PHOENIX — The ‘twitterverse’ has almost unanimously dubbed the Mavericks decision to trade Luka Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers, in exchange for Anthony Davis, as a generational fumble – a sentiment I tend to agree with wholeheartedly.
When the New York Giants decided not to renew their contract with Saquon Barkley for the 2024-2025 season — who is now playing in the Super Bowl this Sunday — sports fans across the country suggested that the decision was one of the biggest missteps in professional sports front office history.
That is until this past Saturday when the Dallas Mavericks offered up, arguably, the most talented athlete the organization has signed.
Nobody is questioning Davis’s ability to perform at an elite level in the NBA (well, maybe they are). What we’re all wondering now is this; what didn’t the Mavericks see in Doncic that the rest of the sporting world knew to be absolute truth?
In just seven seasons with the Mavericks, Doncic led his team to 4 playoff appearances, was selected for 5 all star games, was Rookie of the Year, made All-NBA First Team honors 5 times and was the league’s scoring leader in the 2023-2024 season. These figures are easily apparent with a little bit of online research, but why do they matter in this instance?
They matter because, with exception to an NBA title, Doncic was on pace to either match or exceed the performance of Hall of Famer Dirk Nowitzski in each of these categories. Mind you, Nowitzki hadn’t won an NBA championship until he was thirty-two years old — twelve years after he was drafted in 1998.
Not only did the Mavericks gift their leading scorer and possible MVP candidate to the Lakers, but they also parted ways with the man who could have defined their franchise for the next decade. From a marketing standpoint, the organization has deprived itself of the opportunity to grow and bolster a fan-based centered around a generational talent.
Questions about Doncic’s defensive performance have arisen over the years, but will the Mavericks really have a more formidable defensive presence without Doncic? In their first game without the superstar on their roster, the team gave up a franchise-high fifty points in the first quarter of a 144-101 loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers.
The Mavericks made a major miscalculation in this regard. Nobody was under the impression that Doncic was an elite, all-time defender. However, without the offensive threat that Doncic produced, there is now blood in the water, and Western Conference opponents can now redirect their focus towards offensive output, rather than limiting Doncic’s performance.
The flood gates are open, and without the guaranteed 28.1 ppg that Doncic provided the team, they’ll need to develop an entirely new approach to winning games against teams with traditionally high offensive output.
Everything about the twenty-five year old phenom was iconic: the name, the tattoos, the creative ball-handling techniques and hell, even the number seventy-seven jersey. What did we all see that the Mavericks’ leadership simply didn’t?
Not only did the organization underestimate Doncic’s talents, they underestimated his commitment to the organization — something that is rarely seen in today’s game in which Lebron James leaves Cleveland, returns, then leaves again.
According to an article in the Daily Mail, Doncic even bought a $15million home in Dallas just a few days before the trade agreement became public.
Blunder, mistake, oversight, slip-up, gaffe or miscalculation; whichever way you decide to phrase it, the Mavericks did it, and there’s no going back.
