Rarely in the NBA do we see top 10 players get traded. It’s even more rare to see them get traded for each other. That code of conduct has officially been broken. I’d like to lay this trade out, so everyone understands what happened. The Dallas Mavericks have traded Luka Doncic, Maxi Kleber, and Markeiff Morris to the Los Angelou’s Lakers. In return the Lakers will be sending Anthony Davis, Max Christie, and a 2029 first-round pick. The Utah Jazz will be getting Jalen Hood-Schifino and a 2025 second-round pick that originally belonged to the Los Angelou’s Clippers, the Jazz will also be receiving a 2025 second-round pick from the Mavericks. Now that we got that out the way let’s get to the meat and potatoes of the trade.
Obviously for the Lakers this trade is a no brainer. Yes, you would be punting on the rest of this season but at the very least you have your next super star for the future. The question that a lot of people have is why would the Mavericks trade a 25-year-old top five player in the league for a guy who’s a top 10 player but probably has more basketball behind him then ahead. The simplest answer is the Mavericks are betting on themselves to win a championship within the next three years.
With the departure of Luka their future will be in flux, but by making this trade I can confidently say they are a better team today then yesterday. Offensively I believe Anthony Davis will be a better fit for star guard Kyrie Urving then Luka ever was. With the addition of AD, they are adding a dominant paint presence on both sides of the ball, which will ultimately make them harder to play against. To be clear Luka is a better player than AD, but AD fills more gaps in for the Mavericks while not overlapping with what Kyrie does best which is have the ball in his hands.
Mavericks General Manager Nico Harrison feels that Anthony Davis will help them where they need it most. “When you get an All-NBA player who’s also a first team All-Defensive player, we think that’s gonna help us where we need it the most, on the defensive end.” Some will say that Luka is the reason the Mavericks made it to the finals last year. My response would be, yes that’s true but one of the main reasons they lost the finals was because of how the Boston Celtics consistently picked on him defensively. The combination of Luka’s lack of effort and ability on the defensive end with the constant allegations that he’s out of shape, along with his injury history I can see why the Mavericks would do a move like this. I’m not saying I would do it, but I understand why they did. If the Mavs win a championship within the next three years, then I believe this trade will be a critical reason for them winning, therefore making the unprecedented trade worth it. The reason I say three years because in three years AD and Kyrie will be out of their primes most likely, making it harder for the Mavs to depend on them for a championship. Only time will tell who won this trade but in the ever so fickle court of public opinion the Lakers have a good head start on who made the right decision.
