Culture

The Worst Trade of the Trump Era 

Even after two months, no one can explain why Luka Doncic left Dallas.

Luka Doncic could no longer hide his tears.

Sitting by himself court side in a jam-packed American Airlines Center in Dallas, Texas on Wednesday night, the Slovenian hoops wizard struggled to stomach a pre-game video edit of his greatest moments as a Dallas Maverick. Between labored views at the Jumbotron above, Doncic repeatedly dug at his watery eyes with a white towel as much of Dallas cried along with him. 

It wasn’t supposed to end this way between Doncic and the Mavs. The team for which Doncic had played for his entire NBA career and which he led to an unlikely NBA final only the year before had unceremoniously dumped him in a trade that no one saw coming. When ESPN’s Shams Charania broke the news just past midnight (ET) on February 2, many on X immediately asked him if his account had been hacked. It had not.

Doncic, without warning and in the prime of his career, was being shipped off to the Los Angeles Lakers in exchange for the aging, oft-injured bench player Anthony Davis, a 2029 draft pick, and less than $100k in cash. The trade made no sense to anyone except the Lakers. Conspiracy theories immediately began to mount. Every other NBA front office not associated with the Lakers wanted to know why they hadn’t heard murmurs of discontent from the Mavericks or been offered the opportunity to submit bids that likely would have surpassed the value the Lakers could offer.  

Everyone agreed on one thing—Doncic was worth a lot more than Davis, the shooting guard Max Christie, and dust money. Many organizations would have traded the house for a shot at Doncic; the Lakers got him at a basement bargain. For a league that has historically benefitted from the Lakers’ success, the trade was too good to be true, and that, in and of itself, led many to speculate on why and how the move had been orchestrated. But more on that later.

In the big business of the NBA, Doncic moves money—lots of it. The trade to one of the NBA’s most prized franchises immediately propelled every financial market associated with Doncic and the Lakers. Ticket prices for Lakers games have surged more than 20 percent since Doncic’s move, the Lakers can barely keep his $80 jersey in stock, and, on the collectibles market, where Doncic’s value had stagnated somewhat over the last year, trading cards for the big guard nearly doubled overnight, with eBay reporting that Doncic’s name was being searched nearly 80 times per minute. 

The Mavericks’ former principal and now minority owner Mark Cuban, who bought the club at the turn of the century and transformed the organization into one of the most-liked and successful squads in the league, had been mostly sidelined, and was as shocked as anyone when news of the trade spread like wildfire. Video from the arena on Wednesday showed Cuban with his head in his hands as irate fans chanted, “Fire Nico,” the first name of the man responsible for the trade—Mavericks general manager Nico Harrison. Harrison has endured great criticism for his role in the decision to axe the city’s most beloved sporting figure. So much anger has been leveled at Harrison that the organization chose to escort protesters out of the arena who honed in on Harrison’s role in the decision.

Though Dallas is best known for its football team, the Cowboys, it is Doncic who has provided the greatest success on and off the field over the last decade. Indeed, clips of Doncic interacting with the Dallas community were highlighted throughout the pre-game edit played on Wednesday night. The day after, fans shared new videos of Doncic serving customers at a Dallas-based Dick’s Sporting Goods store. It all spoke to the person Doncic is on and off the court: a lovable, goofy, humble man who ingratiated himself with the Dallas community, thousands of miles from his homeland. 

No one knows for certain why the trade happened and especially why it happened so hastily. Many have speculated, not without reason, that league officials forced Doncic to the Lakers in a bid to cement the club’s premier status as 40-year-old Laker LeBron James inevitably heads for retirement. Finance-minded pundits have pointed out that, by trading away Doncic, the Mavericks are no longer on the hook for what would have been an earth-shattering supermax contract that would have paid Doncic a league-record $346 million over five years. While that is certainly a lot of money for a mid-level organization to cough up, analysts agree that trading away Doncic will cost the Mavericks “dozens of millions” of dollars this season alone in lost ticket incentives as attendance has dwindled and sponsors look elsewhere following the trade.

The Mavericks, via media sources, have questioned Doncic’s lack of work ethic following the trade. Doncic has struggled with weight throughout his career, and a video of Mavs assistant general manager stealing away a beer from a miffed Doncic during post-season celebrations in 2024 has added fuel to those who believe Doncic’s poor conditioning played a part in the trade. Speaking with the Los Angeles Times on Tuesday, Doncic dismissed the allegations. “They have no idea,” Doncic told the Times. “I didn’t end up here by mistake. You know? I worked my ass off to be here. So it’s kinda, I would say disrespectful, just sad that people say that.”

On the court Wednesday night, Doncic backed up his words. He dropped 31 points in the first half, en route to 45 points in a game that the Lakers comfortably led throughout. Nearly 3 million viewers tuned in to watch the Slovenian superstar net the most points recorded by an opponent in his homecoming game to the Mavericks arena. Doncic left little doubt that Harrison and the Mavs organization made a colossal mistake, one they will likely pay for in losses as long as Doncic is playing. 

For the Lakers, it’s all air from here. Before trading for Luka, the odds of the Lakers winning the 2025 NBA championship sat at 40–1. As of today, that number has fallen to 14–1, with Doncic playing maestro for a team that features an aging James and a slew of role players. Looking beyond this season, rumors are suddenly heating up that three-time MVP Nikola Jokic could bolt for LA in free agency this off-season, a move that would send equally-titanic waves through the league. For the Mavericks? The worst trade of all time. For Doncic, the Lakers, and the NBA—a reset that is sure to remake the sport for years to come. 

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