The Jazz were involved in the Luka Doncic/Anthony Davis mega-deal between the Lakers and Mavericks as a third-team facilitator, taking on Jalen Hood-Schifino‘s expiring contract and getting a pair of 2025 second-rounders for their willingness to eat that salary.
However, according to Ramona Shelburne and Tim MacMahon of ESPN, the talks between Dallas and Los Angeles were so closed off that Utah didn’t even know Doncic and Davis were involved in the trade until approximately an hour before it was completed. All the Jazz knew was that they were acquiring two second-round picks along with Hood-Schifino.
As ESPN’s duo writes, the Lakers had a few backup plans lined up if the Jazz ended up backing out. Utah had to complete a trade with the Clippers earlier on Saturday in order to make sure there was a roster spot available to take on Hood-Schifino — the Jazz ended up waiving Mohamed Bamba a day after acquiring him from the Clippers to open up that spot.
According to Shelburne and MacMahon, Mavericks general manager Nico Harrison decided early in the process that the best way to go about trading Doncic was to target a specific deal he wanted and to keep it quiet. While the Mavs have faced some criticism for not opening up the process and potentially creating a bidding war, Harrison didn’t want to risk Doncic and his agent exerting leverage from their end — he also hoped to avoid creating a fan backlash during the negotiations, per ESPN.
Here’s more on the blockbuster trade whose shock waves are still reverberating across the NBA:
- Within their in-depth look ta the deal, Shelburne and MacMahon write that Doncic’s habits on and off the court that had long frustrated the Mavericks. According to ESPN’s duo, when Doncic missed 11 days in November due to what was called a right wrist sprain, the primary motive was to give him time to shed weight, since he was in the high-260s. “I mean, who gains weight during the season when you’re playing 40 minutes a game?” one team source complained to ESPN last year. The Mavs considered Doncic’s ideal weight to be 245 points, but he frequently played in the 250-255 range or higher.
- As Marc Stein previously reported, the full-time “body team” that Doncic hired out of pocket prior to the 2023/24 season was another source of frustration for Dallas. According to ESPN, the Mavs didn’t notice any improvements in the guard’s conditioning or availability, and complained about poor communication with Doncic’s team, which consisted of Slovenian national team strength coach Anze Macek, physiotherapist Javier Barrio Calvo, and nutritionist Lucia Almendros from Real Madrid.
- New Mavericks governor Patrick Dumont didn’t have the same kind of personal relationship with Doncic that former majority owner Mark Cuban did, per Shelburne and MacMahon, who say Dumont trusted in Harrison’s belief that the trade would give the Mavs a better culture-setter in Davis, along with more financial flexibility and a defense-first identity. Cuban, who is still a minority stakeholder in the franchise, declined to comment on the deal, but one team source told ESPN, “No way Mark would ever trade Luka. It wouldn’t even be a conversation.”
- Doncic had anticipated signing a five-year super-max extension with the Mavericks during the 2025 offseason, sources tell ESPN — he never gave any indication that he had considered the idea of leaving Dallas and had begun searching for a new home in the city. However, team sources tell Shelburne and MacMahon that the club was as concerned about Doncic signing that contract as they were about him not signing it.
- David Aldridge of The Athletic spoke to several executives around the league about their impressions of the Doncic/Davis trade and how it was negotiated. While some of those execs questioned Dallas’ thinking, others pointed out that the Mavs knew Doncic better than any other team. “Luka has the ability to take a franchise to the highest level and has shown that,” one Eastern Conference executive said. “He is a winner, but it seems that Dallas knows something that others might not know and made a decision that they feel is best for now and their future.”
- Marc J. Spears of Andscape hears that Doncic and the Lakers are targeting next week – likely either Monday or Wednesday vs. Utah – for his debut with the team (Twitter video link). Doncic has been out since Christmas Day due to a calf strain.
