NBANBAAs the dust settles, the Luka–Anthony Davis blockbuster grows even more confusing. You have questions. We have answers. Kind of.
AP Image/Ringer illustration
By Rob MahoneyFeb. 2, 6:25 pm UTC • 8 min
As you may have heard, the Lakers pulled off the trade of the season (or of the century?) late Saturday night, landing Luka Doncic and changing the NBA as we know it. No one saw this coming. That means there’s even more to unpack than with your average blockbuster, considering the massive stakes that have emerged from thin air. Let’s unpack this.
He is indeed. One of the best basketball players in the world is on his way to the NBA’s highest-profile team, in a trade so shocking that other players around the league suspected the initial report was part of an elaborate hoax.
The Mavericks traded Doncic, Maxi Kleber, and Markieff Morris to the Lakers in exchange for 10-time All-Star Anthony Davis, Max Christie, and a 2029 first-round pick.
That’s it!
Actually, sorry, there is one more thing: The Jazz were also involved in the deal, and took on the contract of second-year guard Jalen Hood-Schifino while landing two future second-round picks.
He didn’t. This wasn’t like the ongoing Jimmy Butler saga—or basically any other trade involving a player of this magnitude. Doncic didn’t request a trade at all, according to Marc Stein, and was informed of the deal only after its completion.
More on THAT TRADE
More on THAT TRADE
It’s not entirely clear. This is a blockbuster without precedent; teams don’t just trade away superstars of their own volition, and they certainly don’t trade away 25-year-old superstars with Luka’s track record. Doncic is in the midst of a lesser season by his standards, in part because he’s already missed 27 games with various injuries—including the calf strain that currently has him sidelined. That alone wouldn’t be cause to trade him. Yet with those injuries came further scrutiny of Doncic’s conditioning. ESPN’s Tim MacMahon reported that the Mavericks had “major concerns” about Luka’s habits, particularly in the context of their negotiations on a potential (and now scrapped) supermax extension worth $345 million.
Apparently. Doncic might be the most potent halfcourt problem solver in the entire league, and the Mavs are counting pennies and calories. Caution is to be expected with all the financial restrictions of the apron era, but what’s the point of any of this if teams aren’t willing to spend supermax money on indisputable supermax talent? This is Luka Doncic. Those conditioning issues didn’t prevent him from leading the league in scoring on a near-triple-double last season; from taking Dallas to the NBA Finals last summer (or the Western Conference finals in 2022); or from making the All-NBA team five years running. Make it make sense. No, please, make it make sense. Because this is how Mavs GM Nico Harrison attempted to explain why Dallas would so willingly trade away a star on pace to become the greatest player in franchise history: “I believe that defense wins championships. 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.”
By and large, they’ve actually been quite good on that side of the ball. The Mavs have ranked in the top 10 in points allowed per possession for the vast majority of this season, slipping only when a recent string of injuries compromised their rotation. Doncic himself has all sorts of defensive issues—starting with his effort. Yet it’s also worth noting that Dallas has allowed fewer points when Luka’s been on the floor this season, and dominated opponents in those minutes overall. He’s far from Anthony Davis in coverage, but Doncic hasn’t stopped the Mavs from being one of the steadier defensive teams in the league over the past calendar year.
Probably not. Davis will do well enough playing alongside Kyrie Irving and a cast of capable role players in Dallas, but this entire Mavericks team was built with Luka in mind. These are shooters who relied on his playmaking, bigs who fed off his lobs, and cutters who drafted off his gravitational pull. It’s an entire operation built to the specifications of his playmaking. AD is a wonderful two-way player, but he’s not Luka. No one is. And Dallas will spend the rest of the season—and its foreseeable future—reckoning with that fact.
Davis is 31 years old—six years older than Doncic, and already beginning to age out of his playing prime. He also has a significantly more complicated injury history; if availability really is a chief concern, you wouldn’t know it by the fact that the Mavs have chosen to rely entirely on both AD and Kyrie somehow staying healthy.
Oh, there weren’t any. The Mavs just decided to approach the Lakers directly and offer up their generational superstar. Then they accepted this Lakers return without telling other teams that Luka was even available.
