In a shocking, unexpected swap of two of the NBA’s biggest stars, the Dallas Mavericks have agreed to trade Luka Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers for Anthony Davis. Those stars are the lynchpins of a mind-blowing three-team trade that includes six players and three draft picks.
The trade sends Doncic — the 25-year-old five-time All-NBA point guard who led his team to the NBA Finals a season ago — to Los Angeles for Davis, the nine-time All-Star and Olympic gold medalist who is one of the best centers in the league on both ends of the floor. The full trade — broken Saturday night by Shams Charania of ESPN and quickly confirmed by multiple sources — shakes out like this:
• Lakers receive: Luka Doncic, Maxi Kleber, Markieff Morris
• Mavericks receive: Anthony Davis, Max Christie, 2029 Lakers first-round pick
• Jazz receive: Jalen Hood-Schifino, 2025 Clippers second-round pick, 2025 Mavericks second-round pick
Here is what we know about the trade:
• Doncic did not request a trade, it was Dallas that initiated trade talks with the Lakers. The deal shocked everyone — LeBron James, Anthony Davis, Luka Doncic — including Mavericks legend (and Doncic friend) Dirk Nowitzki.
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— Dirk Nowitzki (@swish41) February 2, 2025
• This is an absolute home run for a Lakers organization looking to find the next franchise-carrying star after LeBron James (a franchise increasingly sold Davis was not that guy). The Lakers are a franchise built on star power and just added one of the biggest international brands in the sport.
• And the Lakers got Doncic cheap. When the Suns traded for Kevin Durant, they had to give up Mikal Bridges, Cameron Johnson, Jae Crowder, and five first-round picks. When Bridges was later flipped to the Knicks, it cost New York five first-rounders.
While the Lakers had to give up Davis, they only surrender one of their two tradable first-round picks, plus a starter in Christie and a guy out of the rotation in Hood-Schifino. That is a steal of a trade.
• This trade does not make the Lakers contenders this season. Doncic and LeBron are both pass-first guys who like to operate with the ball in their hands, it’s not a natural pairing. However, the Lakers’ bigger issue now is defense — a Doncic and Austin Reaves backcourt is a defensive liability, LeBron is not the defender he once was, and now there is no intimidating rim protection behind them. The Lakers now need a defense-first center.
• Doncic has averaged 28.1 points, 8.3 rebounds and 7.8 assists a game while shooting 35.4% on 3-pointers in 22 games this season.
• While Dallas does add a dominant two-way center in Davis to play alongside Kyrie Irving — plus it gets a valuable future first-round pick — the Mavericks get older and give up the second-biggest star in franchise history. Sources told Tim MacMahon of ESPN that it was because of concerns about Doncic’s conditioning and whether they wanted to pay him the league’s largest-ever super-max contract this summer — five years, $346 million.
“I believe that defense wins championships,” Mavs GM Nico Harrison told ESPN regarding his motivation to trade Luka Doncic for Anthony Davis. “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… https://t.co/iPfQvA4str
— Tim MacMahon (@espn_macmahon) February 2, 2025
The Mavs had major concerns about moving forward with Luka Doncic due to his constant conditioning issues and the looming commitment of another supermax contract extension this summer, sources told ESPN.
— Tim MacMahon (@espn_macmahon) February 2, 2025
• Doncic has missed the Mavericks’ last 19 games with a calf strain, but was expected to return next weekend.
• Concerns about his conditioning have followed Doncic his entire career, and Dallas brass reportedly was especially frustrated when he came into training camp not in great shape despite coming off a run to the NBA Finals and Olympic qualifying. There is a belief in league circles that Doncic has to play his way into shape each season (as well as after injuries) because he doesn’t have the intense commitment to fitness and taking care of his body that other players do — players such as LeBron James.
• Whatever the concerns, it seems insane Dallas was willing to move on from a 25-year-old who is one of the top five players in the world when healthy.
• LeBron reportedly was not consulted about the trade and was shocked to learn about it while out to dinner with his family in New York after posting a 33-point triple-double in a win over the Knicks. LeBron is still processing the news, reports Dave McMenamin of ESPN.
• LeBron denied rumors that he was frustrated with Davis (although some in the Lakers organization had been).
• From Utah’s perspective, this is a good trade for a rebuilding team. The Jazz pay $110,000 — $55,000 each to the Lakers and Mavericks — and for that get Jalen Hood-Schifino (an athlete worth rolling the dice on), plus two second-round picks this year.
• Mavericks GM Nico Harrison, a former Nike executive, had a long-standing relationship with Lakers GM Rob Pelinka from when Harrison worked for Nike and did a lot of stuff with Kobe Bryant. Pelinka was Kobe’s agent.
• Harrison has had a long-standing relationship with Davis since his days with the shoe company and admitted he targeted Davis, not shopping a potential Luka trade around to other teams. That feels like a missed opportunity.
• Davis did not play in Saturday’s nationally televised game, he is out with an abdominal muscle strain.
