Luka to the Lakers???
We are now four days removed from the most shocking trade in NBA history, and I am still in shock.
This does not just happen. You do not trade a top 5 (at worst) player, BEFORE HIS PRIME, for any reason whatsoever. Luka Doncic is a generational superstar talent who just backpacked the Mavericks to the finals LAST YEAR. He just had his most successful season ever and now he has been traded for very unclear reasons.
The most prevalent news is that the Mavericks were worried about his conditioning habits and felt he was prone to be injury-riddled, much like Joel Embiid during the last couple of seasons. I don’t understand this logic, mainly because the player they traded for was Anthony Davis, who has an extensive injury history, is 6 years older, and is a big man. All three of those factors make him just as likely (if not more) to get injured, but now the window to win is significantly shorter and the ceiling of the team is much lower.
Davis is an incredible player. He has an outstanding resume, he has competed for MVPs, and he has won an NBA championship. He is not the same level of player as Luka Doncic. If the year was 2018, the core of Kyrie Irving, Klay Thompson, and Davis would make you a no-doubt contender. The problem is that it was 7 years ago. Irving is still a fantastic player and a great #2 option for your team, but he is close to 33 years old. We don’t know how long to expect him to continue to play at this level. In recent NBA history, we have seen established stars start to slow down in their mid-thirties, and it’s becoming clear that Irving is nearing the end of his prime. Thompson has already started his descent. He has had a solid year, but he is not the same player that could slide in as the third star of a championship contender. As great as David is, the injury history and age make it clear that the window is short for them to win, and I don’t think they have the roster to compete with the contenders in the league right now.
The rest of the return for Luka was poor. Max Christie is a good player; there is nothing wrong with him. However, only getting one first-round pick for the best trade asset that has ever been traded should be a fireable offense. The information has come out that Luka was not shopped anywhere, it was kept secret and was only offered to the Lakers for a Davis-centered deal. Why? From any perspective, that makes no sense. Even if you are sure Davis is the guy you want, why wouldn’t you shop with other teams to at least put pressure on the Lakers to up their offer? These are questions that I don’t think we will ever get answers to.
On the other hand, the Lakers just cemented themselves as a perennial playoff team and possible contender for the next 8 years at least. Their roster today is a mess; there are a lot of holes and not a lot of room to fix them for the rest of the 2024-2025 season. Recent NBA history shows us that if Luka Doncic is on your team, you are going to figure out a way to win games and make the playoffs.
Congratulations to Rob Pelinka for winning Executive of the Year for 2025.