Just be honest, the ownership don’t want to invest $345 million on any player. Even LUKA
It’s what happens when ownership groups only pay attention to their Profit and Loss Statements. I saw a few notes that the ownership group didn’t expect that the PR would be this bad LOL.
Never knew that Nico was part of the Nike team that screwed up the Steph pitch. Amazing.
That’s what happens when Mark Cuban is no longer the main owner
@dezpo
I don’t bring cheap is the reason. AD is going to earn between $55-$60 mil per year. I think it’s more about paying a guy with chronic conditioning issues $65+ mil as they get older. He he’s 25 but what happened when he experiences chronic health issues that he can’t bounce back from as he ages?
“chronic conditioning issues”
Why are people buying this farcical PR “issue” from ownership and the front office? He has five straight All-NBA First Teams and is regularly in the MVP voting. He played in 92 games last year and averaged 41 minutes per game in the playoffs, where he was excellent. Who cares if he’s as big as a blimp if he’s performing to that level?
They are going to learn the hard way how much you can lose when people stop caring and showing up. And when they do realize it they’ll learn “we’re sorry” isn’t enough when you trade a generational talent.
They want the people in Dallas not to show up so theyll have numbers to show that moving the team to Vegas would be better for them.
@tall
the nba will not allow them to mine the team. Vegas will almost certainly be an expansion team and honestly, with AD, Kyrie and Klay they can contend. It’s just a matter if Kyrie wants to stay.
I do agree with you but Id rather have them move as theyve already crushed the Mavs soul out of their fans bodies.
The only thing that will make things better at Dallas is if new ownership comes in along with a new FO.
Even if they win a championship with Kyrie AD and Klay, it wont be as good as if they win a championship with Luka.
I could be wrong though as winning cures all so just my 2 cents.
Ah yes the body team… Body by McDonalds.
Nico’s farewell text to Luka “Why don’t you go on eat a cheeseburger you basketball eatin walrus meffa ”
Luka “Actually I’m not on the cheeseburgers”
Nico “Don’t play me like some kinda sucka dawg, meffas with guts like that ain’t off the cheeseburgers, meffas with guts like that are definitely On the cheeseburgers”
If you watch Trailer Park Boys you get it.
From Whataburger to In and out burger
A mans gotta eat
J-roc baby J-roc baby
Luka is a Mustard Tiger “what are you staring at my gut for?”
All that’s come out about this deal on the Mavs end is that Nico was really quiet about wanting to deal Luka. And that they had concerns about his body.
The first part is great work from the GM to do his job really well. The second part is just stupid cause your completely ignoring the fact in return you’ve gotten back a soon to be 32 year old PF/C who’s had a very checkered history of injuries and who’s had a very big work load ever since he’s been in the league. Like no matter what way you look at it, Luka might pick up injuries and miss games due to his weight or conditioning but AD would be playing at the level he’s currently playing for much longer. Give it 2 years and Luka will be in his prime and AD will likely be struggling to stay on the court for more than 50 games a season and at best will be averaging 18/20. Give it another 2 years and Luka will still be in his prime and AD will be either retired or on the brink of it.
Nice done really well going about the trade until he decided that was the best return he could get. Not that his con earns aren’t valid but the return you’ve received isn’t actually a better than what you had
What I don’t get is why the Lakers think they need Luka, they have Bronny.
Luka is totally blocking Bronny’s minutes … wouldn’t be surprised if the Lakeshow decided to offer up Luka for draft picks next year.
Bronny gets talked about on this board more than 95 percent of the players in the league.
Which is pathetic.
These guys have a crush on Bronny and they know that they will get rejected.
Can’t wait until Saturday when the Mavs returned home to play I heard there’s gonna be a massive sit in in the middle of the court
All other stuff aside bc it’s been talked abt already and is still hurting my brain … mavs have to make another trade here , right? Seems like a crazy burden on Kyrie to be the only real ball-handler
Obviously there not on Luka’s level but the Mavs still have Dinwiddie and Exum. They’re both competent ball handlers. Hardy’s inconsistent but has shown some skills as well.
