Mavericks Trade Luka Doncic to the Lakers: The Most Unprecedented Move in Sports History

Yes, that really happened. 

The Dallas Mavericks sent NBA champion Markieff Morris—er, Luka Doncic to the City of Angels to team up with LeBron James on the Los Angeles Lakers in exchange for Anthony Davis and some favors.

News of the deal broke late Saturday night less than a couple of hours after LeBron’s 33 points, 12 assists, and 11 rebounds powered the purple and gold to a 128-112 win over the New York Knicks in Madison Square Garden. 

The timing of a major swing makes sense, given the Lakers are sitting at a season-best nine games above .500 and with the trade deadline less than a week away—but nobody in their right mind would have thought the move of the century would be for a 25-year-old five-time first-team All-NBA member that just carried his team to the NBA Finals.  

So, how did we get here? Why did a team sell its home-grown international megastar who did not instigate the move to a conference rival for pennies on the dollar?

Let’s discuss.

NBA Finals Futures Odds

Lakers NBA Finals Odds: +4000 to +1800

The Lakers moved from +4000 to +1800 in odds to win the NBA Finals immediately after the trade, as reported by John Ewing, who cited BetMGM’s betting odds at BetMGM.

FanDuel Sportsbook lists the Lakers at +1900 and sixth in championship odds at the time of writing. Only the Oklahoma City Thunder (+230) and Denver Nuggets (+1400) have better odds among Western Conference teams.

The Lakers are also +850 to win the West, behind the Thunder (+105) and the Nuggets (+600). The Memphis Grizzlies (+1000), Los Angeles Clippers (+1600), and Houston Rockets (+1700) are close behind.

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Mavericks NBA Finals Odds: +2000 to +3000

Ewing’s report detailed that the Mavericks moved from +2000 to +3000 in future odds immediately after the Doncic trade.

FanDuel lists the Mavs tied with the Clippers for ninth in odds to win the NBA Finals at +3500, one spot above the Rockets (+4000) and two above the Phoenix Suns (+4500).

Dallas (+1900) is sixth in odds to win the West and is only just ahead of the Minnesota Timberwolves (+2000), whom they defeated to go to the NBA Finals last year.

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Luka Doncic Traded to the Lakers

Allow us to cross the T’s and dot the I’s. 

The Mavericks traded Doncic, Maxi Kleber, and Markieff Morris to the Lakers for Davis, Max Christie, and the Lakers’ 2029 first-round pick. 

The Utah Jazz facilitated the deal and received young Lakers guard Jalen Hood-Schifino, the LA Clippers’ 2025 second-round pick (via Dallas), and the Mavericks’ 2025 second-round pick.

All reports suggest the deal was done in total secrecy, and that even Jazz general manager Danny Ainge did not know that Doncic and Davis were swapping teams until 30 minutes before the deal was completed.

Doncic averaged 28.1 points, 8.3 rebounds and 7.8 assists in 22 games for the Mavericks, one year after he averaged a career-high 33.9 points, 9.8 assists, and 9.2 rebounds.

Davis averaged 25.7 points, 11.9 rebounds and 2.1 blocks in 42 games for the Lakers.

Lakers receive:

• Luka Doncic

• Maxi Kleber

• Markieff Morris

Mavericks receive:

• Anthony Davis

• Max Christie

• Lakers’ 2029 first-round pick

Jazz receive:

• Jalen Hood-Schifino

• Mavericks’ 2025 second-round pick

• Clippers’ 2025 second-round pick (via Dallas)

The deal is the Lakers’ second of the season. They already traded D’Angelo Russell, Maxwell Lewis, and their 2027, 2030 and 2031 second-round picks to the Brooklyn Nets for Dorian Finney-Smith and Shake Milton on Dec. 29.

Finney-Smith has been a welcome addition, ranking second in plus-minus per game (+5.85) behind Jarred Vanderbilt, who only made four appearances thus far. DFS also averaged 6.8 points and 3.0 rebounds on 42.9 percent three-point shooting in 23.8 average minutes. 

The Lakers were still only 21st in defensive rating despite how strong of a defensive force Davis was for them. They also won their last four games without Davis on the floor and were 4-1 overall when he didn’t suit up.

Exceeding expectations only means so much when an undisputed top-two player of all time is approaching his basketball mortality. Both LeBron and the Lakers franchise need CHAMPIONSHIPS, and it was obvious their window had closed despite a recent run to the conference finals. 

This is the once-in-a-lifetime move that permanently shifts the trajectory of NBA history. The only question now is what happens next?

Apples to Apples

The Mavericks' valuation of Doncic is off-base in the same way that the Eiffel Tower is a little off-base from Topeka, Kansas.

Doncic’s trade value is arguably among the five highest in the NBA, alongside Nikola Jokic, Victor Wmebanyama, Giannis Antetokounmpo, and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. There’s a case to be made that his value is the second-highest behind Wemby.

