On February 2, 2025, Luka Dončić was traded to the Los Angeles Lakers, changing the basketball landscape forever. Before we examine it, though, what is a trade?
A trade is an exchange between two or three sports teams, usually involving players and draft picks. For example, Dončić, previously a player for the Dallas Mavericks, was traded to the Los Angeles Lakers in exchange for Anthony Davis and Max Christie. The Lakers also received Maxi Kleiber and Markieff Morris from the Mavericks, two role players. The Utah Jazz, the third team in this trade, got Jalen Hood-Schifino from the Lakers and a 2025 second-round pick from the Mavericks.
Dončić was the generational superstar for the Mavericks, their sole star who carried the team to the National Basketball Association (NBA) Finals. Dončić didn’t want to leave the Mavericks; he was loyal. All other MVP candidates who left their teams did so on their terms: LeBron left the Cleveland Cavaliers because he was tired of not winning, and Kevin Durant left the Oklahoma City Thunder because he wanted to win a title. Dončić was more than willing to play his entire career in Dallas.
The weird thing is, the general manager who traded Dončić, Nico Harrison, didn’t tell anybody, apart from the Lakers, that Dončić was available. The bidding war that would have ensued over him would have netted the Mavericks a treasure haul of draft picks they could use to rebuild. Instead, Harrison just shipped Dončić off to LA in exchange for thirty-four-year-old, injury-prone Anthony Davis and a role player. His justification for this was that “Defense wins championships”, as Dončić is a poor defender and Davis is one of the best defensive players in the league. However, the result is that the Mavericks missed the playoffs this year after making the NBA finals last year, even though they supposedly got better on defense.
The Mavericks went from a couple of pieces away from a championship to a franchise that might rival the NFL’s Cleveland Browns in pure, abject misery. Both their short-term and long-term future is doomed: the fans are leaving, the revenue is falling off, and their stars, Davis and Kyrie Irving, are getting old. It is only a matter of time until Harrison is fired because of what is already unanimously considered the “worst trade in sports history.”
On the other hand, the NBA in general is booming. Because of the buzz and interest generated from the Dončić trade, lots of new fans tuned in to watch the NBA, and TV ratings are going up! The 2025 NBA playoffs were the most watched in the past twenty-five years, averaging 4.4 million viewers, which is a seventeen percent increase from last year. The Lakers, who have Dončić and LeBron now, secured a third seed in the Western Conference and are now considered in the top five fan favorites to win the NBA championship, with +1600 odds. Dončić is happy and playing well in LA, even though he broke his phone when he found out about the trade and cried tears when watching a tribute video to him when the Lakers played the Mavericks at home. The downfall of the Mavericks from championship contender to poverty franchise took a mere seventy-seven days, which is ironically Dončić’s number. It’s like fate itself decided to punish the Mavericks for making the worst trade in sports history.
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