The Los Angeles Lakers pulled off one of the more stunning and unexpected trades in the history of the NBA earlier this month.
The Lakers traded for superstar guard Luka Dončić from the Dallas Mavericks in a trade that certain people are still perplexed by.
It was a move that no one saw coming, especially Mavericks and Lakers fans. This changes the entire dynamic for both teams from now until at least the next decade.
While Dončić did not request a trade, some people in Dallas and certainly part of the Mavericks organization have talked down on him from talking about issues of his weight and conditioning.
The organization apparently did not believe in him and is kicking him down since they traded him away.
The Mavericks have taken unnecessary shots at Dončić, but it isn’t stopping at people from the Mavericks organization.
Former Texas Rangers champion, now a member of the Washington Nationals, Nathaniel Lowe, took a massive shot at Dončić as well.
Lowe made an appearance at the Chris Rose Rotation. While flexing his World Series ring from 2023, he said, “Luka is not sporting one of those”
Certainly, it would be one thing if Dončić requested a trade from the Mavericks, but that was not the case at all.
The Mavericks believed that they could not win with Dončić, although he has taken them to the Western Conference Finals twice and just made the NBA Finals with his last season.
Dončić believed, like everyone else, that he would be a Maverick for life, but general manager Nico Harrison and the Dumont-Adelson family had other plans in mind.
The 25-year-old did wonders for the city of Dallas and the Mavericks organization. In 422 career NBA regular season games (all starts) across seven campaigns with Dallas (2018-25), Dončić has averaged 28.6 points, 8.7 rebounds, 8.3 assists, and 1.2 steals in 34.9 minutes.
Dončić’s career points per game average in the regular season is the third highest in NBA history. In 50 career playoff games (all starts), he’s averaged 30.9 points, 9.4 rebounds, 8.0 assists, and 1.7 steals in 38.9 minutes with an NBA Finals appearance in 2024.
Dončić is now in Los Angeles, and the organization will now do everything they can to make him a Laker for the remainder of his career.
One man’s trash is another man’s treasure, and to Los Angeles, they feel like they have struck gold.