In a vacuum, yes. Swapping Luka for AD makes sense this year. Maybe next year. However, the return the Mavs received is abysmal.
The Mavericks could have gotten more if they were looking to reset the team. They wanted to continue competing. In that scenario, who else could they have gotten to help them compete this season? Jayson Tatum is the only target I can think of around the same level as Davis. I understand Davis has a crap rep with most fans, but he's been the most impactful player on the Lakers since he got there.
Agree. And I preface in saying I don't think Luka is a top 5. He is over-rated and exposed on defense. Mavs org questioning Luka's long term future is not unreasonable. Nico's long term view of betting against Luka, might turn out correct But if the league still think Luka is good, instead of being a simpleton GM, he should have done the actual GM work, which is to properly appraise Luka's value and get the best deal. Nico had blind folds on for AD, and that short term bet, will cost the Mavs long term. Nico got scared and lazy, he didn't have the balls to negotiate with his superstar's agent.
Harrison should not necessarily be criticized for trading away Luka. He should have sought other deals, though. If Mikal Bridges netted such a big haul, what would Luka bring? If Harrison was determined to get AD, he certainly could have extracted a lot more from Los Angeles. This all contributes to the idea that there is something very fishy about this deal and this league.
I was thinking of pau gasol actually. There is a rich laker history of pulling these absurd lobsided trades off
The gasol one was different, that was just jerry west helping the lakers. It’s like if i became the nuggets gm, i’d give jokic to the rockets.
I'm surprised most of yall here actually seem to have wanted to trade for overweight out-of-shape Luka?? It's not like we could have gotten him for peanuts, we would have to trade away SEVERAL MULTIPLE contributing players to our great winning record this season. Yall really think that would make us better this year losing all those players?
Lmao someone tried this trade in 2K and the computer rejected it saying Luka was untradeable. Nico Harrison will go down as the dumbest MF GM in NBA history.
Exactly. The lakers always get “helped out”. That’s my point. Stern also had to veto a deal to make that gasol trade happen.
The owners want to build an entertainment complex with an arena and casino at the old Texas Stadium site. They're the people behind those "Let Texans Vote" on casinos TV ads. This trade will absolutely destroy the Mavs fan base and game attendance plays into their hands and give them justification to move the team. Imagine what the fallout would have been if the Rockets traded Hakeem to the Lakers for a bologna sandwich and a half a bag of chips. They'd be the Houston version of the Wizards right now.
https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/61...-doncic-trade-anthony-davis-lakers-hollinger/ Let’s start with the lowest-hanging fruit. The easiest side to analyze is that of Los Angeles: This was absolutely a no-brainer for the Lakers. Like, “Get Dallas and the league’s lawyers on the phone right now before they change their mind,” territory. Regardless of what you may think about Dončić’s injuries or conditioning or attitude or complaining to officials or whatever, the full-strength version of Luka is easily a top-five player in the league. In the postseason, in particular, he’s perhaps the best offensive player on the planet because of his ability to manipulate matchups in a half-court setting. He’s also just 25, allowing the Lakers to reset the clock on a roster that was simultaneously getting long in the tooth and suffering a diminishing ceiling. I can’t emphasize this enough: Generational 25-year-olds don’t get traded. Usually players of this ilk aren’t moved until their third contract, if they move at all. And when they are moved, the receiving team usually has to give up everyyyyything to get him. Not so much for L.A. To do this and only give up its 2029 first-round pick — keeping its first-round choice in 2031 — means that L.A. basically sets itself up for a five-year window where Dončić can carry the Lakers into the post-LeBron James era while also serving as the drawing card to perhaps lure in another star free agent. …All that said, I’m worried I’ve buried the lede here. The Mavs have made a lot of smart moves over the past two seasons since GM Nico Harrison arrived, culminating in last spring’s march to the NBA Finals. Perhaps they’re getting out in front of a potential problem and everything will make a lot more sense a year or two from now. But … the disaster potential on this one seems really high. The Mavs are now both old and expensive, and they don’t control their first-round pick between the years 2027 and 2030, when their current roster is likely to bottom out. Irving turns 33 next month, and Davis turns 32; neither has been an ironman even in the best of times. One has to wonder what is the realistic shelf life for an Irving-Davis partnership to threaten the upper ranks of the cutthroat Western Conference. https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6106343/2025/02/02/luka-doncic-trade-lakers-anthony-davis-alpha/ So when the Mavericks came calling, it was a solution to the Lakers’ problem that had been percolating for quite some time. For all of his faults, the 25-year-old Dončić is the type of player who could put the Lakers back on the proverbial map for the next decade. And the irony here, league sources say, is that both of the involved teams had similar concerns about the stars they traded. The Mavericks were greatly concerned with Dončić’s durability — or lack thereof — and convinced his approach to the game would continue to be a problem in the years to come. Yet while there was no shortage of teams shocked that the Mavericks didn’t broadcast their willingness to move Dončić, league sources say there was at least one team besides the Lakers that was approached by Dallas nearly two weeks ago about the prospect of swapping Dončić for another star. That bid was turned down, but the message sent in the process had been clear: There was trouble brewing in Dallas. And the Lakers, in the end, were the ones who reaped the benefits.
It doesn’t even make sense this year. The Mavs went to the Finals last year with Luka. The Lakers with AD… did not.
If Harden were traded in the middle of the 2014-15 season for Dwyane Wade and scraps I'd boycott the team too.
This is like one of those late 70s broke franchise trades. This only makes sense if there are ulterior business motives behind the trade. With the Adelsons any sort of shenanigans are possible.
Luka is 25, Denver would still do the deal. The only team that would say no is someone who has a player who they know is a perennial all nba player and is also not in their prime yet.
