There will be no making fun of Jerry or Stephen Jones today. Maybe not for a few months. After the Saturday Night Midnight Massacre, I’m having trouble remembering why I or anyone was ever mad at the Cowboys.
The Mavericks did the unthinkable shortly before midnight Saturday, and by that, I mean about 60-70% of that is trading Luka Doncic, a 25-year-old superstar who led the Mavs to the NBA Finals last June. That is not a place this franchise is headed possibly for the next decade unless they make a blockbuster of this extraordinary type in reverse.
The other 30-40% of it is that GM Nico Harrison executed this trade — and you have to blame him for it, Mark Cuban isn’t there to be kicked around any longer — in order to get Anthony Davis from the Lakers. That’s right, a player six years older than Luka is now coming to Dallas, presumably to tag team with two other 30-somethings, Kyrie Irving and Klay Thompson, to lead this team to, what, a play-in game? In a Western Conference where Oklahoma City, Houston and Memphis will just run you off the floor with their youth and athleticism, the Mavericks are seeking to win based on memories of a decade ago.
I will say it now and I will say it again 48 hours from now: There is something missing here.
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I’m told that this was Nico Harrison’s deal, that it took several weeks to play out after the Mavericks reached out to the Lakers, and that Harrison got full support from Mavericks governor Patrick Dumont.
— Brad Townsend (@townbrad) February 2, 2025
There has to be some element of this trade not yet reported, some bizarre set of facts that led Harrison and the Mavericks down this incredibly silly path. Remember the Mavericks traded Jason Kidd when he was 23 so he could make eight All-Star Game appearances with Phoenix and New Jersey before closing his career back in Dallas with the franchise’s single championship. As good as Kidd was obviously going to be, he wasn’t there yet. He wasn’t first-team all-NBA year after year like Luka has been until this injury-plagued season.
Speaking of injuries, Davis has been reasonably healthy this season and last. Prior to that, Davis had a three-year run of 36-40-56 games played. If the Mavericks are going to, either publicly or privately, argue that Luka’s unavailability this season led Harrison to pursue this trade — again, incredibly, it was not the other way around — maybe they should have sought younger or healthier talent in return?
Or is Harrison going to tell us there was just no market out there … for Luka Doncic?
“I believe that defense wins championships,” Harrison told ESPN late Saturday-early Sunday.
Has he watched his team play? Does he think Klay Thompson defends the way he did 10-12 years ago?
His notion that the Mavericks are built to win now and better served by the presence of Davis is just unbelievably flawed. And what about when Davis — 32 in March but already in his 13th pro season — is back to missing 40 games a year in a year or two? What exactly will Harrison have built the Mavericks for at that stage?
Mavs fans are going to be sick for a while. That was a given when management decided to trade Luka. But putting him in a Lakers uniform? This is a nightmare they can’t escape.
LeBron James may play until he’s 50. He can thank Nico Harrison for whatever records he breaks in the process.
As for the Mavericks, it’s not about breaking records. Next year if not sooner, they are headed for a breakdown of their own device.