To properly understand how ludicrously insignificant Davis, Christie, and a first-round pick for Doncic actually is, let’s take a walk down memory lane.

The Utah Jazz traded Rudy Gobert to the Minnesota Timberwolves for Malik Beasley, Jarred Vanderbilt, Patrick Beverley, 2022, 2023, 2025, 2027, and 2029 first-round picks, and a pick swap in 2026. 

The Brooklyn Nets traded Mikal Bridges to the New York Knicks for Bojan Bogdanovic, two 2025 first-round picks, first-round picks in 2027, 2029, and 2031, a 2028 pick swap and a 2025 second-round pick.

The Oklahoma City Thunder traded Paul George to the Los Angeles Clippers for Gilgeous-Alexander, Danilo Gallinari, first-round picks in 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, and 2026, and pick swaps in 2023 and 2025.

Doncic is a better player than everyone on that list was on their best day. He was also young and achieved greater regular and postseason success than they did. 

Why Did the Mavericks Trade Luka Doncic?

The reports coming out of Dallas suggest that the Mavericks were frustrated with their Slovenian superstar for his health and conditioning, an interesting critique of a player who logged more minutes (3,524) during the regular season and playoffs than anyone else.

They allegedly cited Doncic, currently injured with a calf strain, at 270 pounds. Dallas also dealt with past seasons in which Doncic entered training camp out of shape and overweight.

The Mavericks’ brass also claimed that Doncic insisted on paying out of pocket for his own training and nutrition team as opposed to accepting those provided by the organization. 

The dagger was Dallas’ general manager, Nico Harrison, said he believed that defense wins championships, which was a thinly-veiled shot at Doncic’s lack of intensity and interest in defense during last year’s five-game NBA Finals loss to the Boston Celtics.

All of that brewed trepidation in committing to Doncic on a long-term supermax deal, which he would have become eligible for this summer. 

The deal would have paid him $345 million over five years. Now, he may only receive a five-year, $229 million max deal.

All of that is great. But it does not explain the nugatory compensation that Dallas received.

Davis, 31, is a future first-ballot Hall of Fame player, a champion, and a 10-time All-Star. And somehow, this trade package makes him and his ex-Laker teammate, Christie, look like peanuts compared to what went the other way.

Longtime Mavericks owner Mark Cuban sold his majority ownership share of the Mavericks to the families of Dr. Miriam Adelson and Sivan and Patrick Dumont, Adleson’s daughter and son-in-law. 

Adelson, an Israeli-American and casino tycoon, is the fifth-richest woman in the world with an estimated net worth of $32.5 billion. She earned most of her fortune after her husband and former Las Vegas Sands CEO, Sheldon Adelson, passed away in 2021. 

She’s also one of President Donald Trump’s most influential donors with at least nine figures in total contributions. 

To illustrate the kind of pull that Adelson has, she and her husband played a major role in Trump relocating the U.S. Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to the capital city of Jerusalem in 2017. 

The NBA approved the sale from Cuban to Adelson in December 2023. Cuban—who once said he would divorce his own wife before he traded Doncic—fully stepped away from basketball operations in the middle of 2024.

The owners of many sports franchises are lifelong sports fans. Others, a la Steve Balmer, become obsessed with the success of the team. 

Adelson’s Mavericks purchase seemed to be political posturing more than anything.

Texas is one of the few states that do not authorize sports betting or casino gaming in any form. That and its dense population centers make it a cornucopia in wait for anyone who successfully flips the state’s mind on gambling.

Adelson and Cuban both stood on the opposite side of the fence of the state legislature and dreamed of building a casino-resort adjacent or connected to the American Airlines Center, allowing fans to intermingle between high-stakes gambling and catching a game with their best buds.

Adelson has already spent hordes of money unsuccessfully steering pro-gambling efforts and employing the best lobbyists in Texas to try to change the state’s stance on gambling.

But her political endeavors aren’t limited to matters involving poker chips and slot machines. She’s also staunch in her opposition to the Palestinian militant group Hamas, whose conflict with Israel reemerged in an armed attack in October 2023.

As of January, more than 47,000 people were reportedly killed during the Israel-Hamas conflict—close to 46,000 Palestinians and about 1,700 Israelis. 

“If you condemn Hamas and then add a ‘but’ followed by condemnation of Israel, you’re dead to us,” Adelson wrote in a 2023 op-ed in the Israel Hayom, Israel’s most widely-disseminated newspaper that is owned by Adelson. “If you insist Israel is obligated to seek accommodation with Hamas, an idea you would never have entertained for Western powers that fought the Nazis, al-Qaida, or ISIS, you’re dead to us.”

Speed it up! What does this have to do with Luka Doncic? 

Remember, this is all PURE speculation.

