I'm still in shock that this trade even happened.
Saying "Luka Doncic is a Laker" still feels like a joke. It's fake news. But it's not.
The golden rule when it comes to following these NBA trade news is that if it hasn't been reported by Adrian Wojnarowski nor Shams Charania (more so the latter), it's not real. It a clickbait.
This trade still doesn't feel real that Shams had to confirm it not once, but multiple times on a late Saturday night that this was not a drill.
So here's the quick breakdown: the Lakers, the Dallas Mavericks, and the Utah Jazz engaged in a 3-team trade. Utah gets Jalen Hood-Schifino, one of the Clippers' 2nd round pick, and the Mavs' 2nd round pick. But the real meat behind this trade is the Lakers get Luka Doncic, Maxi Kleber, and Markieff Morris (welcome back BTW) in exchange for Anthony Davis, Max Christie, and a 2029 first round pick.
That was it. That's all it took to get Luka.
Now as we're trying to get our minds settled in, let me make this perfectly clear in my opinion of this. This move is not a "win now" move. Let's be realistic here. When you look at the outlook of the roster this season, this was by no means a championship roster. Even though this team is surging and currently 5th in the West, I see this team at best getting bounced in the 1st round in the playoffs. And the biggest weakness the Lakers was that they had no other solid big man besides Anthony Davis. And now that AD is gone, the Lakers now have a big void to fill. This team is not going to win with Jaxson Hayes and Christian Koloko playing meaningful minutes. And even if and when Christian Wood creeps back into the rotation, they don't have a reliable big. Their literal frontcourt is a 40-year old LeBron, Rui, Vando, and Dorian Finney-Smith and Hayes and Koloko in that true Center spot. This team is going to get wrecked when they run into opponents that have an elite big like the Nuggets and Jokic.
With AD no longer anchoring the paint and getting players into position defensively, the Lakers are gonna get exposed night in and night out. Luka is not a great defender. Austin Reaves not a great defender. LeBron? At this stage of his career? Not a great defender. Besides Vando and DFS who can guard positions 1-5, that is not enough to cover most of the Lakers' deficiencies. And you consider the fit too. LeBron and Luka are both ball dominant players. And one of them is going to have to sacrifice their game to get the Lakers to win basketball games. It's exciting that you have two high-IQ players that can score and pass the ball and rebound. But somebody has to cede responsibilities to make this pairing work.
That is the short-term outlook. The long-term outlook? As mentioned, LeBron is 40 and he can walk away from the NBA anytime soon. And the Lakers as a franchise needs to look at the future of this team. And they have two choices: 1) you can keep AD and build around him, but at best he's only got 2-3 more great years of basketball left before his body breaks down or 2) you can build around a 25-26 year old Luka Doncic. Weight problems aside, he's already a top 5 superstar and a MVP-caliber player and his best basketball is still yet to come.
It's simple, you choose the latter. You build around Luka freakin' Doncic! If he's available, you take it. No questions asked.
And this is what's mind boggling to me. Of all the teams to help the Lakers solve their bleak post-LeBron future, the Dallas Mavericks? This trade reminded me of the fact that Mark Cuban is no longer in charge of that franchise. He sold his majority stake. And this trade wouldn't fly with him if he was still in charge because he wants the Lakers to essentially suck forever and he'll die on that hill! But this team under the current ownership, just gifted their franchise cornerstone to the Lakers before he was able to reach the peak of his basketball career! Like we are not getting a true superstar who is washed like trades of yesteryear. We are getting a superstar that is close to his prime or at his prime already. Luka is already an offensive juggernaut, defensive deficiencies aside, weight aside. He can score from anywhere and he's an absolute magician with the ball in his hands. He's not the flashiest player nor is he super athletic, but he's incredibly crafty with the basketball. And I'm not gonna lie when I say this, but he was one of my favorite players to watch that's not on the Lakers until now. Every fantasy team I drafted, I was gunning for Luka if I was in position to draft him.
If you're a Mavs fan, I understand how confusing this is, how torn you must be because you're not used to this. This is like if they gave us Dirk Nowitzki to team up with Kobe Bryant in exchange for Pau Gasol and Shannon Brown. And the reason your team gave away Luka like that was they were "concerned" about his weight and conditioning. And they believe defense wins championships that's why they got AD. With all due respect, AD is a beast when healthy, a top two-way player in the league when healthy. And he'll finally have quality big men to play alongside with in Dereck Lively and Daniel Gafford. But with this trade, it is absolutely essential for Dallas to win now or within the next 2-3 years. So this works for them in the short-term. However, it's gonna be too much to ask an old Kyrie, and old Klay, and a soon-to-be-old AD to carry this team to a deep playoff run because all their careers, they have shown that they can't carry a team on their back. These next 2-3 years are gonna define their legacies before their careers are all said and done.
If anything to take from this trade, the Lakers had to think critically about their future. They wasted so many opportunities in the LeBron-AD era. It's sad to think the only defining moment in that era was winning that 2020 bubble championship. And we wish the best of luck to Anthony Davis in Dallas. But this trade to get Luka Doncic, it gives the Lakers' future new life. That was the first step. The 2nd step, they have to build a contender around him in 2-3 years tops. This means find him another superstar whether it's via trade, free agency, or the unthinkable option: draft and develop one and surround him with quality role players who can shoot and defend. Rob Pelinka, Jeanie Buss, JJ Reddick, you were given a rare gift. Use it well.
With that said, thank you Anthony Davis, Max Christie (solid game against NYK last night BTW), and Jalen Hood-Schifino (I forgot you were still on the team). And welcome to the Lake Show, Luka Doncic! I'm excited to see "Luka Magic" bring "Showtime" back to the Lakers in the now and into the future.
