The legendary NBA scribe David Aldridge put it perfectly: this was a “Holy S***" trade. It was so out of the blue that when an alert popped up on my phone late Saturday night with ESPN’s Shams Charania breaking the news, I assumed Shams’ X account had been hacked. Alex Caruso and Tyrese Haliburton thought the same thing.
Nobody trades a 25-year-old who is a top-five player in the world when healthy, a player who led your team to the NBA Finals just last season.
Dallas did, sending Luka Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers for Anthony Davis and a first-round pick in what might be the most shocking trade in NBA history (the trade became official Sunday morning). Let’s break this all down by looking at the winners and losers. First, here are the trade details:
• 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
WINNER: Los Angeles Lakers
Since the Lakers moved to Los Angeles, they have always been a superstar-driven franchise: Jerry West, Wilt Chamberlain, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Magic Johnson, Kobe Bryant, Shaquille O’Neal, and currently LeBron James (just to name a few). However, as LeBron’s age climbed past 40, the question became louder and louder, “Who will be the next big name carrying the franchise banner?” The Lakers may have once hoped it would be Anthony Davis, and while he has been the best player on the Lakers this season, he has not looked like a franchise cornerstone No. 1 option.
Luka Doncic is that. Chalk up one for Lakers exceptionalism.
This is a massive win for Los Angeles, adding a top-five player in the world who — despite Dallas’ conditioning concerns — has played in at least 65 games each of the last four seasons (but will fall short of that mark this season with a calf strain). He’s not only a player who has been in the top 8 in MVP voting each of the last five years, but he’s also a proven playoff performer. Doncic is a master of the pick-and-roll and manipulating matchups in the half-court, which is pivotal in the postseason.
This was a no-brainer for the Lakers, and it basically fell in their lap. Dallas called the Lakers about this just a few days back, and the trade came together quickly. The Lakers had to huddle and think about this because they had not considered trading Davis, Charania reports, but quickly saw this trade as too good to pass up. The Lakers had concerns about whether Davis, 31, was really the guy to lead the franchise in a post-LeBron era. Doncic is and will attract other stars who want to play with him.
This is a home run for the Lakers—a big win in a franchise used to big wins.
LOSER: Lakers defense
The Lakers do not become instant title contenders with this trade. Not this season.
Luka Doncic and LeBron James are both ball-dominant and used to being the No. 1 option, a player who gets play at his own pace, so pairing them on the court next to each other is not a natural fit. They are high-IQ players who will figure it out, but it will take a little time.
However, the much bigger short-term issue is defense. The Lakers’ new Doncic and Austin Reaves backcourt is a defensive liability with two guys opposing teams can target, LeBron is not the defender he once was, and now there is no intimidating rim protection behind them. The Lakers desperately need to add a paint-protecting big man. This defense will keep them from going too far this season.
LOSER: Dallas Mavericks
Maybe Dallas proves me wrong. Maybe Anthony Davis clicks with Kyrie Irving, and AD thrives being back at the four playing next to a true five in Daniel Gafford (and, eventually, Dereck Lively II), with P.J. Washington rounding out the frontcourt. That lineup has potential. And maybe Dallas’ front office will prove prescient that Doncic’s conditioning will lead to more injuries and less production in future years, so they didn’t want to pay him a five-year, $346 million supermax contract (which he could have signed this summer).
Maybe, but that’s not how I expect things to play out. More likely, this is a big step back for Dallas as a franchise. This has the vibes of Minnesota trading Karl-Anthony Towns to the Knicks before the season (a move made for financial reasons), the Timberwolves are not terrible but noticeably worse than the team that went to the Western Conference Finals a season ago.
Dallas just traded a 25-year-old who is a top-five player in the world when healthy and who led the team to the NBA Finals; the Mavs get older with 31-year-old Davis, who has a longer injury history than Doncic. The Lakers had come to realize Davis was not their post-LeBron future, he was not a true shot-creating No. 1 option. Dallas is getting an All-NBA level player, but one who fills a very different role.
Why didn’t Dallas open the bidding up to more teams around the league? There likely would have been bigger, better offers for Doncic out on the open market. Why keep the circle tight? (Mavericks GM Nico Harrison and Lakers GM Rob Pelinka have a long relationship, dating back to when Harrison was a Nike executive working with Kobe Bryant and Pelinka was his agent.)
Dallas is now anchored by Davis at 31 and Irving at 32, and as they age remember that the Mavericks do not control their first-round picks from 2027-2030 due to trades and swaps. That sets up poorly for the future.
WINNER: NBA fans who love chaos
No other league does trades like the NBA. Nobody.
This trade will dominate the sports news cycle for a couple of days just as the NFL ramps up the hype in New Orleans for the Super Bowl. Fans love chaos and nobody provides it like the NBA around trades.
LOSER: Luka Doncic’s bank account
Doncic was set to sign the richest contract in NBA history this offseason: five years, $346 million — but that 35% supermax deal was only available if he stayed in Dallas. That is one reason he never requested a trade.
The Lakers can offer five years at 30% of the cap, or $229 million across five years. Doncic will likely sign an extension with the Lakers at that max number this summer, but with a player option in the summer of 2028. At that point, he will have reached 10 years of service and can sign a new deal for 35% of the salary cap.
WINNER: Utah Jazz
Utah sent $55,000 in cash to each of the Lakers and Mavericks as part of this deal, and for that price it gets two second-round picks this year and takes a flier on the athletic Jalen Hood-Schifino. It’s not a big win in Utah, but it’s a win.
WINNER: Rob Pelinka
The Lakers GM looked stuck. He had assembled a good-but-not-great roster that would have to fight to stay above the play-in. The team was likely headed for a first-round playoff exit. The future looked dark because their two stars were aging fast, and Los Angeles didn’t control its own draft pick until 2029.
Now, the Lakers are home to Luka Doncic. LeBron James will be with the Lakers through the end of the season, according to reports. While there are questions about this roster’s ability to defend come the playoffs (or in the regular season), the future is bright. The Lakers are the NBA’s biggest brand and just landed one of the biggest international brands in the sport in Doncic — a 25-year-old who is the post-LeBron future for the Lakers.
It all may have fallen in Pelinka’s lap, but he made the move and gets the credit.
LOSER: Every other team that would have bid for Doncic
This is one of the most surprising parts of this trade: Why didn’t Dallas GM Nico Harrison open the bidding to more teams? The Lakers were the only team Dallas talked to about a Doncic trade, GM Harrison said on Sunday. He was later focused on adding Davis with Kyrie Irving.
Teams with assets to trade — Houston, New Orleans, San Antonio, Memphis, Miami, and more — would have loved to at least have a conversation and the chance to make an offer. There could have been a better deal out there than what the Lakers offered — maybe not, but why not shop around more before buying? It was an odd choice by Harrison that left a lot of teams out in the cold.
