In the late night of Feb. 1st when everybody was getting ready for bed, senior NBA Insider at ESPN Shams Charania dropped the biggest trade in NBA history.
A three-team trade between the Dallas Mavericks, Los Angeles Lakers and the Utah Jazz. Respectfully only two names are important in this trade and those are Luka Doncic and Anthony Davis.
When Shams tweeted out announcing the Mavericks traded Luka to the Lakers for AD and one first round pick, the NBA world almost exploded. Everyone thought once again this was the work of a hacker. Then Shams tweeted “Yes, this is real,” then ESPN’s official account posted the trade, and then every sport social media outlet sent the notification out.
A dream turned nightmare turned reality. Mavericks fans now live in a world where their franchise player had been dealt away. Luka had just taken the team to the finals the year prior.
Now Anthony Davis isn’t a goof. AD is easily a top 15 to 20 players, but Luka is in the top three. Luka is a 25-year-old player who has done more in his six full seasons that players don’t do in a 15-year career.
Talks about the Mavericks’ displeasure in Luka’s conditioning and health availability ultimately became the Mavericks’ key worries. ESPN’s Tim MacMahon reported Luka came into the season pushing 270 lbs, while being listed at 230. Luka was also dealing with a calf strain at the time of the trade.
This is just a move that you don’t ever see. A 25-year-old face of the franchise gets traded away so their team can “win now.” The Mavs have this year and need to make something happen.
Franchise players don’t get traded if they don’t want out. James Harden only got traded because he forced his way out of Houston, Brooklyn and Philadelphia. Jimmy Butler got traded because he forced his way out of Minnesota, Philadelphia and now Miami. They wanted out of their situation, but Luka wanted to stay in Dallas.
However, Luka now has to face the bright lights of LA and the life of playing with the GOAT.