Slovenia, Doncic’s homeland, recognized Palestine as a state and established political connections on June 4, 2024. The government said the two countries “established good relations … underpinned by regular political dialogue.”

While the actions of a nation don’t reflect the beliefs or attitudes of an individual, that is, at the very least… something. 

Moving off of a healthy 25-year-old franchise player who did not demand a trade and who was not difficult to work with is simply unheard of. Failing to hold a bidding war to jack up the price and opting to send him off for very little compensation is unfathomable. 

The Mavs will inevitably become worse without Doncic, and the only first-round draft picks they have on the horizon come in 2026 and 2031. 

They’ll also receive the Lakers’ 2029 first-round pick (which likely won’t be valuable since, you know, they employ Doncic) and the least valuable first-round pick between themselves, the Minnesota Timberwolves, and the San Antonio Spurs in 2030.

Let’s also remember that the injury-prone Davis is 31, Kyrie Irving will be 33 next month, and Klay Thompson will be 35 next week.

From a team perspective, the short-term outlook is bleak, and the long-term outlook is significantly worse.

The Mavericks already lost more than 700,000 followers on Instagram in the hours after the trade was announced. Fans also gathered for a “funeral” outside of the stadium that was commemorated with a variety of unsupportive messages and old Mavs merchandise.

Nobody wins when the fans are upset. Game attendance falls, media curiosity and attention decline, and the money starts to bleed… but what if that’s what the ownership group wants?

Being renowned in the casino industry, Adelson has endless ties to the glitz and glamor of Las Vegas. 

The NBA has spent the past few years flirting with the idea of expansion, and Vegas is at the top of the list of cities that are expected to be in line for a franchise. LeBron himself has gone on the record saying he wants to own the Vegas franchise when it is created.

Imagine that a few years down the line, the Mavericks are one of the worst teams in the league, have very few fans in seats, and lose their national prestige. Adelson could theoretically make the case that the franchise had become a burden and could only be revived in Vegas.

A strong but petty move for not getting a casino? Absolutely. But if you don’t want to believe that your favorite team could be shipped to Vegas, go talk to fans of the Oakland Raiders, Oakland Athletics, or San Antonio Stars.

Heck, go ask the nearby Oklahoma City Thunder what they stole from the city of Seattle.

Again, just some speculation and thought.

What This Means for the Lakers

LeBron has gone on record saying that Doncic is the only active NBA athlete he personally tried to sign to his shoe brand. He’s also been extremely complimentary of Doncic during interviews and podcast appearances.

“The King” is known for having the highest basketball IQ in the history of the game. Today, only Nikola Jokic and Doncic are on his level in terms of vision, anticipation, and ability to create different scoring and passing angles.

Putting the ball in the hoop is not going to be an issue for the Lakers, who are 13th in offensive rating for the year and ninth over their last 10 games. There will be redundancy in skill sets, and it will take time for LeBron and Doncic to learn to coexist, but both players already experienced playing off the ball when they teamed up with Kyrie Irving at different spots.

The key player in all of this is Austin Reaves. Doncic is sixth and James is 16th in usage rates among players averaging at least 20 minutes per game and with at least 20 games played. 

Reaves, who averaged 18.4 points, 6.1 assists, and 4.3 rebounds, is going to need to improve his 37.1 percent three-point shooting to above 40 percent to create the proper court spacing. He’s also going to have to be comfortable spending less time with the ball in his hands, as he often ran the show when LeBron wasn’t on the ball.

Rui Hachimura also now feels like a bit of a congestant in a lineup with Reaves, James, and Doncic. Making the switch to Dorian Finney-Smith, a more natural corner camper and knockdown shooter with excellent defensive versatility, makes more sense.

LA also needs to get back on the phone to find a strong rebounder, reliable lob threat, and intense rim protector. Jaxson Hayes has only been trusted to 16.8 minutes per night and does not perform any of the requisite tasks at an above-average level. 

Defensively, this team is going to need a lot of work. They might even be a full offseason away from fielding a roster that can get consecutive stops.

LA’s defense struggled all year long, and Davis was far and away their best defender. They also deployed Max Christie as their point-of-attack defender, and he’s now gone. 

Reaves allowed opponents to shoot 49.7 percent from the floor as the nearest defender. Doncic doesn’t have great lateral quickness, and James is too old to handle the task. 

The answer, with respect to the other players on the roster, would have to be Gabe Vincent. But a lineup of Vincent, Doncic, James, Reaves, and Finney-Smith or Hachimura doesn’t have rebounding or an ounce of rim protection.

That leads to an interesting proposition in which Finney-Smith cross-matches and becomes the point-of-attack defender, with Reaves handling the off-ball guard, and Doncic and James manning the frontcourt while switching one-four or two-four. However, the need for a new starting-level big man is still there.

