The Mavericks just traded Luka Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers. Where were you when you heard the news? Did you wake up to it or did you think Shams was hacked when he tweeted the news about the trade that changes the course for both teams? I thought he was hacked and am very happy I was awake for it. Anyways, here is the trade, Luka, Maxi Kleber and Markieff Morris to the Lakers, Anthony Davis, Max Christie and a 2029 first round pick to the Mavericks and Jalen Hood-Schifino and two 2025 2nd round picks to the Jazz (because of course Danny Ainge got involved). There are so many layers to this so let’s dive into all of it.
We start with the Dallas side of it because wow. In what world do you move your 25-year-old, 5-time All-NBA first team player, who just took you to the Finals under 12 months ago and only got one first round pick? Luka Doncic is one of the 5 best players in the NBA and you trade him? There are for sure issues with Doncic and the Mavericks being concerned about giving him a 5yr/$345 million deal this summer is justifiable. His defense is so bad, it is a huge reason why the Mavericks were beaten in the Finals so badly. There are also concerns about the kind of shape he has been in over the past few seasons that are legit concerns as well. That doesn’t mean you trade him. Luka Doncic is a once in a generation player, he dragged the Mavericks to Finals last year, you give him the contract and figure the rest out later. How can you trade this dude? It is hard to say that the Mavericks didn’t get a lot for Doncic because Anthony Davis is really good and is having yet another monster season but are you telling me that they could only get one first round pick in this deal? The Lakers were going to say no to adding their 2031 first round pick? Was Rob Pelinka really going to pass up on LUKA DONCIC because they wanted to hang on to a first round pick in 2031? I find that hard to believe. I also find it hard to believe that the Lakers would have said no to Austin Reaves if Dallas had asked for him. It feels like the Mavericks didn’t get enough out of the Lakers to make this deal happen.
Why Dallas didn’t open this up to the rest of the league in a ‘give us your best offer’ situation, kinda like the Kings are doing for De’Aaron Fox, is beyond me. This is Luka Doncic we are talking about, teams would have lined up to give you all of their draft picks and elite young players to get him. Though, I would have never traded Luka, there are reasons why the Mavericks wanted out of the situation but to not open up the phones and get as much as you possibly can is crazy. Would the Grizzlies have said no to Jaren Jackson Jr., G.G. Jackson, Marcus Smart and multiple unprotected first round picks for Doncic? Probably not. Jackson isn’t the player that Davis is but he is younger and a really good player. Why didn’t Dallas dare Cleveland to say no to a Darius Garland and Evan Mobley for Doncic deal? Cleveland probably passes but you have to make them say no. This whole thing is just baffling to me.
There is a sentiment that Dallas got better on the court with this trade for this season and I just simply think that is wrong. Sure, their defense gets a whole lot better, Doncic’s defense was one of the main reasons Dallas lost the Finals but that doesn’t mean they get better. In order to win championships, you have to score points and Doncic assisted on 35% of his teammates points scored in the playoffs last year. Everything ran through him. Can Dallas trust Kyrie Irving and Spencer Dinwiddie to run an offense where so much of it flows through them? Also, I know Anthony Davis wants to play the 4, and he will in Dallas, but does a starting 5 of Kyrie, Klay Thompson, Naji Marshall, Anthony Davis and Dereck Lively or Daniel Gafford have enough spacing in it? Davis is shooting 29% from beyond the arc this season and Gafford and Lively are non-shooting threats. Somehow by trading their best player, the Mavericks have created more pressure on themselves to win the championship right now.
It is important we talk about how good Anthony Davis is at basketball when breaking down this trade. Averaging 25.7 points, 11.9 rebounds, 3.4 assists and 2.1 blocks per game, it finally felt like AD had become the Lakers best player this season. We all know about the defense and rim protection Davis provides but his offensive game is elite as well. This season as the roll man in the pick and roll, Davis has scored 1.23 points per possession, ranking 5th in the NBA with a minimum 100 possessions. Overall, he has scored 233 points shooting 56% as a roll man this season. On putbacks Davis had scored 1.21 points per possession, good enough for 6th in the NBA with a minimum of 70 possessions. Overall, he has scored 123 points shooting 62% on putbacks this season. Those parts of his game are going to help the Mavericks but they work best with Davis as the center. Playing him next to Gafford and Lively, who also thrive off of pick and rolls and putbacks, does not make a ton of sense to me. Davis will get more isolation attempts in Dallas, he has scored 1.05 points per possession with 105 possessions this season. Overall, AD has scored 110 points on 46% from the field on isolation attempts so it will be fun to see more of those opportunities as a Maverick as well as some of the big to big passing opportunities he will have. However, that does not excuse trading Luka Doncic for him.
