What’s next for Mavericks after Luka Doncic trade? Five questions as Dallas begins Anthony Davis era

The is no precedent for what the Dallas Mavericks just did. Trading Luka Doncic feels like it will go down as one of the worst days in Mavericks basketball for Dallas fans, as the trajectory and future of this franchise has been forever changed with a nearly unbelievable deal. Dallas traded away its 25-year-old superstar to the Los Angeles Lakers in exchange for Anthony Davis, a 2029 first-round pick and Max Christie.

It’s the kind of move that gets talked about for decades after the fact, regardless of the outcome. Never has a player just entering their prime been traded in such a hushed manner. This move comes without any trade requests or public whispers. It sent shockwaves around the league, and is still difficult to comprehend due to the minuscule return Dallas received, and the fact that Doncic was ever traded in the first place.

But as shocking as the trade is, the world keeps turning and Dallas has to now adjust to life without Doncic ever again, not just for the month he’s been sidelined with a calf strain. Mavericks general manager Nico Harrison said the goal is to still compete for a championship, and believes that this move puts Dallas closer to accomplishing that goal. 

We’ll see if Harrison is right, but for now let’s look at where the Mavericks go from here after pulling off the most shocking trade in NBA history.

1. What is the outlook for the rest of the season?

Losing Doncic will be like a wound that never heals for the Mavericks, but getting Anthony Davis is still at least positive value for the time being. Davis is currently sidelined for the next week with an abdominal muscle strain, and assuming he’s able to return quickly from that, he immediately helps a depleted Dallas frontcourt that has been ravaged by injuries. Dereck Lively II could miss the rest of the regular season with a fractured foot, Maxi Kleber was just dealt to the Lakers with Doncic, and Dwight Powell is down with a hip injury.

So as of right now, it will be up to Davis and Daniel Gafford to play heavy minutes for the Mavericks. But that duo immediately becomes one of the best defensive frontcourts in the league. Harrison mentioned building a roster in the image of what the Cavaliers are doing with Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen, two towering big men who anchor one of the league’s top defenses. This accomplishes that, and then some as Davis is a five-time All-Defensive player who also happens to be averaging 25.7 points per game this season.

The Mavericks will have the right spacing around Davis with PJ Washington and Klay Thompson on the wings, and Irving will be undoubtedly the best point guard Davis has ever played with — not including LeBron James acting as a point-forward at times. On paper this is a really balanced, talented team that has the ability to make life incredibly difficult on the defensive end for most teams, while knocking down a ton of 3s on offense. 

But does this make Dallas a more firm title contender than it was when Doncic was on the team? Probably not. Part of what made the Mavericks so difficult to play against was having both Doncic and Irving in the backccourt to account for. Even with as much of a liability as Doncic is on defense, Dallas built a roster to account for those shortcomings and made it to the Finals because of it. 

Harrison confirmed on Sunday that this deal was made with the next 3-4 years in mind, not the long-term future. But even with that thinking, this Dallas roster isn’t better than what the Thunder have, or the Celtics. It may be a better defensive team, capable of matching up better against the likes of Nikola Jokic and the tandem of Chet Holmgren and Isaiah Hartenstein in the West, but this does not put Dallas any closer to a championship, now or in the near future, not without Doncic on this roster.

2. Should Dallas be concerned about an Irving exit?

This immediately should become the Mavericks’ next concern. Irving has a $43.9 million player option this summer which he can opt out of and become an unrestricted free agent, allowing him to sign with whatever team he chooses. That is without a doubt the worst-case scenario for the Mavericks as this deal was clearly made with the hopes of maximizing this current window with Irving as one of the centerpieces, as wild as that sounds.

Irving was reportedly stunned about the Doncic trade, and was unaware that it was happening. There’s no word yet on what he actually thinks of the whole ordeal, though he’ll surely make public comments either today when the Mavericks play the Cavaliers — though he is listed as out — or in the near future.

But if I’m Dallas, I would certainly be incredibly concerned with Irving wanting to find the quickest path away from this team. Part of why Irving listed Dallas as one of his preferred destinations in the first place a few years ago when he was traded was to play alongside Doncic. He’s consistently heaped praise upon the young superstar, as the two have become friendly as teammates and off the court as well as their families have spent time together. Davis is a decent consolation prize, but players don’t take kindly to teams unexpectedly trading players, and with a move like this it’s surely changed the ways some players look at the Mavericks organization. We’ll see if Irving is one of them.

3. What does the future look like past this season?

Harrison has already made it known that to him the “future” is the next three, four years, not the next decade. So then in his mind he does not care about what the Mavericks look like 10 years from now, otherwise he certainly wouldn’t have traded the only player on the roster that guaranteed them relevancy and competitiveness that far down the line.

But regardless of what Harrison says, that far down the line does matter, and for Dallas, if this harebrained scheme fails miserably, they’re in for a rough few years ahead. Here’s a look at where Dallas’ upcoming draft assets are going:

• 2027 first-round pick to Hornets
• 2028 first-round pick swap with Thunder
• 2029 first-round pick to Nets
• 2030 first-round pick swap with Spurs

Dallas owns its own 2025 first-round pick and now the Lakers in 2029, but it the bottom falls out on this team either because of injuries, lack of talent or whatever else, there’s no viable way for them to find their next superstar through the draft. And now that they’ve traded their best asset which would’ve netted them at the very least five future firsts, it’s unlikely they’ll pick up a haul of first-round picks to trade for a budding star.

This is quite literally poor asset management regardless of how Harrison wants to explain it away as a win-now move. So the Mavericks are now title or bust, because if this doesn’t work out soon, there isn’t a ton of room to rebuild in the near future.

4. What about that 2029 first-round pick?

Speaking of poor asset management, that 2029 first-round pick from the Lakers on the surface looked like one of the best draft assets around the league. With LeBron James about to retire in the next year or two, that pick could’ve been a lottery pick if L.A. truly struggled to field a competitive team post-LeBron.

But now? By the time Dallas gets to use that pick, Doncic will be just 30 years old in the throws of his prime, likely competing for championships and MVPs. That pick has now lost all value that it once had because Dallas decided to trade its 25-year-old generational talent. And to not even get L.A.’s other tradable first-round pick in 2031 is just indefensible. The best the Mavericks can hope for is that they win a title with Davis and Irving, and the for whatever reason Doncic doesn’t go on to become a future first ballot Hall of Famer that he’s already destined to become — and likely already is with his resume.

5. Will this impact signing players in the future?

In a star-driven league where the players hold most of the power, relationships are everything. How you treat players — and coaches — is essential and nothing hurts a team more than having a negative public image that can hinder their ability to do business down the line. This might’ve done that for Dallas.

Immediately after the trade was reported, Kevin Durant was asked about the deal once the Suns were finished playing against the Portland Trail Blazers late Saturday night. Here’s what he had to say:

“It’s always been transactional,” Durant said. “Players are held to a different level of loyalty and commitment to a program, but the organizations don’t get held to that same standard from the outside world, whether from media members or fans. We all should be held to that same standard. It’s a transactional game. It’s a lot of money involved, a lot of business involved. We shouldn’t be too shocked about trades or guys moving to different teams, or coaches moving to different teams. It’s just the nature of playing basketball and us making this much money.”

Undoubtedly other players feel the same way as they watched a 25-year-old phenom, who has only ever publicly praised the city of Dallas and the Mavericks as an organization and talked about wanting to stay there long term, get traded in the middle of the night needlessly and unprompted.

With how this deal went down, it would not be surprising to see other players around the league make a mental note of that and shy away from wanting to play in Dallas for the foreseeable future.