I don’t know, man. No one does. Front office personnel around the league are baffled by the way Dallas handled this, prioritizing discretion over process in what could be a franchise-defining trade. It was all so cloak-and-dagger that even Mavs staffers were caught unaware; one minute they were pulling behind a transcendent young star, and the next they were picking up the pieces. This didn’t need to happen now, because it didn’t need to happen at all. Even if Harrison and the Mavs thought they were getting ahead of some other trouble with Doncic—like, say, a potential opt-out in 2026—all they’ve managed to do is speed into the team’s dissolution with no tangible benefit whatsoever.
Err, sorry, with one tangible benefit: Dallas managed to eke under the luxury tax line.
Sure. There’s also the clear, damning opportunity cost of not even calling the Bucks about Giannis Antetokounmpo, or the Thunder about Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, or the Wolves about Anthony Edwards, or any other team about anyone else. And then there’s the fact that by short-changing their own leverage, the Mavs didn’t even bother to get as much from the Lakers as they could have. What, do you think Rob Pelinka was going to shut down a trade for Luka freaking Doncic over L.A.’s 2031 first-round pick?
Of course not! We live in a world where it cost the Knicks five firsts to trade for Mikal Bridges. The Mavs should have demanded the Lakers’ 2029 pick, their 2031 pick, and every other pick swap from here to oblivion. Luka is the kind of player teams move heaven and earth for. Dallas, somehow, couldn’t even manage to get Dalton Knecht. Not just that: Remember those two second-round picks that Utah picked up for taking back Hood-Schifino? One of them is actually from Dallas. The Mavericks are paying for the privilege of their own self-sabotage.
Well, with Luka—a top-three player in the sport and a near-prime LeBron to pair with post-prime LeBron. L.A.’s roster is a little wonky for the time being, but don’t let passing inconvenience distract from an unbelievable turn. A trade like this shouldn’t be possible. Yet it somehow was, just as it has been for the Lakers so many times before: with Wilt, with Kareem, with Shaq. Logic bends around this team. At a certain point, you just have to shrug and accept it.
The same is true of Doncic, in a way. His playmaking defies explanation—passes that bend to their targets, miraculous shots that fall from all angles. Soon the supporting Lakers will be their beneficiary, as Luka raises the play of everyone around him. That includes LeBron. A 40-year-old James is still a superstar, but he has to be selective in when and how often he plays like one. Teaming up with Doncic should make those choices simpler, allowing James to exert his will as he sees fit.
Well, why stop here? The obvious need would be to address the void that Davis leaves behind, specifically in protecting the rim. An upgrade is in order. Doncic will make Jaxson Hayes feel actually playable, but that doesn’t mean the Lakers have to settle for that when Robert Williams III or Jakob Poeltl could give them so much more. Thanks to the Mavs, they have options: solid players to move, the 2031 first for whenever they need it, and all of those sweet, sweet pick swaps.
This deal is also so seismic—and so mystifying—that it could start shaking all kinds of things loose in the trade market. Now that Luka is a Laker, nothing should surprise us anymore.
Oh, shit. Maybe? It would actually make some sense. Luka and LeBron are brilliant enough to work together in any alignment, but Doncic is so clearly the heir apparent. Regardless, trading James by Thursday seems a bit hasty—and the latest reporting from Chris Haynes suggests that LeBron (via his no-trade clause) intends to stay with the Lakers through the deadline. The offseason could be a different story. Maybe a team-up with Steph Curry and the Warriors could be in order? Or a return home to push the Cavs over the top? Or maybe we’re just glossing past the fact that James is about to play with a creator unlike any he’s ever played with before? Luka could learn a lot from LeBron, and he’s one of the few people on Earth who could maybe even teach him something on a basketball court, too.
Yet at this point, how long LeBron stays in L.A. isn’t as important as how long Luka stays. This season may be a hiccup, but the Mavs have set the Lakers up to be contenders for a long, long time.
I have no earthly idea. Do they? This was a mistake. Not just the trade—this explainer. There’s no way to make sense of what the Mavericks just did, no way to justify the gamble they’ve taken. This way lies madness. Imagine thinking that Luka Doncic, of all people, is a losing player. Now imagine betting the future of your franchise on it.
Rob covers the NBA and pop culture for The Ringer. He previously covered the league for Sports Illustrated.
