Right here is the one state of affairs that is sensible:
Luka Dončić was sad in Dallas. He needed out, and he already had determined upon Los Angeles as his final vacation spot. Eligible to turn into a free agent as early as after subsequent season, Dončić instructed the Mavericks’ entrance workplace that he would signal with the Lakers if he reached the open market and was able to make that reality identified to the opposite groups within the NBA, too. Doing so would ship the message to any potential commerce accomplice that Dončić could be merely a rental who would bolt to turn into the potential inheritor to LeBron James in LA. The Mavericks, conscious they might be dropping Dončić after the 2025-26 season anyway and anxious that Dončić’s willingness to publicize his intention to finish up in purple and gold would pierce his commerce worth, acted rapidly to each appease Dončić and salvage his value in delivery him to the Lakers on Saturday night time.
To be clear, nothing within the above paragraph is understood to be correct. It’s simply the one collection of occasions that involves thoughts through which the Mavericks’ entrance workplace didn’t commit a colossal mistake in buying and selling a top-three participant within the NBA with out buying him round to completely maximize the return.
One of many most beautiful trades in sports activities historical past — and doubtless essentially the most out-of-nowhere commerce within the age of social media — continues to astound days after the social media submit heard (if not instantly believed) ’around the world. The Mavericks handed the Lakers their 25-year-old franchise participant and one of the vital gifted offensive gamers in basketball historical past primarily for a 31-year-old Anthony Davis. On paper, the Mavericks bought older and worse.