On a random Saturday evening, the Los Angeles Lakers and Dallas Mavericks casually made perhaps the most shocking trade in NBA history.
The Lakers sent Anthony Davis, Max Christie, and a 2029 first<a href="https://sports-info.online/2025/01/13/nba/suns-hornets-are-discussing-interesting-trade/” title=”Suns, Hornets Are Discussing Interesting Trade”>-round pick to the Dallas Mavericks in exchange for superstar guard Luka Doncic, Markieff Morris, and Maxi Kleber.
There is almost no precedent for a deal like this, and the immediate fallout in the sports world has mostly included fans and media members ripping the Mavericks to shreds for making a deal like this.
One analyst recently shared why he is confused about the trade.
Analyst Kevin O’Connor spoke about the trade on Yahoo Sports and said it “Feels pretty stupid to me. Why the h*** didn’t the Mavericks make more calls?”
“Feels pretty stupid to me. … Why the hell didn’t the Mavericks make more calls?” 😵💫@KevinOConnorNBA is SHOCKED that Dallas didn’t reach out to more teams about trading for Luka. pic.twitter.com/be6PQsB6Fr
— Yahoo Sports (@YahooSports) February 2, 2025
This is not an uncommon sentiment so far, as reports indicate the Mavericks made this deal directly with the Lakers and didn’t call anybody else.
The deal means that Doncic is no longer eligible for the 5-year, $345 million supermax contract he could have signed with the Mavericks in the offseason, and Dallas general manager Nico Harrison justified the deal by saying that defense wins championships and that they felt more comfortable with Davis going forward.
There will surely be a lot more information about this deal, which will hopefully help everyone make sense of it, but for now, everyone is still in a state of complete shock.
Deals like this are unprecedented in the NBA unless a star requests a trade, which Doncic did not.
Once again, the Lakers have found a way to acquire a new face of the franchise.
NEXT: Blockbuster NBA Trade Has Made History
