Nobody saw it coming, even the players involved and those who are not.
On a quiet afternoon of Sunday, February 2, the entire landscape of the NBA changed with one single generational move.
The Dallas Mavericks pulled the trigger in a multi-team trade that centered on sending former franchise cornerstone Luka Doncic to the LA Lakers while acquiring the services of champion big man Anthony Davis.
By acquiring a talent like Doncic, the Lakers just flipped the script on their entire future with the arrival of perhaps the most accomplished young star in the league to pair up with LeBron James.
[ALSO READ: Luka Doncic to the Lakers as Los Angeles officially completes blockbuster deal]
Dallas, on the other hand, gave away the once heir apparent to legend Dirk Nowitzki and the same man who anchored the Mavericks to the NBA Finals just last season for a “win-now” move.
But the reigning Western Conference champions gained one of the premier two-way players in Davis, a champion with LA back in 2020 and a ten-time All-Star.
[ALSO READ: Mavericks announce acquisitions of Davis, Christie in trade with Lakers]
For what we know, Doncic did not request a trade and it was the Mavericks leadership that initiated trade talks with the Lakers. The deal shocked everyone—Davis, Luka, James, Kyrie Irving, and even Nowitzki—per reports.
[ALSO READ: LeBron James sends off Anthony Davis with meaningful messages after Lakers-Mavs trade]
As far as Dallas general manager Nico Harrison is concerned, it all boiled down to "culture" and the looming contract extension of the Slovenian superstar.
"There's people that fit the culture and there's people that come in and add to the culture. And those are two distinct things," Harrison said in a press conference after the trade. "And I believe the people that [are] coming in are adding to the culture."
There were no official reports stating that Doncic was unwilling to commit long term with the Mavericks. But reports were floated that Dallas was worried about the Slovenian’s fitness.
Doncic however, lost his eligibility to sign a five-year $345 million supermax contract this offseason, with the trade.
Familiar feeling with the PBA?
In the Philippine basketball setting, the Doncic-Davis trade somewhat resembled the blockbuster swap between Paul Lee and James Yap in 2016.
Yap, a two-time league MVP and the face of the Purefoods franchise for a decade at that point, got shipped to Rain or Shine. The Purefoods/Magnolia franchise, then known as the Star Hotshots, got Lee, who was coming off a championship run with the Elasto Painters in the Commissioner’s Cup and even won the Finals MVP award.
That trade also sent shockwaves to the league and was widely regarded as one the most stunning moves in PBA history.
Years later, Lee is still with Magnolia, having won his first and only title with the squad way back in the 2018 Governor’s Cup. Yap did not recapture his winning touch with ROS, leaving the squad early last year to try his hand at local politics.
[ALSO READ: PBA: Where to next, "Big Game" James Yap?]
The Luka-AD trade, in other terms just for fun
Purely just for kicks, imagine trading a caliber like today’s Scottie Thompson, who unlike Doncic is not a offensive dynamo but can stuff the stat sheet, for a then prime Marc Pingris who may not be as a lethal scorer like Davis but was a menace in the defensive end.
In terms of their capabilities translating to baseball terms, it is like trading Toronto Blue Jays first baseman Vladimir Guerrero Jr. — a juggernaut of an offensive player and has been in the MVP conversation for three of the past four seasons with so-so defense like Luka– for a guy like LA Angels star Mike Trout, who like Davis, was a beast when he’s healthy but was hounded by injuries late in his career.
In American football terms, just imagine the Baltimore Ravens trading two-time NFL MVP quarterback Lamar Jackson to Cleveland for the Browns' defensive end Myles Garrett, a juggernaut of a defender.
It would probably be as stunning as say, the Choco Mucho Flying Titans trading the explosive spiker and former MVP Sisi Rondina for say, multi-titled Pangs Panaga of the Creamline Cool Smashers.
If there was an alternate PVL timeline, Chery Tiggo maybe would have dealt the fiery Eya Laure for say, a formidable middle blocker in Majoy Baron or Riri Meneses.
Or, in a purely hypothetical setting, it's as if the DLSU Green Archers traded their MVP Kevin Quiambao to the UP Fighting Maroons for impressive big man Quentin Millora-Brown.
In the same fantastical UAAP universe, this would have been like the DLSU Lady Spikers dealing their star spiker Angel Canino to the NU Lady Bulldogs for another powerhouse in Alyssa Solomon.
Why not go further? In K-pop terms, it's as if Jungkook of BTS was swapped with G-Dragon.
Don't @ us, we're just spitballing... like what Harrison probably did with Rob Pelinka in those private conversations.
"The future for me is three, four years from now. The future 10 years from now, I don't know. They'll probably bury me and [Kidd] by then. Or we'll bury ourselves,” Harrison added.
The ramifications of this deal will reverberate for years. A number of Dallas Mavericks fans are certainly making their displeasure felt by cancelling season passes. Whatever the case maybe, time will tell who truly wins this trade.
For now, sit back, let it go, and enjoy the wild ride.