A traditional defensive center won’t fully unlock the Lakers’ offense. There is a need for a reliable lob threat to open a vertical plane of attack, building on the forward/backward and side-to-side dimensions.

Possible targets that fit the Lakers’ requirements for their new center and that are on teams that could be open to letting them walk include Walker Kessler, Myles Turner, Robert Williams III, and Nic Claxton. 

Regardless of what happens on the interior, it seems impossible for this move not to have a positive impact. Doncic ranked in the 94th percentile among point guards with a +12.0 net rating when he was on the court, meaning his team outscored its opponents by 12 points per 100 possessions with him in the game.

His team also scored 6.9 more points per 100 possessions with him on the floor as opposed to off of it (90th percentile), shot three points better in effective field goal percentage (87th percentile), and turned the ball over on 2.4 percent fewer possessions (96th percentile). 

Contrary to popular belief, Doncic has also been an above-average defender. His team allowed 5.1 fewer points per 100 possessions with him on the floor as opposed to off of it (84th percentile) and forced 2.4 percent more turnovers per 100 possessions (92nd percentile).

What This Means for the Mavericks

It’s safe to say that Doncic didn’t want to be traded. Ex-Maverick Chandler Parsons claimed that Doncic was crying when he heard the news and that he’d just purchased a $15 million mansion in Dallas the week before.

Dallas’ entire offense was created around the individual creative abilities of Doncic and Irving. Klay Thompson added movement shooting to fill the open spaces on the perimeter, Daniel Gafford and Dereck Lively II put pressure on the rim, and PJ Washington covered the gaps.

Adding Davis to the Mavs’ lineup gives them an extreme amount of size and rim protection. They will instantly become one of, if not the best team in the NBA at defending inside the perimeter. 

Offensively, there’s going to be serious change. Davis ranked 11th in usage rate, higher than any player on the Lakers, and does nearly all of his damage on the interior. He’s also made it clear that he wants to play with a center alongside him, which means Irving and Thompson will theoretically be the only true perimeter players in the lineup.

Irving is not known as a facilitator, but he’s going to have to become just that for this team to click. Thompson also rarely dribbles or passes the ball, which means that teams will be allowed to shade in Irving’s direction when the ball is outside of the arc.

Dallas will be a punishing team on the offensive glass and will be able to create tons of mismatches on account of their size and interior presence. Christie will also quietly add to a bench that is 14th in net rating (-0.5) and that could use more shooting and perimeter defense. 

The Mavericks were in the NBA Finals just last year, and anything less would be a step backward. But in all reality, making this drastic of a change in style and personnel will take more than half a season to figure out. 

Davis was playing some of the best basketball of his career when he hurt his abdomen a week ago. However, the Mavs were 13-15 without Doncic on the floor despite being 11th in overall net rating (+1.8).

All of this isn’t to say that Dallas can’t play spoiler or find a way to go on another run. But despite a few positives, it seems less likely.

Historical Significance

Enough theorizing, let’s talk facts.

Players as talented and historically dominant as Doncic don’t get traded unless the player goes to their front office crying and screaming. Even then, they usually get a contract extension, extra favors, or their say in player personnel. Anything to keep the franchise player happy.

The only players in the same stratosphere as Doncic that were also traded all had very valid reasons that we will detail.

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to the Lakers: Adbul-Jabbar told the Milwaukee Bucks that his lifestyle was not compatible with the city of Milwaukee and that he wanted to go to the West Coast. He also missed the playoffs the season before.

Kevin Durant to the Phoenix Suns: Durant was part of a three-headed monster that also included Kyrie Irving and James Harden. Unfortunately for the trio, injuries and off-court issues rendered this the most talented and wasted three-man lineup of all time, and Durant eventually forced his way out.

Carmelo Anthony to the New York Knicks: Anthony returned a king's ransom for the Denver Nuggets, whom he demanded a trade away from. A major part of that was due to money, but he also did not get along with coach George Karl, who once said on X (formerly Twitter) that he (Anthony) wished he was as talented as Detleff Schrempf. 

Shaquille O’Neal to the Miami Heat: O’Neal and the late Kobe Bryant were at odds with one another, and Pat Riley said he didn’t have the money to pay the then-three-time champion. The deal ended up working out for Shaq, who won a title in Miami, but it was made in an effort to protect the franchise piece, Bryant.

Oscar Robertson to the Milwaukee Bucks: Robertson was traded the same year (1970) that he sued the NBA for players’ rights, which led to the creation of free agency as we know it in 1976. He was traded due to his upcoming contract demands and for his internal fighting with coach and Boston Celtics legend Bob Cousy.

Wilt Chamberlain to the Los Angeles Lakers: As you’d expect by now, Chamberlain demanded a trade out of Philadelphia three years after he showed up in town, going so far as to say he’d “trade himself.” He got his wish and won the title two years later.