For the Lakers this deal is a no-brainer. There were worries about what the Lakers would do post-LeBron era, could they rebuild around Anthony Davis who is on the wrong side of 30? Those worries are gone as they bring in a top 5 player who turns just 26-years-old at the end of this month. We have talked about the concerns but Doncic is so good that you do this deal no matter what. Dallas was the 5th seed entering the playoffs last season and Doncic averaged 28.9 points, 9.5 rebounds and 8.1 assists per game in the playoffs to drag Dallas to the Finals. I mentioned all the concerns the Mavericks have in building around Luka long term with the shape he is in and the level of defense he plays and still, Dallas ran through the Western Conference to get to the NBA Finals with him as their best player a season ago. Of course the Lakers are going to sign up for that. The Lakers won a big game on Saturday night, beating the Knicks at Madison Square Garden and Max Christie played a big part in that. His defense was big throughout the game and though he was 1/4 from beyond the arc, he has shot it well this year at 38%, he has shown big improvements this season. Trading him hurts but getting Luka makes you forget about Christie and even Anthony Davis pretty quickly.
The idea that the Lakers got worse for this season is wild to me. Sure, they probably won’t be able to stop even the Wizards, who won a basketball game on Saturday, from scoring but having LeBron James and Luka Doncic on the offensive end will make it extremely hard to stop from scoring themselves. Those guys are so smart, I don’t worry about them not being able to figure out how to play together. They’ll look for a center because Jaxson Hayes, Christian Koloko, Maxi Kleber, Markieff Morris and maybe Christian Wood (if he plays basketball at some point) is not enough at the 5. One trade I came up with is Rui Hachimura, Gabe Vincent and Christian Wood to the Hawks for Clint Capela, Garrison Mathews and Cody Zeller. That could solve the Lakers starting center issues, while giving the Hawks more options with Jalen Johnson likely to miss the rest of the season, Hachimura could slide right into his starting spot.
At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter who plays center for the Lakers. When you can trade for Luka Doncic, near the start of his prime, you do it, no matter the cost. He has shown that he can put an entire team on his back and drag you to the NBA Finals. He is able to create shots for his teammates that few players can, creating a good offense out of nothing. Of course, it was the Lakers who pulled it off. Somehow they just always find a way to get out of potential purgatory by getting a big time star. Shaq and Kobe showing up in 1996 lead the way to the three-peat. Then in 2008, after Shaq and Kobe’s relationship fell apart and they traded Shaq to the Heat and they filtered with the idea of trading Kobe that summer, they added Pau Gasol, winning two more championships. Then, in the post-Bryant era they signed LeBron James and traded for Anthony Davis leading to the championship in 2020. They just pulled it off again, just like they pulled it off all those times. This deal is like the one they made with the Grizzlies to get Gasol. No one else knew Luka was on the trade block and Dallas was focused on doing a deal with the Lakers, just like the Grizzlies were focused on the Lakers in ‘08. It is just unbelievable how the Lakers keep finding ways to get these elite players to create a new championship window. As a Celtics fan myself, I do not like it one bit.
The last question is how does this shake up the Western Conference. It for sure changes the landscape of the conference but I am not really sure how. I think the Lakers will be way more challenging to defend but the defense will get much worse, Davis was the anchor of their defense. On the other side, I just don’t think that Dallas got better. Luka Doncic has been their offense for years now, really ever since they drafted him in 2018, and I am interested to see how they are able to score the basketball. Their defense will be good but how good will they be on the perimeter. What will Dallas’ offense look like? Will it be as clunky as it seems it will be with Davis at the 4? Does it get either of these teams on the level of the Thunder is the question that needs to be asked and to that I would say, right now, I have no idea.
Late Saturday night or early Sunday morning, based on wherever you are in the country, there was the stunning blockbuster trade of all the stunning blockbuster trades that the NBA, and sports world overall, has ever seen. Luka Doncic is a Los Angeles Laker, folks. Let that one sink in as we head into trade deadline week.
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