Dec 25, 2024; Dallas, Texas, USA; Dallas Mavericks guard Luka Doncic (77) celebrates after making a basket against the Minnesota Timberwolves during the first quarter at the American Airlines Center. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-Imagn Images In the early hours of Sunday morning, the Los Angeles Lakers acquired Luka Doncic, Maxi Kleber and Markieff Morris for Anthony Davis, Max Christie and a 2029 first-round pick.
It was the type of trade that sent the NBA social media world into a shock, with active NBA stars wondering if ESPN’s Shams Charania’s pages were hacked.
But the trade is absolutely true. According to Charania, the Mavericks approached Los Angeles recently and offered Doncic, who the Lakers believe to be a generational talent.
The consensus here is that Doncic is a generational player who will not turn 26 years old until the end of the month. Davis will turn 32 years old at the end of the month. That’s a massive difference in the basketball world. AD is a generational talent on both sides of the basketball who will be a first-ballot Hall of Famer, and the Mavericks still got steamrolled in this trade.
To add to the surprise, nobody involved in this trade knew that anything was going to happen. Doncic, Davis and Lakers star LeBron James were all kept in the dark about this overnight blockbuster, according to Charania.
But the question that NBA fans are asking themselves on Sunday morning is why the hell would Dallas actively shop one of the league’s best players who is still just 25 years old and ultimately flip him for Davis?
ESPN’s Brian Windhorst reported that the Mavericks were actually skeptical of Doncic—this was not a trade that was player-driven, as the Slovenian superstar was ready to sign a supermax extension with Dallas this summer.
Windhorst elaborated that the Mavericks were hesitant to give Doncic that sort of extension this summer and that they probably could have gotten even more via trade. The Lakers were the only known suitor.
At just 25, Doncic has dealt with his fair share of injuries. But it’s absolutely insane to let a generational talent like that out of your organization. Because of a supermax contract? Teams are giving those out all the time. It’s commonplace in the NBA to shell out hundreds of millions of dollars—especially when you have a genuine household name.
Again, Doncic has a few pitfalls in his game. And apparently, the Mavericks just could not look past them. He’s a subpar defender who had some issues staying in shape. But to hand him over to a team like the Lakers for an aging superstar in Davis? That’s egregious.
This feels like one of those scenarios where an open line of communication could have probably solved some things. If the Mavericks wanted Doncic to drop a few pounds and focus on his defensive game, tell him that this offseason. There’s no way that things were so bad that they could not address him.
For the Mavericks, this trade leaves Kyrie Irving without his Batman. The Mavericks instead have two Robins with Irving and Davis. They are currently the No. 8 seed in the West, but how the pairing of Irving and Davis work together will determine if they are a serious playoff contender at all.
Pairing James and Doncic is a no-brainer for the Lakers, who are currently the No. 5 seed. If this pairing works, especially come later this spring, you could see a world where a motivated Doncic and rejuvenated James could go on a deep run in the NBA Playoffs.
But this trade is about the future, and the Mavericks did not want Doncic in the picture. Could this trade mean that James only has a few more months in a Lakers uniform?
There’s not a world where two ball-dominant alphas like these could co-exist, right? We said that about Doncic’s pairing with Irving, and it actually turned out to be the happiest we’ve seen Kyrie in quite some time.
Regardless of what James opts for this offseason, the Lakers have their superstar.
