Stunned.
I sat in silence for a solid five minutes on Saturday night, reading social media posts from credible journalists saying that the Dallas Mavericks were trading Luka Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers for Anthony Davis.
I reread the posts over and over, not believing what I was seeing.
Once it sunk in that what I was reading was true, that it was not the result of hackers or an elaborate hoax, I couldn’t make sense of the deal, and I still can’t.
As the Utah Jazz beat reporter, it feels like I have an obligation to comment on the small part the Jazz played in the three-team deal. The Lakers received Doncic, Maxi Kleber and Markieff Morris from Dallas. The Mavericks get Anthony Davis, Max Christie and the Lakers’ 2029 first-round pick.
The Jazz get Jalen Hood-Schifino from Los Angeles, a 2025 second-round pick (via Clippers) and a 2025 second round pick from the Mavericks.
The deal required a third team to come in to meet CBA requirements for the Lakers because they couldn’t take on more salary than they were sending out.
The Jazz already own the Lakers’ 2027 first-rounder, which is now devalued because the Lakers have the heir apparent to LeBron James in Doncic, but that pick was going to be devalued no matter what because this deal was going to happen whether it was the Jazz that stepped in to help facilitate or any other team.
So, the Jazz threw some NBA chump change to the two other teams involved (the league-required $110,000, split between Dallas and L.A.) and get to take a look at a point-guard prospect without risk.
Great. Fine.
The part that really matters here, the part that is indefensibly baffling, is that the Mavericks traded away Luka Doncic.
Doncic is a top-5, and arguably top-3, NBA player, just entering his prime, coming off five straight All-NBA First Team selections. He took the Mavericks to the NBA Finals less than a year ago.
He is just 25 years old. He was the league scoring leader last season. He is a generational talent.
On first glance you are forced to think that Doncic asked to be traded specifically to the Lakers. Nope. He never asked.
OK, well he at least demanded a trade somewhere. Nope. Didn’t happen.
So the Mavericks’ asking price must have been too high for anyone else to meet. Actually, they didn’t have a price. They never even tried to test the market.
Did Luka say he wouldn’t sign a supermax extension with the Mavericks? No, they just assumed negotiations would be “tumultuous.”
After Dallas general manager Nico Harrison spoke to reporters on Sunday to explain his side of things, I was left thinking the same thing I thought when I first saw the news — this is the dumbest thing I’ve ever seen an NBA team do and it is absolutely NBA malpractice the way the Mavericks handled it.
It is 100% true that Anthony Davis is also an incredible and generational NBA player. He is spectacular. There is not going to be a sane person talking about this trade that questions his abilities.
But he is also on the wrong side of 30 and has played 56-or-fewer games in four of the last six NBA seasons.
Harrison gave ESPN a whole list of excuses on Saturday night, trying to excuse the decision to bet against Doncic’s future. Harrison said the Mavericks were growing ever more frustrated by Doncic’s conditioning. Doncic has been injured most of this season and the Mavericks seem to be attributing his calf injury to his lack of conditioning.
Then Harrison went on about believing that defense wins championships and that the organization wanted to get ahead of the supermax negotiations, which would have been difficult.
What?!
This is Luka Doncic we’re talking about! If you think negotiations are going to be difficult, you just bite the bullet and deal with it!
Plus, giving a supermax deal to a top-5, generational player is not a problem that looms in the distance, it is a no-brainer that should be done as soon as possible and with a smile on your face.
Yeah, Doncic might be a little heavier than your most in-shape athlete, but his doughy middle section still took you to the Finals eight months ago, a place the Mavericks never could have dreamed of being without Doncic on the team.
And if you want to use durability or availability as an excuse, you can’t then say that Anthony Davis is the solution to the problem. Davis has literally been nicknamed “Street Clothes” because of how often he watches games from the sidelines while injured.
But OK, if you really are willing to bet against the 25-year-old who is one of the most talented offensive players the NBA has ever seen, you’d better get an absolute haul in return for giving him away.
Instead, the Mavericks let the Lakers keep the other tradeable first-round pick they have, didn’t get any pick swaps and didn’t even try to get a better deal elsewhere.
Harrison went straight to the Lakers, offered up Doncic on a silver platter and the Lakers said yes, because it would have been true insanity to say anything else.
If the Mavericks make it to the Finals this season and lose, this trade still was a failure. It’s possible that they could win the Finals this year and we still see this trade as a failure, because Davis is not going to last much longer as a top player, Kyrie Irving is 32, Klay Thompson is 34.
The Mavericks are hoping they can win a quick title and all will be forgiven.
Meanwhile, in four years, Doncic will only be 29, he will likely still be a top player and he is the perfect player to lure other young stars to Los Angeles.
He will usher in the next era of Lakers exceptionalism, and it is entirely Nico Harrison and the Mavericks’ fault.
And by the way, while that is all happening and the aging Mavericks are trying to find a new way to rebuild, they’ll have next to nothing to show for giving up on a player that should have been untouchable.