Elevator Doors: What is the full story?
It was pitch black – 6 a.m., well before sunrise – when my son, Andrew, came into our bedroom to tell me the news.
“Mom said Luka is on the Lakers!?!”
I thought I was still asleep and that I was having one of those strange half-dreams where someone was speaking English but not making any sense. “Dad, the shampoo and conditioner are running for Governor.”
I shook the sleep out of my eyes to catch up to a full news cycle that took place over the dead of night. Shams Charania broke the trade and had to insist that his accounts weren’t hacked, and he wasn’t kidding. That’s when you know a trade has entered the Twilight Zone.
Luka Doncic, Maxi Kleber, and Markieff Morris to Los Angeles. Anthony Davis, Max Christie, a 2029 first-round pick (and no other picks!!!) to Dallas. Jalen Hood-Schifino and a couple second round picks to Utah, because it’s not really a trade unless Danny Ainge is involved.
Information is still scarce, so the entire basketball world is left only to speculate about a trade that makes absolutely no sense whatsoever on paper.
As it stands, this is the most negligent trade in NBA history.
Allow me to explain what I mean by that. Typically, when players of Doncic’s talent level and stature are moved, it is due to that player requesting/forcing their way out of a sub-optimal situation and toward a more desirable franchise. This is not the first time a superstar has “ended up” on the Los Angeles Lakers and it certainly won’t be the last. But it is the first time I can recall when a team (in this case, the Dallas Mavericks) initiates the trade talks and receives far less in return than what they could have acquired on the open market.
Something isn’t sitting right.
Luka Doncic is 25 years old. He turns 26 at the end of the month. He has played seven NBA seasons, and it is among the most productive first-seven-season stretches of anyone in the history of the league. In terms of raw production, Luka’s name sits alongside new teammate LeBron James in terms of those age 18-25 seasons. NBA history also says players of Doncic’s talent level tend to reach their peak from ages 26-30 – these are often “the title years” of the game’s truly elite. The Dallas Mavericks elected to forego this stretch of Doncic’s career for…why exactly?
The smear campaign out of Dallas alleges “poor conditioning” and “subpar defense” for their refusal to award him a max contract that could be worth as much as $350 million. Sure. Whatever you say.
What aren’t they telling us?
Luka Doncic was in the NBA Finals (checks calendar) LAST SEASON! The most recent NBA Finals included Luka Doncic among its participants. He is still the current defending Western Conference champion. It was less than one year ago when he ripped the still-beating hearts out of the Minnesota Timberwolves.
I don’t have a ton of interest in breaking this trade down from an X’s and O’s standpoint. Anthony Davis is a very good player – one of the best two-way big men in today’s NBA – but at age 31 and with a checkered (to put it mildly) medical history, it’s safe to assume that Davis’s best years are in the rear-view mirror. The Mavericks will be paying a premium price to watch Davis slowly decline, while the Lakers will pay a premium price for the prime years of one of the best players in the history of basketball.
It’s Luka Doncic!
The whole point of having an NBA franchise is to acquire one of “the guys.” At any given moment, there are less than 10 real “guys” in the league – either surefire MVP candidates/title contenders, or young studs clearly on their way there. The list right now outside of Luka: Jokic, SGA, Giannis, Tatum, Wemby, Edwards. There are maybe a few others – some older, some in their prime – that are borderline “guys” or could be “guys” one day, but that’s the list right now. If you have a “guy” and he isn’t demanding a one-way ticket out of town, you do everything in your power to keep that “guy.” Shipping him to Los Angeles of all places for a very good player who is six years older and a pick in four years (when Luka is 29 and likely winning 50 games with any kind of help in LA) is simple carelessness.
We’re to believe that Dallas was not interested in opening the bidding. They had no interest in the treasure trove of assets that San Antonio, Oklahoma City, Houston, or about 5-6 other teams would have gladly offered just for the opportunity to possibly acquire Doncic. They simply like Anthony Davis this much?
What’s happening? No, I’m serious.
It’s often foolish to speak in absolutes regarding this stuff. It’s sports. Anything can happen. However, I feel reasonably certain that Luka Doncic is going to eviscerate the league these next 3-4 years. This is a player who is already primarily driven by spite and the desire to embarrass his opponents. Now he has a franchise who is openly mocking his work ethic. Doncic is going to go scorched earth on his opponents while wearing Laker purple and gold.
It doesn’t really matter what else the Lakers do from here on out. They have Luka. I really need to know much more about why this happened. The story as currently presented is absurd.
