It really doesn’t feel like the Luka Dončić trade was only one year ago Sunday. It just can’t be 12 months since the Dallas Mavericks pulled the most shocking trade in NBA history, a move that permanently altered the course of two franchises. It can’t be 365 days since the news broke in the middle of the night that, yes, Nico Harrison really did that.
And yet, it is. We have reached the anniversary of the deal that sent Dončić (plus Markieff Morris and Maxi Kleber) to the Los Angeles Lakers in exchange for Anthony Davis, Max Christie and a first-round pick in 2029.
Advertisement
You probably know how that worked out.
It might feel long ago because the trade has already been chiseled into NBA lore as a complete catastrophe, a story of hubris and jealousy ripped from the theater of ancient Greece. There is already a beginning (the trade), a middle (the surprise hope of Mavs rookie Cooper Flagg after a disappointing end to the season) and an end (Harrison’s firing).
It is easy to say with the benefit of hindsight that trading Dončić — and trading Dončić in the way the Mavericks did, in the dead of night with no teams to bid against the Lakers — was a stupid move.
The funny thing is no one needed the benefit of hindsight to call that move dumb the second it was reported. Immediate reactions to the trade ranged from shocked to dumbfounded to enraged, with little support for the Mavs’ side of the deal.
Advertisement
There was, of course, one proponent of the deal for Dallas. Harrison defended the trade for months, right up until his firing in November. He acted like a man with “Fargo’s” “What if you’re right and they’re wrong?” poster hanging in his office.
Unfortunately, this is a case where they (meaning everyone) were right and Harrison was wrong.
[Subscribe to Yahoo Sports NBA on YouTube]
To understand just how wrong Harrison was about this trade, let’s revisit his stated justifications for the trade, as well as the ones leaked by a Mavericks front-office employee who may or may not have been Harrison. The reasons broke down into the following points:
Advertisement
We could interrogate those further, and also note that a personality clash/turf war between Harrison and Dončić very much seems to be the real reason, but let’s keep this simple. Complaining about Luka Dončić, who had just led you to the NBA Finals, being injury-prone and not the right centerpiece for your franchise and replacing him with 31-year-old Anthony Davis, of all people, was a fireable offense from the moment the trade got sent to the NBA office.
Harrison thought he had made a savvy move, and then watched the world be so shocked he would do such a thing that several people honestly believed ESPN’s Shams Charania had been hacked when he broke news of the trade. The idea of an NBA insider’s password leaking was more believable than, “No, the Mavericks really just traded Luka Dončić.”
That group included NBA players:
An overwhelming majority of Mavericks fans immediately hated the trade, to the point of fan protests, vandalism, “Fire Nico” signs, “Fire Nico” chants at a college basketball game and increased security at Mavericks games and Harrison’s home.
Advertisement
Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes, one of the team’s most famous fans, wasn’t happy either.
Former Mavericks majority owner Mark Cuban, who hired Harrison and then got sidelined after new controlling owner Patrick Dumont took over, immediately made clear he had no part in it.
Cuban later said he “didn’t agree” with the trade and chastised the team he still owns a stake of for not even looking for a better return. That was the most criticized aspect of the trade.
You don’t want Dončić anymore? Fine. Most executives — perhaps every GM in the league but one — would have then reached out to teams and tried to start a bidding war, which would have almost certainly netted a plethora of draft picks as well as a player you can start building around. Mikal Bridges got the Brooklyn Nets five first-round picks. Rudy Gobert got the Utah Jazz four firsts, a pick swap and Walker Kessler. James Harden got four first-round picks and four pick swaps. Paul George got five firsts and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.
Advertisement
That path, however, presented a problem for Harrison. He clearly knew what the reaction would have been, and perhaps didn’t like his odds of pulling it off had word reached Dončić or Cuban. So he did it with as little movement as possible, reaching out to the Lakers and nailing down the trade.
Many media members, and executives, couldn’t believe the Mavericks really did it.
Dozens of NBA players blasted the trade in private in a Sports Illustrated article:
“It’s one of the worst basketball decisions I’ve ever seen.”
“I don’t think they should have traded him. No way. And this is just the short term right now. We’ll see where it’s at five years from now. But you just can’t do that. No way.”
“Dallas did Luka Dončić wrong.”
“Terrible decision. If (Dončić) came in weighing 500 pounds, so what? He’s still averaging damn near a 30-point triple-double.”
“(I) didn’t agree with it. You don’t trade somebody like Luka, regardless of the stuff you want to say about him. You turn the other cheek. There are some players you just don’t trade, I don’t care.”
Some politely tried to see it from the Mavs’ side, with some caveats:
“Thought it was a win-win, short term. I thought Dallas won it short term, even though, obviously in hindsight, Anthony got hurt. I think the Lakers won long term. In actuality, the Lakers won short term and long term, the way that it happened. (But) you’ve got to have some people that defend to win a championship. I think that’s what Dallas was looking at, and we know Luka’s not that.”
And some were clearly members of the Lakers:
“I think it’s phenomenal decision. So smart. Wise. I’m a Nico Harrison fan.”
For the fan perspective, here’s an assortment of top comments from this Reddit thread:
Anyone would get laughed the f*** out of here for proposing this
28 other GMs just found out Luka was available
f*** outta here. No way this can be real. No way you trade a top 5 player if you dont have to
If this is real the Mavs need to be investigated because this is maybe the worst deal in NBA history
Even AD is thinking, wow, am I that good?
Advertisement
There’s really no other way to cut it. No one with a notable platform supported the trade as a clear win for Dallas. At best, some were cautiously curious about what could happen if Davis, Kyrie Irving and Klay Thompson all stayed healthy for the playoffs. That obviously and predictably didn’t happen, and it now looks like it will never happen.
Harrison went on to express some contrition about the trade that will define his career. In April, he admitted he didn’t realize “what level” his fan base loved Dončić. He tried to project confidence, laughably bragging that “fans can finally start to see the vision” after winning the Flagg pick on a 1.8% shot in the NBA Draft lottery. He kept hearing the chants.
Advertisement
Meanwhile, Cuban was once again in Dumont’s ear, as were the fans. As the Mavericks’ chances of contending unsurprisingly nosedived this season with Davis hurt again and Irving still out, the team’s ultimate decision-maker saw what everyone else saw that fateful night.