A trade like this had never happened in NBA history.
A perennial MVP candidate ignored and shipped off midseason? The season after taking your franchise to the NBA Finals? As he reaches his climax?
after a yearthe deal sent luka doncic till Los Angeles Lakers Still a stunner. And people around the league are still scratching their heads about it dallas mavericks With all due respect to the 10-time All-Star, getting what is widely considered a dollar-for-penny return anthony davis.
A prominent agent, who had no clients involved in the deal, recently told ESPN, “I’ve never seen a transaction that caused so much collective shock and confusion around the league.”
Our NBA insiders tackle the four biggest questions facing the Lakers, Mavericks and the rest of the league on the one-year anniversary of one of the NBA’s most surprising deals.
Are the Lakers close to a title a year after the trade?
Hours before the trade went down last season, the Lakers won new York Knicks On February 1, his record became 28–19. This season, they came to New York on February 1 with an almost identical 29–18 record.
Does this mean the business was bad? Well, not at all.
Similar records belong more to Doncic, Lebron James And Austin Reeves Only playing eight games together this season due to injuries.
If a trade had not occurred, and Davis’ body had suffered similar injuries over the past year — he has played a total of 29 games as a Maverick, while Doncic has played 67 games over two seasons for the Lakers — Los Angeles’ struggles this season might have been even more pronounced than they have been so far.
It’s hard to see the Lakers as a contender — even with Doncic leading the league with 33.7 points per game — unless they dramatically improve their 25th-ranked defensive rating.
That doesn’t mean the Lakers can’t improve their standing in the West – they are in fifth place now that Doncic, James and Reaves are back on the court. That doesn’t mean they won’t be tough in the playoffs, with those three calling the shots.
But the only way this team can get closer to a title this season is if it can make another trade in early February to address its 3-and-D shortcomings before Thursday’s deadline. — dave mcmenamin
How do the Mavericks move on from the short-lived AD era?
The “Eddie era” never really started in Dallas.
The second part of last season was a Extended mourning period for Mavs fans. It took a remarkable stroke of lottery luck to revive any hopes of enthusiastic support from the disappointed fan base.
As soon as the Mavs capitalized on those 1.8% odds to win the No. 1 pick, it was clear that cooper flag Davis — not Davis — will be the franchise’s priority in the near future. Then General manager Nico Harrison’s dismissal early in the season Ended any doubts about the direction of the franchise.
In that sense, the Mavericks have moved on. Every personnel decision from this point on will be viewed through the lens of the Mavericks maximizing their teenage talent and their ability to build for the future.
That’s why the Mavs have spent the past few months exploring the trade market for the 32-year-old Davis, who clearly doesn’t fit into the franchise’s long-term vision.
Dallas — and especially Governor Patrick Dumont, who makes the final franchise decisions — needs to set the cap to pull the lever on a Davis trade.
The ideal return in a Davis deal includes first-round draft compensation, young talent and financial relief in the form of expiring contracts. But don’t hold your breath waiting for this to happen before the deadline Davis has recovered from another injury – He is expected to be sidelined until at least the end of the month due to ligament damage in his left hand.
There are some within the organization who would be in favor of trading Davis, even if the return was simply expiring contracts, because they value the flexibility the franchise creates around the flag.
Sources told ESPN that idea would be hard to sell to Dumont, who no longer feels any pressure to trade Davis. — Tim McMahon
What impact has this year’s deadline had on business?
For starters, the architect of the trade, Mavericks GM Harrison, was fired in November.
Mavericks take over under Harrison’s leadership kyrie irving, Daniel Gafford, pj washington And Davis missed three consecutive deadlines.
With Harrison no longer in charge, the “win now” deadline – focused on Irving and Davis – has been replaced with reworking the roster around Flagg and a potential lottery selection in June’s draft.
A decision on Davis’ future will probably wait until the offseason, but that doesn’t rule out the Mavericks exploring options to reduce payroll in the future and open up a roster spot to replace a two-way player. Ryan Nembhard.
0:43
Windhorst: Mavs fire Nico Harrison to ‘save their brand’
Brian Windhorst explains the reaction and reasoning behind the decision to fire GM Nico Harrison.
For the Lakers, the Doncic trade has them dealing with two deadlines at the deadline.
The current timeline is adding to a roster with Doncic, James and Reeves while focusing on financial flexibility in future years. Lakers have over $40 million in expiring contracts Rui Hachimura, gabe vincent And maxi kleber. They also have a 2031 or 2032 first-round selection to trade if necessary. The future timeline is building a roster around Doncic and Reeves.
With Doncic under contract for the next three seasons, the Lakers could have up to $50 million in cap space this offseason and nearly double that amount in 2027.
They will also have three first-rounders (2026, 2031 and 2033) available to trade on draft night. — bobby marks
What are league insiders saying one year later?
The constant theme I hear from people around the NBA whenever it comes to a trade is constant surprise at how it happens – as well as how Dallas might find its way after it.
Harrison was fired as a result of the deal and its fallout, but Davis’ future is in jeopardy. ongoing discussion – His value is nowhere near what was believed when Harrison made him the centerpiece of the deal.
Luckily for the Mavericks, they were fortunate enough to land a flag in last year’s draft. Without Flagg, the franchise would be a desolate wasteland in the consistently competitive Western Conference.
At several points over the past few months, sources have repeated to ESPN some variation of, “Can you imagine where he would be if Dallas hadn’t won the lottery?”
On the other side of the deal, the Lakers are a work in progress. The irony of the Doncic trade is that in the years leading up to it, Dallas had done an excellent job maximizing its potential with the talent it needed: a pair of rim-running, shot-blocking centers; 3-and-D guard and forward to play defense and hit 3s around it; And another high-level shot creator to take the pressure off him when he’s on the court and carry the team when he’s not on the court.
Los Angeles has the last piece of Reaves (if he is retained as a free agent this summer), but they are essentially starting from scratch on the rest of it.
And while they’re the Lakers, and they’ll have the cap space to build this team around Doncic, putting together a championship-level team in the West is easier said than done. — Tim Bontemps
