated, with the expectation coming out of Saturday's win being that he would return sometime this week. After Saturday's stunning trade, however, that return to the court will also coincide with a debut with a new franchise -- one that Davis said would either come Thursday in Boston against the defending champion Celtics, or at home Saturday against the Houston Rockets.

"I'll go through a workout today, see how I feel, and depending on that, get another one in tomorrow," Davis said. "And then depending on that, see how I feel.

"If not Thursday, then more than likely Saturday at home."

Max Christie, on the other hand, participated in shootaround Tuesday and will play Tuesday night against the 76ers.

What will await Davis and the Mavericks when they do get back to Texas later this week is a fanbase that is still reeling from arguably the most shocking trade in the history of the NBA -- one that no one, from Davis to Doncic, saw coming, and that the entire sport is even now still in the process of coming to grips with.

As Davis walked over to talk to the media, new co-star Kyrie Irving jokingly said twice to "take it easy" on the 10-time All-Star and 6-time All-NBA selection, one who was averaging 25.7 points and 11.9 rebounds this season with the Lakers in what has arguably been the best season of his career.

Now, though, Davis will be hoping to replicate that production Dallas, playing alongside Irving, someone Davis said he'd had conversations about playing together with dating back to when he was with the New Orleans Pelicans and Irving was with the Celtics in the 2018-19 season, when Davis had asked for the trade away from New Orleans that eventually landed him in Los Angeles.

He'll also be doing it for a coach in Jason Kidd that he won his lone championship with when Kidd was an assistant coach with the Lakers in 2020, and for general manager Nico Harrison, who ultimately chose to trade Doncic for a player he recruited to Nike and that Davis said he's known since high school.

"Nico believes in me, and what I can add to this team," Davis said. "We are both extremely excited about what we can do and I think we have a great opportunity to win a championship."

Arriving in Dallas also means that Davis will return to his preferred position of power forward -- something he openly spoke to ESPN's Shams Charania about wanting to do in an interview last month. At the time, Davis was hoping to see the Lakers acquire a big man to replicate the formula they had in the title run in 2020, when Davis played primarily at the four alongside both Dwight Howard and JaVale McGee.

Now, in Dallas, that's what he'll do, with Daniel Gafford starting at center and, once he's healthy, second-year center Dereck Lively II spending time at the pivot next to him, as well.

"Right now I'm just excited to get back to playing basketball," Davis said with a smile, when asked about going back to power forward again. "Obviously dealing with the whole trade thing, but also just the injury. Anytime that I'm out on the floor I feel better. I haven't played power forward in a long time with another big. We saw some spurts in LA with Jaxson [Hayes], but to be back naturally at the four, I'm excited to see how it goes."

Davis also discussed his decision to waive his $6 million trade bonus as part of the deal. It was something Davis did willingly, and didn't have to do for him to make the trade happen. But, he said, he wanted to give Harrison and the Dallas front office every opportunity to improve the roster around him and Irving as much as he could.

"Trying to help the team," Davis said. "Obviously you always want to get better and losing a monumental piece like Luka ... it's a lot, right? So I'm just trying to do my part and help Nico and the organization on how we can continuously get better. That's just always the right thing to do."

When asked if that came with an expectation of more moves happening this week, Davis laughed and said that that's a question for Harrison, though he waived the trade bonus "just in case" it helped.