We’re in the early days of the Luka Doncic trade. The former Real Madrid and Dallas Mavericks superstar found himself on the trading block that saw him being sent to Los Angeles Lakers in exchange for Max Christie, Caleb Martin and a 2029 first-round draft pick. There are worse places to be sent to than Los Angeles, and yet, this trade was one of the most shocking ones in the history of the NBA. It’s been less than a month since this grade went down, and as you can guess the dust hasn’t settled down yet.
To be honest the sheer dumbness of this trade will probably be talked about in years to come. You never see a team leader, the best player, a global star in his prime, leaving a team for peanuts, and yet here we are. At the end of the day, this trade went down, it wasn’t sanctioned or vetoed by the NBA commissioner, and Luka has already made his LA debut. The Lakers fans are rejoicing in the Slovenian ace in action, and are still wondering how the hell did a player of Doncic’s quality fall into their lap.
Luka is still trying to find his footing in California, and is far from his best form since returning from injury that kept him away from the court since December. We’re sure the best is yet to come, as the aging LeBron James, Rob Pelinka, and LA Lakers are trying to make another run for the title. So, before we start dropping word bombs, and raining fire all over the Mavericks organization and their general manager Nico Harrison, let’s take a look at the stats sheet that shows how Luka started off with the Lakers.
The Early Days of Doncic’s Lakers
LA is still King James’ team. LeBron has a say in everything that happens in LA, and it will be like that up until he decides to call it quits. But, after the trade with the Mavericks, it is clear that Luka will be the future of basketball in LA. After all, the Slovenian guard is only 25 years old, and despite getting an All-NBA First-Team selection in every of the last five seasons, he’s just entering his prime.
As we said, one of the best European players of all time is coming fresh from an injury, and thus the Lakers are easing him into the first-team line-up. Once fully fit, his minutes and contribution will increase. Luka was in shock after being traded, but he’s slowly getting grasp on his newfound reality. This could be seen as a down year for him, and according to the rules of the NBA and the odds by different online sports betting outlets, he’s no longer an NBA MVP candidate, but you can bet that he will do everything in his power to go far in the playoffs with the Lakers in his first season in the LA.
Luka Doncic made his Los Angeles Lakers debut on 11th of February against the Utah Jazz. Still a tad bit rusty, Luka was good for a 24-minute performance. During that stretch in the game, Doncic scored 14 points. While not all that bad, it was evident that Luka is going to need more game time to set his aim. He only made 4 field goals out of 14 attempts. Luka’s three point shooting in his debut was atrocious as he only made one three-pointer in seven attempts. Yet, the Slovenian ace spiced his debut with five rebounds and added another 4 assists. For his first game in more than a month Doncic wasn’t half bad and it was good seeing him in purple & gold.
Doncic will remember his Lakers beginnings by playing Utah Jazz in back-to-back games. After his LA debut, the next game was played in Salt Lake City, and Doncic had a similar output. Still a bit rusty, Luka shot 6-13 from the field, for another subpar shooting night. Yet, this time around he was better from the three-point line making 3 out of 8 shots. He also added 4 rebounds, 4 assists, paired with 1 steal and 1 block.
So far, Doncic has played only three games for the Lakers, with his third one being a duel against the Charlotte Hornets on February 20th. He played 33 minutes adding to his tally and scored 14 points, showing clear signs that Lakers are watching over his minutes until he’s fully fit but increasing them gradually. Shooting wise, he took 18 shots this time around, and only made 5 field goals. His three point shooting was bad once again making 1 shot from 9 attempts. Yet, Luka was more versatile than in his Jazz matches adding 12 rebounds and 8 assists, paired with one steal. In his only third game with the Lakers Luka was two assists shy of a triple-double.
Playing no more than 24 minutes in his first two Lakers’ matches, it was still too early to talk about the Luka Doncic effect as far as the Lakers go. Yet, in his third match Luka showed that he has more to his game as we all knew and expected. The move from Dallas to LA was a shock for the player as he did not see it coming. It will take some time for him to settle down and help the Lakers to achieve their ambitions.
At the moment, the LA franchise is sitting comfortably at the position No6 in the Western Conference with a 32-21 record. Sport betting outlets are looking at the Lakers as one of the top teams in the West especially after the Doncic trade. This move really changed the landscape of the league, and while the Lakers are missing a big in the paint to have a full roster, with Doncic they’re one of the favorites to go far in the West. Some people even see them in the Conference Finals, if cards align quickly.
Based on the Luka performance in his last match, and the first signs of his clutch genes in a Lakers’ shirt, the best is yet to come. While we’re getting used to seeing him in purple & gold, this trade makes no sense even weeks after it was announced.
