Luka Doncic is a Los Angeles Laker. That is real, factual sentence somehow after the Dallas Mavericks initiated the craziest trade in, perhaps, NBA history late Saturday night when they shipped Doncic to L.A. in a three-team deal for a package boasting Anthony Davis and the Lakers 2029 first round pick.
Making a shocking trade even more stunning was the reporting that the Mavs were the team that initiated conversations with the Lakers and did so because they decided they wanted out of the Luka Doncic business. Apparently, the reasoning was Doncic would be up for a supermax extension soon (his current deal runs out after 2026 with a player option for ’26-’27) and the Mavs had long-term concerns about Doncic’s conditioning, as reported by ESPN’s Tim MacMahon.
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.
I don’t know how bad things had gotten behind the scenes, but even with the frustrations that Doncic came into this season not in great shape coming off of the Finals run and the Olympics, it’s really hard to imagine it was bad enough to want to trade a top-5 player in the NBA. However, it is very clear the Mavs have not felt Doncic has done everything he needs to in order to be the best he can be — is fairly terrifying given he’s averaged 28.6 points, 8.7 rebounds, and 8.3 assists for his career over seven seasons — and available enough amid his latest absence with a calf injury.
The Lakers will bank on the fact that Doncic is only 25 (turning 26 this month) and still has time to mature some off the floor while continuing to dominate on it. The Mavs, meanwhile, trade for one of the NBA’s best bigs and should remain a threat in the West in the immediate, but it does raise some eyebrows that they’d point to a lack of reliability from Doncic when targeting a player in Davis who has a checkered injury history of his own. Perhaps the Mavs will end up being prescient in moving off of Doncic now, but you won’t find too many around the NBA who would expect them to look good long-term from this trade. Perhaps the “Michael Finley takes away Luka Doncic’s beer” video from last years Western Conference Finals celebration was a harbinger of things to come.
