What Does the Trade of Luka Dončić for Anthony Davis Mean for the NBA?
Feb 04 | 2025
image: Erik Drost, wikimedia commons
Every year it seems like there’s one trade at the NBA Trade Deadline that shuts down the sport. In 2022, it was the Philadelphia 76ers swapping James Harden for Ben Simmons. A year later, the Nets once again took over the trade deadline by trading Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving. And in 2024, it was the Mavericks adding reinforcements around Luka Dončić.
This year, Dončić’s were once again involved in the biggest trade of the deadline — just in a way no one anticipated.
On Saturday night, the Mavericks traded Dončić, Maxi Kleber and Markieff Morris to the Los Angeles Lakers in exchange for Anthony Davis, Max Christie and the Lakers’ 2029 first-round pick in one of the biggest trades in NBA history. It’s the first time in NBA history that two reigning All-NBA players were traded for each other.
While this trade will have an impact on the NBA for years to come, here’s a look at how the trade impacted the three teams involved, as well as the NBA as a whole ahead of Thursday’s trade deadline.
Dallas Mavericks
It only makes sense to start the trade with the Mavericks, as they’re the tea sucking up most of the oxygen in the trade. From the moment ESPN’s Shams Charania broke the trade, all of the internet immediately started lambasting Mavericks general manager Nico Harrison for the light return he got for Dončić.
While Mavericks got Anthony Davis in return (an NBA 75th Anniversary Team member who is averaging 25 points a game this season), they only managed to net one first-round pick for a 25-year-old All-Star who, when healthy, is one of the best players in the sport.
After the trade, ESPN’s Tim MacMahon reported that the Mavericks had “major concerns about moving forward with Luka Dončić due to his constant conditioning issues and the looming commitment of another supermax contract extension this summer.”
Dončić has been out since Christmas due to a calf strain, but all signs point toward him making his return sometime before the All-Star break later this month.
It’s not hard to picture Davis running amok in Dallas’ system, though he might be a bit of an odd fit on a team that’s already stacked with frontcourt talent. The Mavericks already have Daniel Gafford and Derrick Lively II (who is out with an ankle injury), though Davis is on a different level than both of them.
Los Angeles Lakers
This is where things get fun. While the Lakers gave up a generational big man and a first-round pick, it’s tantalizing to think about Dončić serving as the No. 2 option to LeBron James on the Lakers.
Among players with at least 400 games, Dončić’s career 28.6-point average is third in NBA history among players who have played at least 400 games, and he’s coming off a season where he averaged 33.9 points, 9.8 assists and 9.2 rebounds per game and finished third in the MVP voting.
Arguably the most interesting part of the trade is how it happened in silence. Usually, trades of this magnitude come with leaks of some kind, but this legitimately came out of nowhere, due in large part to Harrison and Lakers general manager Rob Pelinka working together on the deal. It was done so silently, in fact, that LeBron James found out about the trade while he was at dinner.
Dončić will be eligible for an extension this summer, and it’s all but guaranteed that the Lakers will offer it to him, which secures their future in a post-LeBron world. This trade locked up the Lakers presence while also securing their future.
Utah Jazz
Utah president Danny Ainge has a reputation for being one of the biggest dealmakers in the NBA, and his involvement in this trade is no exception. He was able to help facilitate the trade by picking up Jalen Hood-Schifino from the Lakers, and was able to get two second-round picks for his troubles. He just didn’t know at the time that he was helping facilitate a trade for Dončić.
How Does This Trade Impact the Rest of the NBA?
We’ve already seen the first post-Dončić domino fall in the form of a three-team trade that sent SDe’aaron Fox to the San Antonio Spurs and Zach LaVine to the Kings.
Both of those teams are hanging around on the periphery of the playoffs (the Kings are in 10th place in the Western Conference; the Spurs are in 12th), but had different reasons for making the move. The Spurs can pair Fox with All-World talent Victor Wembanyama, while the Kings now have enough talent to stay relevant while continuing to build for the future.
That trade could now serve as a precursor to what could be a wild trade deadline. Per ESPN, this is the first time that three players who have scored at least 10,000 career points with their previous franchise (Doncic, LaVine, Fox) changed teams at the deadline.
The other player this could impact the most is the Heat’s Jimmy Butler. He’s already publicly and privately asked for a trade, and has been linked the most with the Phoenix Suns, who now face even stiffer competition in the Western Conference.
On the other side of the country, the Milwaukee Bucks also seem to be itching for a deal, and can use the Dončić as an excuse to justify going big game hunting.
Regardless of what happens, this has already been a trade deadline for the ages that will have plenty of tentacles for years to come.
