I had all but resigned myself to the fact that today’s musing was going to be a lamentable one looking back longingly at busier days in the world of sports, since this is the first Sunday since late August devoid of a football game to provide enjoyment and distraction. And sorry, non-traditionalists, flag football doesn’t count. Crummy as the game eventually became, I actually miss the actual Pro Bowl, even if the tackling isn’t much more definitive than the version that will be contested in Orlando later today.
But last night, in the wake of a surprisingly convincing 128-112 Lakers’ win in Madison Square Garden over the surging Knicks, as they used to say in those MeTV Toons classic, Jumpin’ Jehosophat!!!
USA TODAY’s Jeff Zillgitt was among the dozens whose otherwise mundane Saturday nights were interrupted by the need to share this shocking news with their readers:
The Los Angeles Lakers have reached a deal to acquire Luka Doncic from the Dallas Mavericks as part of a three-team trade that has Anthony Davis, Max Christie and a first-round pick going to Dallas in a stunning blockbuster trade that also involves the Utah Jazz. The Lakers will also receive Maxi Kleber and Markieff Morris in the trade. The Jazz will receive Jalen Hood-Schifino and a 2025 second-round pick from the Lakers and a 2025 second-round pick from the Mavericks.
Even James did not know the trade was happening and was at a post-game dinner in New York when he learned of the deal as it broke, a person familiar with the situation told USA TODAY Sports. James and Davis are close friends and are both represented by Rich Paul, the CEO of Klutch Sports.
The 31-year-old Davis, now a 10-time All-Star, is sidelined with an abdominal strain, and the 25-year-old Doncic, a five-time All-Star, has been out since Christmas with a strained left calf. Both are expected back in the lineup this month.
As the news was breaking, even ESPN was scrambling to try and put this into context. Stephen A. Smith actually phoned in to offer his views, which included speculation that the Mavericks were frustrated enough with Doncic’s injury history, driven as they apparently saw it by a lack of off-season discipline that frequently had him reporting out of shape which would inevitably result in soft tissue injuries. There was no such immediate confirmation of that coming from the Dallas camp, as CBS TEXAS’ local perspective was frustratingly vague:
“I believe that defense wins championships,” Mavericks general manager Nico Harrison told ESPN. “I believe that getting an All-Defensive center and an All-NBA player with a defensive mindset gives us a better chance. We’re built to win now and in the future.”
Smith also opined that he believes the Lakers effectively traded the present for the future, even though at the moment they rank three games and four playoff positions ahead of the Mavericks, fresh off a stirring run to the NBA finals last summer. Kendrick Perkins, who actually found his way to a camera, essentially agreed. Early this morning CBS SPORTS’ Brad Bodkin dropped his own gradings which simultaneously both confirm and contrast:
Lakers: A+
There’s no other way to look at this. Factoring in both age and production, the Lakers just scored what is probably the most coveted basketball player in the world not named Victor Wembanyama. Doncic is only 25 years old. To land a player this good and this young in a trade is absolute bonkers. You honestly might never see a score again like this in your lifetime.
It almost doesn’t even matter how Luka and LeBron will pair together or whether they’ll have any chance to holding up defensively (probably not), because for the Lakers, the short-term implications of this deal aren’t nearly as important as what this does for them long-term, assuming they lock up Doncic on a max deal as soon as humanly possible.
The Lakers have been trying to figure out their post-LeBron plan for some time now. They have held firm to their future first-round draft picks knowing they couldn’t empty their cupboard as LeBron ages out, which is bound to happen, right? Well, Luka Doncic pretty much takes care of that concern, and to think, they didn’t even have to give up both their trade-eligible picks to get him.
Mavericks: F
So here’s the weird thing: I truly believe the Mavericks are better positioned to win a championship with Anthony Davis, assuming full postseason health, than they are with Luka Doncic… today. Right now. And yet they still get an F because you just can’t trade Luka Doncic, not unless your hand is forced.
Upon first hearing the news, that was my only rational explanation for the deal. The Mavericks had to have been forced by Doncic behind closed doors. He must’ve told them he wanted out, and they didn’t want to wait until next season when word would get out and they would lose leverage.
Through that lens, I went on CBS Sports HQ and initially gave the Mavericks a C-, because I’m all for being proactive with these things rather than winding up like the Heat with Jimmy Butler or the 76ers with James Harden or the Pelicans with Davis and having to do everything on the players’ terms. But according to Marc Stein, Doncic “did not request a trade.”
If any environment has the potential to switch Doncic’s mindset it would be one where the kind of unrelenting commitment to health and self-care that has James still one of the top NBA performers in his 22nd season at age 40 will be able to showcase on a daily basis and where his partner in podcasting JJ Redick, a former Mavericks teammate of his, will be underscoring as he formulates how this surprisingly competitive Lakers team evolves without perhaps its sole significant defensive presence. Realistically, the chances this year’s team has to wind up in the finals the way Dallas did last year are still remote, especially in light of the glaring defensive void this move portends. After all, they did give up 112 points to a Knicks team that lost OG Anunoby with an injury midway through last night’s game.
But in the same spirit as it went down in previous generations–from Wilt Chamberlain leaving Philadelphia, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar leaving Milwaukee, Shaquille O’Neal leaving Orlando and indeed James himself leaving Cleveland for the second time, a younger superstar with immense talent has found his way to Los Angeles to take on the mantle of one of the league’s most storied franchises, and one where a truly competitive version has immense media and marketing upside. And for someone with the global appeal of Doncic, a league that is committed to such outreach via its Amazon Prime Video deal and its deeper expansion into Europe has just been infused with a needed jolt of adrenalin that will undoubtedly reinvigorate and reshape that growth curve well into the 2030s.
And sure ’nuff, it has me a lot less melancholy about a Sunday without football.
Courage…