If you’re waking up on Sunday morning wondering if Saturday night was just a hallucinatory fever dream, brew a pot of coffee and have a seat. Ready? No, you weren’t imagining things. Luka Doncic — yes, that Luka Doncic — has been traded to the Los Angeles Lakers in exchange for Anthony Davis, Max Christie and a future first-round pick.
It’s nearly impossible to fathom a trade of this magnitude going down without even a whisper in the rumor mill, but that’s exactly what made it so utterly surprising and unbelievable. Our Brad Botkin handed out grades for each team, but there’s so much to sort through in a deal like this that it merits further inspection.
Here’s a look at some of the winners and losers from one of the most shocking trades in NBA history.
Winner: Mass chaos
What. The. Bleep. Just. Happened. If you were going to rank random events that would surprise you on a nondescript Saturday night during the NBA season, Luka Doncic getting traded to the Los Angeles Lakers would land shortly after aliens beaming down from a distant galaxy and demanding the swift and safe return of Victor Wembanyama.
This is the most shocking deal in recent NBA memory — maybe ever — from a league that specializes in shocking deals. Just take a look at some of the reactions from across the sports universe.
You get the idea. After confirming that this deal was, in fact, not a hoax and that Luka Doncic was actually being traded to the Los Angeles Lakers, many questions surfaced. Did Luka ask for a trade? Why did the Mavericks only get one first-round pick? Was LeBron James the mastermind behind it all? Is Mavericks GM Nico Harrison out of his mind?
The answers are still trickling in, but in the moments after the trade broke, it was sheer pandemonium in the NBA world, the likes of which we may not see again for a long, long time.
Loser: Dallas Mavericks
It’s so weird to call a team a loser when they’re still in a strong position to compete for an NBA championship, but come on. If you’re going to trade for Luka Doncic, which not many would recommend, you do it for an unprecedented haul of draft picks plus a combination of win-now players and promising young talent. Instead the Mavs got 31-year-old Anthony Davis (with an injury history) and *checks notes* ONE first-round pick?
Mavs fans (and Harrison) can spin this all they want, even going as far as to say they’re better in the short term now than they were with Doncic. I don’t buy it, but there’s at least an argument. There’s absolutely no justification, however, for getting rid of one of the elite young talents in the game without receiving significant considerations for the future. The Ringer’s Bill Simmons recently listed Doncic at No. 4 in his annual Trade Value Rankings, meaning that there were only three players — Victor Wembanyama, Nikola Jokic and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander — that he considered more valuable trade assets than Doncic given age, salary, etc. Want to know where Davis ranked? No. 11. Simmons isn’t the be-all and end-all for NBA talent assessment, but given the age difference and postseason pedigree to this point, Doncic is clearly superior.
Not to mention there are a handful of NBA teams hoarding assets for this exact scenario. Word is that Harrison sought out Davis and the Lakers for months. Would the Pelicans have offered Zion Williamson, Brandon Ingram and multiple first rounders for Doncic? That wouldn’t even seem like that much given the history of star players in the league — Mikal Bridges just went for five firsts this offseason and Dejounte Murray went for three a few summers ago. Doncic is eons ahead of those two in terms of impact on a franchise.
With this deal, basically the Mavericks have put themselves in a position where if they don’t win a title in one of the next two or three seasons with Davis and Kyrie Irving, their future is bleak.
Winner: Rob Pelinka
You know that scene in Meet The Parents where Ben Stiller has been tasked with looking for the cat that he — unbeknownst to his future in-laws — was responsible for losing in the first place? He’d been on the outs with his future fiancée’s family for days due to multiple questionable transgressions, but in one fell swoop, when he returns with the cat the family believes is Mr. Jinx, all is immediately forgiven.
That’s Lakers general manager Rob Pelinka right now.
Just imagine Luka Doncic is in the pet carrier, and all of Pelinka’s previous bad moves (Russell Westbrook), non-moves (Kyrie Irving) and anything else negative surrounding his tenure has completely gone out the window. Not only has he given the Lakers a puncher’s chance in the playoffs (who wants to see a Doncic-LeBron James combo in a series?), but he’s also set the franchise up with its marquee superstar for the next decade-plus.
And for that he only had to relinquish one of his two available first-round picks. Simply amazing work. This man won’t pay for another drink in Los Angeles for the rest of his life — or at least until someone discovers he spraypainted Gabe Vincent’s tail to look like Luka Doncic.
Loser: Teams loaded with assets
Executives from the Pelicans, Thunder and Spurs must be thrashing around their home offices right now tearing family photos off the walls. By all accounts, Harrison sought out the Lakers because Davis was the player he had zeroed in on for a Doncic trade. Sure, sounds good, but maybe do a little window shopping first?
The aforementioned teams have seemingly limitless draft capital they could have included in a deal and — even if Harrison’s goal is to win now — he could have then turned some or all of those picks into the player(s) that he wanted. Instead, it appears that New Orleans, OKC and San Antonio never even got a phone call.
This could have been the big move any of those franchises (or a dark horse waiting in the wings) was waiting to pounce upon, but instead, Harrison’s tunnel vision cut them out of the entire process. Who knows when another superstar of Doncic’s caliber will head to the market at such a young age? Maybe never.
Winner: Angry Luka
We’ve seen firsthand what happens when you make Luka Doncic angry — just ask Devin Booker.
Or the Minnesota Timberwolves.
Well, now Doncic has a new target in his sights: Nico Harrison and his former Dallas Mavericks. ESPN reported that part of the reason Harrison traded Doncic is that he refused to get into proper playing shape. This clip of a Mavs exec taking a beer from Doncic’s hands during last postseason’s Western Conference championship celebration has now officially reached bulletin-board status.
Doncic will be playing with a Slovenia-sized chip on his shoulder for the foreseeable future — especially when he faces the Mavericks — and if there was ever a time for him to hit the gym to tone himself a chiseled, spiteful revenge body, this is certainly it. The next Mavs-Lakers matchup comes on Feb. 25 in L.A., by the way, if you’d like to mark your calendars.
Loser: Lakers defense
As of Saturday night, the Lakers ranked 21st in the NBA in defensive efficiency. And that was with All-World defensive stopper Anthony Davis. Now, without a real rim protector (no offense, Jaxson Hayes) and with another defensive liability added to the mix in Doncic, this is going to be an absolute parade to the rim for opposing perimeter scorers.
The Lakers already ranked 20th in the NBA in points per possession allowed at the rim, per Synergy Sports, and that’s likely to get demonstrably worse without Davis.
The antidote, of course, is an offense helmed by two of the best orchestrators the league has ever seen in Doncic and James. Get ready for some shootouts, while JJ Redick and Laker fans will certainly develop some more grey hair watching this lineup try to get stops on a nightly basis.
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