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The Dallas Mavericks have agreed to trade Luka Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers in exchange for Anthony Davis in a shocking blockbuster trade that also involves the Utah Jazz, according to multiple reports, including from ESPN’s Shams Charania.
Maxi Kleber and Markieff Morris will also go to the Lakers, while Max Christie and the Lakers’ 2029 first-round pick will head to the Mavericks. The Jazz will receive Jalen Hood-Schifino, a 2025 second-round pick via the Los Angeles Clippers and the Mavericks’ 2025 second-round pick.
This is immediately one of the most substantial and most surprising trades in NBA history and will forever alter the course of two franchises.
From the Mavericks’ perspective, this is particularly shocking. Doncic, 25, has been one of the league’s best players since entering the league in 2018. He has made the All-NBA First Team in each of the last five seasons and led the Mavericks on a surprise run to the Finals last year, where they ultimately fell to the Boston Celtics.
For his career, he has averaged 28.6 points, 8.7 rebounds and 8.3 assists per game, while shooting 47% from the field, and is widely regarded as one of the five best players in the world. Players of his caliber rarely get traded, especially at such a young age, unless they force their way out of town. Per Marc Stein, Doncic did not make such a request.
But for all of Doncic’s gifts, his poor defense, which stuck out in the Finals, and regular conditioning issues were too much for Mavericks general manager Nico Harrison to overlook. Doncic has been sidelined since Christmas Day due to a calf injury, and has never played more than 72 games in a season.
“I believe that defense wins championships,” Harrison told ESPN about the decision to trade Doncic. “I believe that getting an All-Defensive center and an All-NBA player with a defensive mindset gives us a better chance. We’re built to win now and in the future.”
The Mavericks will now look to move forward with a Davis-Kyrie Irving pairing. Those two have a chance to be a dynamite combination, and they have a balanced roster around them. It seems that Dallas could have gotten more for Doncic, however, and if health and conditioning was a concern with him, they certainly didn’t permanently solve it by adding Davis.
At 26-23, the Mavericks sit in ninth place in the crowded Western Conference. At once they are 2.5 games back of a top-six seed and guaranteed playoff spot, and 1.5 games ahead of 11th place and missing out on the Play-In Tournament entirely.
For the Lakers, the Mavericks’ concerns were their gain. In Doncic they now have a young superstar who can be the face of their franchise for the next decade. Any concerns about what may happen to the organization once LeBron James retires have just evaporated.
As for the present, the Lakers now have two of the most gifted offensive players in the league. James, even at age 40, can still dial it up from time to time, as he showed hours before the trade when he dropped a triple-double in a win over the red-hot New York Knicks. He cannot do so every night, however, and with Doncic by his side, James will have more of a chance to pick and choose his spots, which should keep him fresh until and during the playoffs.
The Lakers have won eight of their last 10 to climb to fifth place in the West at 28-19, but were generally not considered true title threats due to James’ age and their lack of offensive creation and poor defense. Losing Davis certainly hurts the latter, but the former will no longer be an issue. Are James and Doncic enough to truly contend? We’ll soon find out.