In think Dallas ends up with the better team. If in fact Lively is out for the year. Gafford and AD make them one of the best two big combos in the league. Possibly better than Mobley & Allen
Dallas has just become “Swat City”
This year for sure … although, if the Lakers snag a decent Center, all bets are off. Reeves plus the 2031 1st Rnd Pick might actually get something good.
The upside to having a league-wide bidding war is just too great versus keeping this between him and Pelinka.
Luka’s a prime, legit superstar….. he may not be chiseled and all that, but he gets buckets on a historic level.
Heck, KD can’t bench press the minimum standard.
There wasn’t even anything wrong with approaching the Lakers in secret first, but once he saw the return Luka was going to fetch he should’ve threatened to open up the bidding to all teams unless the return improved substantially. Even then it may not have been enough given the Lakers limited coffers, but the point is the fool didn’t even realize he had leverage himself.
Hence there might be more here than meets the eye ….. probably not, but even the most naive hoops loving fool out there, knows there’s so much better packages out there than AD, Max and a single pick.
@Shea
What’s even crazier is that you think a veteran guy that’s been in the game so long wouldn’t realize that. He stayed he did it this way because he didn’t want it to be done long protracted deal that spilled out into the media and became a big distraction. The article mentioned that Utah had no idea about the other players/ teams involved with the deal other than one of them was the Lakers because Hood Schifino was the player they were acquiring.
The method was alright…
The chosen package was far from alright…
This is worse than that vetoed CP3 trade…
“According to Shelburne and MacMahon, Mavericks general manager Nico Harrison decided early in the process that the best way to go about trading Doncic was to target a specific deal he wanted and to keep it quiet. While the Mavs have faced some criticism for not opening up the process and potentially creating a bidding war, Harrison didn’t want to risk Doncic and his agent exerting leverage from their end — he also hoped to avoid creating a fan backlash during the negotiations, per ESPN.”
Understandable concerns. Still incredibly stupid not to seek the best possible return. Even with Team Luka trying to guide this ship, there would still likely been several ports offering better wares than what he was able to obtain. And the backlash point is moot because he’s facing even worse backlash now.
Dude is trying to play chess when checkers is the game.
“to avoid creating fan backlash during negotiations” … just amazing. At this point, they should just stop talking about it. Every additional piece of info that gets released just makes it look worse.
Maybe Nico would’ve hired Justin Baldoni’s PR hit company to just undermine Luka through socials and create a different narrative.
Make the Lakers great again. Anyway possible. Paranoia aside. Going back to when the Lakers lucked out that Ted Septien the Cavs owner was a moron and the Lakers were able to secure a high draft pick. Then got Magic Johnson because of it.
To Kobe extorting the Hornets to find a way to get him to LA. You would think they would want maybe the New York teams to get some of this action and be gifted a player of this caliber.
I think the only players you wouldn’t trade for Luka was Jokic and Wemby.
The amazing thing is that if it doesn’t workout this year and next, they can sign him to an extension and then see if anyone would trade for Luka (assuming his stats remain close to the same). At 27, even a semi-healthy Luka would bring back a haul.
Nico Harrison, like Darryl Morey, should not be allowed anywhere near an NBA team or player.
Its not that he traded a generational talent, that will sometimes need to happen, its getting back a lesser package for him. Letting Jalen Brunson walk for nothing was one thing, but this is just malpractice. AD is fine for a year or two, and lets be true to him, he has only missed 10 out of his last 130 games, so “injury prone” isn’t in good faith, but Luka should have bought back a younger superstar than he is. At least get Anthony Edwards, yknow?
…or send him to the East, where you won’t face him 4x a year + playoffs! Orlando with Mosley, Indiana with Carlisle, Atlanta with Quin and Bogey, … all would have been preferable. Even if you can’t get Giannis, go for the Wagners, a Myles Turner, Dyson Daniels + JJ or Trae, …. c’mon, man!
Cooper Flagg ends up a Laker.