The Dallas Mavericks have traded their franchise superduper star, Luka Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers for Anthony Davis and a first-round pick. It still doesn’t feel real. You don’t trade Luka Doncic.
When something like this happens you first ask yourself, ‘Why?’ And that is exactly what I did just a little after midnight when I got this notification. After I asked myself why as I was left speechless waiting in line to get into a bar with the squad, I just assumed Shams Charania was hacked.
Shams knew this assumption would pop into every sane person’s mind and had to tweet out saying “Yes, this is real.” This trade made us believe a reporter was hacked. That is how dumbfounding this is and still is two days later.
Never in a million years would any NBA fan think Luka would ever be traded. You don’t trade Luka Doncic. The question everyone loves to think about is what players would you choose when creating an NBA team from scratch. I think there are three right answers to this, Nikola Jokic, Victor Wembanyama, and none other than Luka Doncic. Those are the three pillars right now and you can argue Giannis Antetokounmpo should be up there and sure but that isn’t what this is about right now.
You don’t trade the players that people say they want to start an NBA franchise with.
The mastermind behind this move is GM Nico Harrison. Harrison was motivated by the mantra that defense wins championships and the conditioning of Doncic.
Totally fair, right, defense does in fact wins championships so here’s an idea: Trade for, sign, or draft defensive players to put around the 25-year-old basketball magician.
Doncic totally has problems with staying in shape but you know what he just did not even a year ago? He just brought this team to an NBA Finals appearance out of shape and with a bad leg. Imagine what he can do when healthy and in shape. How about get a better training staff, get him a better conditioning coach, try and get him right. You don’t trade Luka Doncic.
The dude is the same age as me right now, the same age as LeBron James in 2010, Kobe Bryant in 2004, and Al-Farouq Aminu in 2016. He is only going to get exponentially better.
I don’t know let’s just take a look at his stats this season, shall we? In the 22 games he has played he is averaging, 28 ppg, 8 rpg, and 8 apg. That is nearly a triple-double in bad shape and with a constant calf injury.
This has been a rant of sorts out of frustration for the stupidity in this decision. I have always believed that Luka should’ve been the first pick that year. I still and will always believe that Luka is our next G.O.A.T. from Michael Jordan to LeBron to Luka Magic. Harrison’s job is to create a roster that can win-now with Doncic on the team not use him to create a win-now roster.
I feel awful for any Maverick fans out there. I wrote about how the Damian Lillard trade affected me being a Trail Blazers fan but I can understand the huge difference in nature that was. Dame isn’t the transcendent superstar Luka is, Dame wasn’t 25 he was 33. Dame had requested a trade due to never getting the right roster around him to win and that was a bummer but understandable. Luka wasn’t told about this trade, he had just gone to the NBA Finals, he is everything to Maverick fans and this genuinely sucks for them.
I hope Luka fulfills the potential I and many others see for him and wreaks havoc on this league. I hope he wins multiple titles and makes the powers that be that approved this monstrosity of a trade look even stupider than they do now.
You don’t trade Luka Doncic.
ColesNBABlog 