𝐏𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐢𝐮𝐦!

Abhay Pancharathi

We are witnesses to history. For the rest of our lifetimes, any NBA trade will pale compared to the events of early February 2nd, 2025. That was the day when one of the most accomplished young players in NBA history was traded for pennies on the dollar. General Manager Nico Harrison just committed a blunder of such epic proportion that it is shocking he has not already been fired. Luka Doncic is fresh off the most team success he has ever had as a professional, and he had the Mavericks look dominant when he was healthy this year. Harrison's statements after the trade are incredibly confusing and show a complete lack of self-awareness for the Dallas Mavericks fanbase. He noted that "defense wins championships", a respectable statement if one disregards that Dallas had the number 7 ranked defense in the league after the trade deadline last year, and rode that to an NBA title appearance. Harrison's point that he was concerned Luka could have opted out of his contract and walked for free was valid... until he walked it back moments later by admitting that Luka did not indicate that he wanted to leave. It is extremely apparent that one team won this trade, but let's take a deeper dive anyway.

Lakers - A+++

This is the greatest fleecing since the Louisiana Purchase. Luka Doncic will immediately become the best playmaker LeBron has ever played with. Doncic will presumably play the 1 and with Austin Reaves, Rui Hachimura, LeBron James, and the newly acquired Mark Williams rounding out the lineup, this team has plenty of playmaking and shooting. However, this team has plenty of depth, unlike the failed "superteams" of the Russell Westbrook era and the triumvirate in Brooklyn. Off the bench, defensive specialists Jarred Vanderbilt and Dorian Finney-Smith can be matched up with most Western Conference stars, including Shai Gilgeous Alexander, Ja Morant, Jalen Green, and Jamal Murray. 3-point marksman Gabe Vincent has been playing far better lately, and if Shake Milton can go back to the 39% he was shooting from 3 in Brooklyn, that only makes this team scarier. The Lakers were already heating up prior to the trade deadline, including a 16-point romp over the New York Knicks without Anthony Davis. Although they will surely miss his reliable scoring and paint presence, they have shown that they can at least defend at an above-average rate without him. On offense, at times the Lakers are too reliant on a 41-year-old LeBron James which will immediately be resolved with Doncic. In "high-leverage" situations, or possessions that have a big impact on the game's outcome, the Laker's offense plummets when James sits. It is not a feasible strategy to trot a player as old as LeBron on the court for every single clutch possession, so this trade allows them to sit him and let Doncic + shooters operate. Past just this year, the Lakers have successfully acquired the type of transcendent superstar talent who can change a team's entire fortunes. We just saw him lead a team to the NBA Finals. In all likelihood, the 2029 first the Mavericks received will be in the 20's. The Lakers got better now and in the future. An under-discussed part of this trade is that Doncic is no longer eligible for a supermax extension anymore, meaning the Lakers get to retain him for extremely cheap. The Lakers got a superior player for an older, more injury-prone, expensive, and worse player. No one will know how they managed to pull this off.

Mavericks - D-

Lost in the hoopla of losing Luka Doncic is that Anthony Davis is an outstanding basketball player. In the first few weeks of the season, Davis was a legitimate MVP contender, and a top 3 DPOY pick. Even now, Davis is 5th in DPOY odds while averaging 26 and 12 with 3.5 stocks a game on elite efficiency. The first game that AD played with the Mavs perfectly encapsulates him as a player; a singular offensive talent with all-world defense, if only he could stay on the court. Through 3 quarters, Davis played as he did as a much younger man with the Pelicans, running inverted pick-and-rolls, popping for threes, and dominating one of the best teams in the Western Conference, until a misstep turned into a pulled groin which is said to have him out 'indefinitely'. Had this been another player it would be dismissed as bad luck, but the Mavericks knew who AD was when trading for him. Even when healthy, AD is simply not on Luka's level. Davis is an all-star and potential all-NBA candidate while Luka is an MVP frontrunner. Kyrie Irving is the best remaining offensive player on this team, who is a good second option but best suited to play Robin, not Batman. His true shooting percentage, a mark of how efficient a player is overall, dips 6 points this season without Doncic, a clear indicator that asking Irving to carry an offense is not easy for him. More than the on-the-court ramifications, Luka Doncic was everything to the city of Dallas. The morning after the trade, the residents of Dallas hosted a funeral for Luka near the Dirk Nowitzki statue and numerous speeches by attendees of this event went viral. All of them voice the same sentiment, that they saw Doncic, for all his flaws, develop from an 18-year-old into a global icon following the steps of another international superstar, Dirk Nowitzki. They lost their on-court leader and off-court symbol of Maverick basketball. More than that, management seemingly did everything possible to slight Luka on his way out. They called him fat, lazy, and a bad defender, all valid criticisms but not for a rabid fanbase who fully embraced him. It would've been one thing if Doncic had demanded a trade, but to be shipped out in the middle of the night is ridiculous for a franchise player. Add onto that that it was reported Doncic was 270 but looked in playing shape that night and the entire situation reeks of managerial misconduct.

Conclusion

This is one of the few NBA trades where you can view it from any angle and still be utterly flabbergasted that a team made a decision. Even the wildest Laker fans never dreamed they would acquire Luka Doncic, let alone for a package so small. Doncic will now be the heir apparent to LeBron James' throne in LA and will be the face of Lakers basketball for 10 years. The golden walls of Crypto.com Arena somehow attracted another star, and a new generation of Lakers fans are treated to a generational superstar. In 10 years, Nico Harrison will be remembered as a cautionary tale for GMs who think they're smarter than others, and Doncic will be remembered as the star who was abandoned.