The fallout from the Dallas Mavericks trade of Luka Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers just won’t hover or linger around the franchise.
It will stick to the Mavericks like a bad scent and what they do – and don’t do – will be seen through this prism: the Mavericks traded a 25-year-old five-time All-NBA guard who is one of the top-five players in the world and has not entered his prime seasons.
They made three questionable choices.
They decided they can’t win a title with Doncic.
They didn’t want to give him a five-year, $345 million extension.
They returned an insufficient amount of assets for Doncic.
League executives are flabbergasted. Agents are aghast. Mavs fans are irate.
Inexplicable is a word an agent used to describe Dallas’ move.
Doncic’s dad, Sasa, vented his frustration, calling out the secrecy and accusing the Mavs of hypocrisy. Luka absolutely doesn’t deserve this,” he told Slovenian outlet Arena Sport 1.
Everyone understands it’s a business, and players are traded – and sometimes players request trades. Doncic didn’t ask for a trade and didn’t say he wouldn’t sign an extension. Maybe Dallas was trying to get in front of a potential trade request.
Let’s start with the money. You win with the stars in the NBA, and stars get paid – from Boston’s Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown to Denver’s Nikola Jokic to Golden State’s Steph Curry to Milwaukee’s Giannis Antetokounmpo to the Los Angeles Lakers’ LeBron James. Those teams and players represent the past five NBA champions.
Yes, $345 million over five seasons is an absurd amount of money, but it’s also possible because the league and players agreed on a 50-50 split of basketball-related income in the collective bargaining agreement. Within that agreement, teams can pay certain players a supermax contract that is 35% of the salary cap in a season.
