The modern NBA is built on the drama and there is no more fertile land so that wild things happen that the days preceding the deadline for trade. But absolutely no one could have seen this to come: Lakers and Mavericks have accepted a three -way business With Utah, it sends Anthony Davis to Dallas and … accumulate … Luka Doncic in Los Angeles. Yes, Luka Donnteic will now play for Lakers alongside LeBron James.
While you digest this, here are the complete details of the agreement:
My apologies to jazz fans, but no one has time to assess their part of this agreement. It is Luka to join LeBron and the Lakers, as crazy as it may seem, perhaps better positioning themselves in the short term to win a title. Now let’s move on to trade notes.
Lakers: A +
There is no other way to look at this. By affecting both age and production, Lakers just marked what is probably the most coveted basketball player in the world not named Victor Wembanyama. Doncic is only 25 years old. To win such a good player and this young person in a job is absolutely crazy. Honestly, you may never see a score like this in your life again.
It almost doesn’t matter how Luka and LeBron will write together or if they will have a chance to be defensively (probably not), because for Lakers, the short -term implications of this agreement are not as important as what it is for They in the long term, assuming that they therefore lock on a maximum agreement as soon as possible.
Lakers have been trying to understand their post-Lebron plan for some time now. They kept firmly to their future draft choices in the first round knowing that they could not empty their closet as LeBron ages, which necessarily happened, right? Well, Luka Doncic takes more care of this concern, and to think, they did not even have to abandon their two choices eligible for trade to obtain it. They could still go out and make even more movements before the deadline on Thursday.
It’s really incredible. I don’t know if Rob Pelinka is the luckiest or most intelligent man alive, but the Lakers celebrate tonight.
Mavericks: F
So here is the strange thing: I really think the mavericks are Better positioned to win a championship With Anthony Davis, assuming complete health in the playoffs, only in Luka Doncic … Today. Right away. And yet, they always get an “F” because you just can’t exchange Luka Doncic, unless your hand is forced.
After hearing the news, it was my only rational explanation for the agreement. The Mavericks had to have been forced by Donci on camera. He must have told them that he wanted to go out, and they didn’t want to wait until next season, when Word would be released and that they would lose the lever effect.
Through this objective, I went to CBS Sports HQ and I initially gave the Mavericks a C Davis and have everything in the words of the players.
This is where the reports began to diverge. According to Marc Stein, Doncic “did not ask for a trade” and the Mavericks made it entirely of their own will. Bill Reiter de CBS Sports, however, reports something slightly differentThat the Mavericks felt essentially that Donic was going to be difficult to continue considering your free agency in the summer of 2026 and all the teams that are currently organizing their books to make it run. So they got ahead of a waste even if it had not officially started.
This thing is fluid. We will hear little, or perhaps big, pieces of context flow for a long time. I must believe that Doncic may be leaving the Mavs, that he has actually hinted at the camera or not, played a role in the thought of Nico Harrison, and for that, I give him credit. These stars that hold hostage teams are a nightmare. The teams must get ahead of these things if they feel the coming.
That said, Harrison clearly said that at least a decent part of his reasoning to do this business was linked to basketball. It was not because Luka asked or demanded; It was because he does not play defense and does not stay in good shape.
“I believe that the defense wins the championships,” said Mavs Director of Mavs Nico Harrison in ESPN concerning his motivation to exchange Luka Doncic against Anthony Davis. “I believe that obtaining an all-defensive center and an All-NBA player with a defensive state of mind gives us a better chance. We are built to win now and in the future.”
MacMahon also reported that the Mavericks had “main concerns” concerning the partnership with Doncouic on another maximum contract “due to its constant conditioning problems”.
It is therefore the context we need, or at least as much as we can hope for in the immediacy of a business of this magnitude. Mavericks do not trust these things.
Luka Doncic Trade: What factors have led Lakers and Mavericks to conclude the most shocking agreement in the history of the NBA?
Bill Reiter

I also don’t think you would find many people, despite all these things, who would have done this business without a noisy and clear demand of Doncic. Not an index that a request could come. Not after looking at the landscape and tried to predict the future. A complete situation of “profession or other”. Shortly, there is a chance that Nico Harrison is the only director general of history who would have concluded this agreement.
It’s Luka, guy. He is a player once in generation, even when he is out of shape and does not play defense. I’m sorry. It is simply too large and too young to exchange, even if the concerns are reasonable and even if you may be in a better place to win a short-term title, which, I think, is the case for the Mavericks .
Luka was a defensive mess in the final last year. The Celtics feasted on him. Dallas had no chance of winning this series, even with Luka being offensively. Davis can play alongside Daniel Gafford or Derek Lively and give the Mavericks a massive defensive front line, and there is a couple of two absolutely perfect people with Kyrie Irving, that the Mavericks are clearly at ease to shoot their offense, With shots around them.
If Davis is healthy in the playoffs, Dallas will be mean. Look. But I will tell you what, even if they win the title, it will always be difficult to justify this offer. It will be much easier than if they do not do it, but it will always sting for a long time, letting Luka Doncic from your own will.
In two years, when Davis is 34 years old and Kyrie is 35 years old and Dononic is winning MVPs, they will wake up one morning in a cold sweat wondering what they did, in the same way as The Hawks, for as well as Trae Young was and as justifiable as this trade day trade looked on paper at the time, will never overcome Luka.
You see, that’s the thing. Davis will be out of peak in the blink of an eye. The Mavericks, if they really wanted to do it, could have come out and had so many future choice of draft that they would not have known what to do with them. But they chose the best team they could assemble at the moment. It’s short -sighted, but that’s what they chose to do. I see no way that they do not end up regretting it once the passes are sufficient – however, these next seasons shake.
Well, ok. If they gain consecutive titles, I will give it to Nico.
But until then, I mean, I don’t know what to say else. It’s ridiculous. I may have entirely different thoughts on all of this in a week, or a month, or a year, or in five years, but at the moment, that’s how it is shaking in my head. The Mavericks are better placed to win a title with Davis this season that they would not have been with Doncic, and yet they still made a huge mistake.