The Dallas Mavericks have agreed to exchange Luka Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers in exchange for Anthony Davis in an impressive exchange of success that also involves the Jazz of Utah, according to multiple reports.
Maxi Kleber and Markieff Morris will also go to the Lakers, while Max Christie and the first round of 2029 of the Lakers will go to the Mavericks. Jazz will receive Jalen Hood-Schifino, a second round of 2025 through Los Angeles Clippers and the selection of the second round of 2025 of the Mavericks in the exchange informed for the first time by ESPN.
This is one of the most substantial and surprising operations in NBA History and will alter the course of two franchises.
Commercial degrees of Luka Doncic: Lakers get ‘A+’ while solving the future, why the MAVs fail despite landing Anthony Davis
Brad Botkin
From the perspective of the Mavericks, this is particularly shocking. Doncic, 25, has been one of the best players in the League since he entered the League in 2018. He has made five consecutive teams from All-NBA and took the Mavericks to the finals of the NBA last year, where they fell to the Boston Celtics.
For his career, he has averaged 28.6 points, 8.7 rebounds and 8.3 assists per game while shooting 47% from the field and is widely considered one of the five best players in the world. The players of their caliber rarely change unless they open their way to the city. By Marc SteinDoncic did not make such request.
But for all Doncic’s gifts, his poor defense, which stood out in the final, and regular conditioning problems were too much for the general manager of the Mavericks, Nico Harrison, to overlook. Doncic has been marginalized from Christmas due to a calf injury and has never played more than 72 games in a season.
“I think the defense wins championships,” Harrison He told ESPN about the decision to trade with Doncic. “I think that obtaining a defense center and an NBA player with a defensive mentality gives us a better opportunity. We are built to win now and in the future.”
The Mavericks will now seek to advance with a pairing of Davis-Kyrie Irving. These two have the opportunity to be a dynamite combination, and have a balanced list around them. However, it seems that Dallas could have obtained more for Doncic, and if health and conditioning were a concern for him, they certainly did not resolve it by adding to Davis, who is currently taking care of a foot injury, although he is coming out of what healthier. Season of his career in 2023-24 (76 games played).
With 26-23, the Mavericks sit in ninth place at the busy West Conference. At the same time, there are 2.5 games of a seed between the six and the place of guaranteed playoff and 1.5 games ahead of the 11th place and completely miss the game tournament.
For the Lakers, Mavericks’ concerns were their gain. In Doncic they now have a young superstar that can be the face of their franchise during the next decade. Any concern about what can happen with the organization once LeBron James retires has evaporated.
As for the present, the Lakers now have two of the most talented offensive players in the League. James, even at age 40, can still mark it from time to time, as he showed hours before the exchange When he dropped a triple-double In a victory over the Knicks of New York to Red Vivo. However, he cannot do it every night, and with Doncic by his side, James will be more likely to choose his points, which should keep it fresh to the playoffs.
The Lakers have won eight of their last 10 to climb to the fifth place in the West with 28-19, but they generally were not considered true title threats due to the age of James and their lack of offensive creation and poor defense. Losing Davis certainly hurts the last, but the first will no longer be a problem. Are James and Doncic enough to really confess? We will discover it soon.
