The biggest trade in NBA history happened Saturday night.
Perhaps other trades had larger historical impacts in time, but they weren't known to be this earth-shattering at the time.
Luka Doncic is a Los Angeles Laker.
Anthony Davis is no longer a Laker. He is a Dallas Maverick.
And nothing will ever be the same again.
ESPN Insider, Shams Charania reported it Saturday night. The trade report was so outrageous that most people assumed it was a hack.
The details as reported by multiple outlets:
Los Angeles Lakers: Luka Doncic, Maxi Kleber, Markieff Morris
Dallas Mavericks: Anthony Davis, Max Christie, 2029 LAL 1st
Utah Jazz: Jalen Hood-Schifino, 2025 Clippers 2nd, 2025 Mavericks 2nd
The Lakers were +4000 in the market to win the NBA title on Saturday morning. As of this writing, they are +2100 at FanDuel.
Longtime Dallas-based reporter with close ties to the organization Hall of Famer Marc Stein reported that Doncic did not request a trade.
The Mavs had major concerns about moving forward with Luka Doncic due to his constant conditioning issues and the looming commitment of another supermax contract extension this summer, sources told ESPN.
— Tim MacMahon (@espn_macmahon) February 2, 2025
Let's go over the most shocking parts of this trade:
- Luka Doncic was traded.
- Luka Doncic was traded for a 31-year-old injury-prone power forward who doesn't want to play small-ball center and one first-round pick. That's it. One pick.
- The Lakers traded Anthony Davis, who they won a title with and a player they had built around who LeBron James has called the best player he's ever played with. That instantly is no longer true the second he and Doncic play a second together. (If they don't trade James before Doncic returns from injury.)
- The Mavericks gave up on a 26-year-old MVP candidate who led them to a Western Conference Finals appearance three years ago and the NBA Finals less than a year ago.
- The Lakers traded for a top-five player in the league for the equivalent of a declining non-MVP caliber star and what will be a mediocre first.
There are a million questions to follow. The Lakers do not have a starting center currently but still have a first-round pick to use to get one. (They have had conversations with the Trailblazers for Robert Williams and Clint Capela could be an option from the Hawks. They have lost interest in Jonas Valanciunas, according to league sources.)
How do LeBron and Luka fit together, if LeBron stays? Can the Lakers compete immediately?
The Mavericks have built themselves defense first and added an elite defender. He gets to play power forward next to Dereck Lively (and Daniel Gafford if they don't trade him). Will they have enough offense? How will Kyrie Irving and Anthony Davis mesh? This is Kyrie Irving's team now… I guess?
How much of this decision was about the supermax extension Doncic was eligible for and the fact that teams no longer have the stomach to give those out in the new CBA? Even if that were the case, if you won't give Luka Doncic the supermax, what player would you possibly want to give it to?
The Mavericks' odds went from as short as +2000 to +4000 following the trade.
The Lakers have a superstar to take them into the next decade. The Mavericks… well, decisions were made.
And the NBA will never be the same.
