Luka Doncic trade to L.A. a year later
By Earvin Adjei
It was a true “I remember where I was” moment when the Mavericks decided to trade Luka Dončić to the Lakers. A year later, the questions remain: who won the trade? Did Dallas make the right decision, or are they just as crazy as we thought at the time?
On February 2, 2025, the Mavericks stunned the NBA by sending 26-year-old Luka Dončić to Los Angeles in exchange for Anthony Davis. Many fans initially thought Shams Charania’s account had been hacked, but here we are one year into a reality where Luka is a Laker and AD is a Maverick. To fully understand the deal, it’s best to examine its three main components: Luka Dončić, Nico Harrison, and Anthony Davis.
Where are they now:
Luka Dončić:
Harry How / Getty Images
A year later, Dončić is exactly where everyone expected him to be. He’s the league’s leading scorer, an All-Star starter, and firmly positioned as the future of the Lakers. When Dallas traded him, the organization cited conditioning concerns and fear of committing to him long-term. Fast forward to now, and Luka is in arguably the best shape of his career. While he still has moments of poor defense and complaints to refs, he remains at worst the third-best player in the league. Luka ultimately got the last laugh. The Lakers sit among the best teams in the Western Conference, while the Mavericks have fallen outside the playoff picture. He’s set to be one of the faces of the NBA for years to come, now doing so with one of the most iconic franchises in sports.
Nico Harrison:
AP Photo / LM Otero
It didn’t even take a full calendar year for the Mavericks to move on from Nico Harrison, and it’s hard to argue against the decision. Harrison traded away a potential franchise icon right after a Finals appearance. Worse, he negotiated exclusively with the Lakers. In return, Dallas received an injury-prone Anthony Davis, Max Christie, and just one first-round pick. For a player of Dončić’s caliber, the return was baffling. While Harrison may have believed he was acting in the franchise’s best interest, the execution made that logic impossible to defend. He went from architect of a Finals team to one of the most hated figures in franchise history almost overnight.
Anthony Davis:
Jerome Miron / Imagn Images
Anthony Davis is a future Hall of Famer and undeniably talented, but centering a Luka Dončić trade around him never made sense, and time has only reinforced that. The one knock on Davis’ illustrious career has been his health. He has always been prone to injuries, and that has sadly been the case in Dallas. He has appeared in just 29 games for the Mavericks, frequently sidelined by injuries. To make matters worse, Davis has been involved in trade rumors throughout the season, leaving his future with the team uncertain. What was supposed to be a bold swing has, a year later, proven to be a major miss.
Final Thoughts:
Getty Images
Even now, the trade doesn’t make much sense. While the Mavericks lucked into Cooper Flagg, the franchise’s outlook remains cloudy. There’s no guarantee Flagg will ever reach the heights Luka achieved in Dallas. That’s a massive burden to place on a young player, and only time will tell what Flagg can achieve. The organization has pointed to conditioning concerns as justification, but that explanation has never fully added up. Fans and analysts have floated countless theories, some more far-fetched than others. The truth may never be fully known. What is clear, though, is this: trading a player of Luka’s caliber is the kind of mistake that goes on to haunt a franchise for quite some time.