Make it Make Sense Nico Harrison
By now everyone and their mother knows who Nico Harrison is. The man behind the Lakers-Mavs trade left the entire basketball community baffled with his GM skills. There is no sense in trading Luka – ever. He was too valuable and yet he was so cheap. How come Nico? You can’t defend this trade. Prime Luka was on the horizon and now his sun is setting in California. He was Texas born and bred Nico!
Dallas Mavericks fans are still nauseous from this trade and not even ten prime Anthony Davis clones could make them feel any better. Trading Luka was not on anyone’s bingo card. Trading the 5-time All-BA First-team player for Anthony Davis, Max Christie, and the Lakers 2029 first-round pick was pure madness. It was a three-way trade so in the process, the neutral Utah Jazz received Jalen Hood-Schifino and two second-round picks, while Luka packed his bags and together with Maxi Kleber and Markieff Morris went to Cali.
If you’re keeping it real, you wouldn’t make this trade in NBA 2K jokingly. There’s no basketball reason behind it. Whether you want to win the title this year, or you’re building for the future, Luka is your foundation stone. Yet, Nico Harrison had a different view from 99,9% of the basketball community. Sounding like an NFL GM, Nico stated that he believes that defensive basketball wins championships. So, by trading their best offensive weapon, for an injury-prone defender, he believes that he gave the Mavs better chances of competing right now and in the future.
No offense to Davis, who in his own right is an amazing player and a better defender than Doncic. Yet, Luka is a top-three player in the league. He turns 26 on February 28th. During his NBA career Doncic was selected five times to the first-team All-NBA, and led the league in scoring with 33.9 points just last year. While a worse defender than AD, Mavericks knew how to play around this weakness of his. To make up for it, last year Doncic scored 28.9 points in the playoffs on average adding 9.5 rebounds and 8.1 assists per game. He also led the Mavericks to the NBA Finals. These stats are enough for one of the best playoffs performances of all time and yet somehow they were not enough for one Nico Harrison.
Dallas was pretty bad without Luka in January winning only six times in 16 duels. The team had more than a few injuries, one of them being Luka’s. Yet, despite all the shortcomings they kept up with the rest of the West and were sitting in a play-in spot, with three wins behind the six seed. Mavs fans expected better, and the better should have arrived with Luka’s return post-injury. Instead, they received shock therapy and Luka was shipped off to Los Angeles.
Luka Doncic is a big-game performer and trading him was such a bad idea that we can’t still fathom that it happened. Back in 2022 he single-handedly destroyed the Phoenix Suns and their aspirations. He was the reason why the Minnesota Timberwolves sold the house for Rudy Gobert. Just remember how much were the Timberwolves willing to pay for Gobert, and how little did Nico ask for Luka. It is hard to believe that he was worth so little to the franchise that was one of the top teams in the West since his arrival. Just remember his 35.7 point and 10.3 assists average games against the Clippers in 2021 that had Kawhi Leonard running for his money and failing to stop the Slovenian gem.
The worst part of this entire saga is that the Dallas Mavericks were built to Luka Doncic’s liking. He was the top name and the best player in the team. The future face of the franchise whose statue would be built right next to Dirk’s. Luka was the reason why the Mavs brought in Kyrie Irving and Klay Thompson. He was behind the decision to draft Dereck Lively II, and trades for P.J. Washington and Daniel Gafford. You do everything you can to suit the play style of your best player only to trade him at the end of the trade deadline. To make things even worse, Nico only talked to the Los Angeles Lakers making the situation even more baffling. If there were odds for this move on Stake they would certainly exceed being in the region of fantasy, and yet somehow, Nico delivered on them.
Don’t get us wrong, we hate the trade. Yet, the player involved had little to be blamed for. They didn’t know either. It was a Pelinka/Harrison scheme. As far as the Dallas Mavericks future goes, they’re relying on AD being healthy. Irving, Thompson, Washington, Davis, and Lively II is a strong starting five, at least on paper. There’s talent there, experience, and size. The supporting cast of Quentin Grimes, Naji Marshall, and Gafford is not bad either. If everyone’s healthy they can be a good team. But, the question is can they be better than they were with Luka?
Doncic wasn’t only the most prolific scorer on the team. He was also one of the top playmakers on that team. His replacement, Anthony Davis, is an injury-prone, ageing superstar, who will be 32 next month. Also, he has an opt-out clause in his contract that goes into motion in 2027. With a core that has a 33 year old Kyrie and a 35 year old Thompson on the books, Mavs will be in rebuild sooner than they will be in the run for the title.
On the other hand, Luka will be making the Lakers instant contenders, and we can see it being the case this year if he hits his stride. Mavs made a blunder, and we’re all for it. Let’s see what the future holds for the Mavs, Lakers, Luka, and of course Nico Harrison.
