The Detroit Pistons and the rest of the NBA ecosystem are still stunned by a late-night weekend trade that send Luka Doncic to the Lakers in exchange for Anthony Davis and just one first-round pick.
That’s right, Luka Doncic, one of the top-5 players in the world, was traded for less than Mikal Bridges, less than Rudy Gobert, far less than the guy he was traded for in Anthony Davis and most recently, less than De’Aaron Fox.
It was the most inexplicable and terrible trade of my lifetime, as the Mavericks just moved one of the NBA’s premier players, who is not even in his prime yet, for an entirely underwhelming deal.
Look, Anthony Davis is a very good player, still a top-15 guy with a title who can help the Mavs get back there, but he’s six years older than Doncic and has had plenty of injury issues of his own.
Even if you decided you had to trade Luka (WHY?) and it HAD to be to the Lakers (WHY?), why wouldn’t you leak it to make LA up their offer? Why not let the whole league bid on Luka and walk away with a king’s ransom? If I were Dallas, I would have gone to Houston and asked for Sengun, Thompson, Sheppard and all of their picks. I would have gone to OKC and asked for Chet Holmgren, another player or two and all of their picks. Why not explore to at least make the Lakers toss in another pick?
It makes no sense and we should probably make sure Harrison doesn’t owe someone money.
Nico Harrison is what happens when you think you are the smartest man in the room, a phenomenon the Pistons have some experience with themselves after watching Troy Weaver think he was outsmarting everyone by collecting their discarded trash.
Harrison is what happens when ego overwhelms common sense, as you just don’t trade a player like Luka. Ever. And certainly not when he is 25 years old and led you to the NBA Finals LAST FREAKING YEAR. I am still stunned and still angry that the Lakers once again have a generational superstar fall into their laps because they have nice weather and celebrities.
But the trade also shows the stunning hypocrisy of the league and fans, who demand loyalty from the players but none from anyone else.
Loyalty is a one-way street in the NBA
Still to this day, I see fans regularly bringing up Kevin Durant as a mercenary whose titles don’t mean as much because he had to run to the Warriors to get them.
I constantly see fans complaining about players making trade demands and they quickly turn on guys when there are even hints that they might leave.
Players are meant to show unquestioned loyalty, and if they win a title with a team that didn’t draft them, it will never be viewed the same as the titles Kobe Bryant, or Tim Duncan or Isiah Thomas won because they were loyal!
What about the teams?
Luka Doncic never asked for a trade, has said repeatedly that he wanted to play his entire career in Dallas and has done nothing but dominate since he’s entered the league, making first-team All-NBA five straight times, going to two conference finals and the NBA Finals before he was 26 years old, accolades guys like Michael Jordan or LeBron never had at his age.
Yet, he was traded without even being consulted in a move that will cost him a ton of money, as he is no longer eligible for the super max BECAUSE he was traded.
That little wrinkle in the CBA was added to stop superstars from demanding trades when their contracts were expiring, as it would cost them years and money, but that’s not what happened here, yet Doncic gets penalized anyway even though he didn’t want to leave and never asked for or wanted a trade.
It’s hypocrisy at its finest, as we call players “soft” or “disloyal” when they want trades to better situations, yet let the teams off the hook when they say “it’s just a business.”
This is why I don’t get mad when players try to get their way, as I watch the game to watch them, not the owners, who would sell their team and players out in a heartbeat if it meant five more bucks into their billionaire pockets.
We should all accept that loyalty is hard to come by in the NBA and there are no untouchables, as I would have bet any amount of money against Dallas trading Luka, but here we are.
Meanwhile, the Lakers get to reboot their franchise around another superstar and must have thought they were getting pranked when they first heard this offer, especially with Dallas telling them to “keep quiet” about it.
Keep quiet!?! The Lakers were happy to, as it ensured there weren’t 29 other teams lined up with better offers.
The whole thing stinks and I’ll be using it as an example the next time I hear a fan complaining about the players' lack of loyalty but not their billionaire owner or egomaniac team president.