I’ve been covering the Detroit Pistons for six years and following them and the NBA far longer than that, and I can’t remember a trade as stunning as the one that sent Luka Doncic to the Lakers for Anthony Davis and a 1st-round pick.
I ranted about it here for those who are interested, but I still can’t wrap my head around what Dallas was thinking.
They got a very good player in Anthony Davis, but he’s six years older than Doncic and comes with injury red flags of his own.
But the part of the deal that made absolutely no sense was that the Mavs only got ONE first-round pick for a guy who is a top-5 player and not even in his prime.
Rudy Gobert netted four first rounders. Mikal Bridges brought back five. De’Aaron Fox was just traded yesterday and the Kings got three first-round picks and none of these players are in the same tier as Luka, not even close.
I immediately wondered if the Detroit Pistons might somehow end up with a better trade deadline haul than the one the Mavs just got for a guy who may go down as one of the greatest players of all time, which shows you just how bad that trade was.
Could the Detroit Pistons make out better than Dallas Mavericks did for Luka Doncic?
The answer is a quick no, as the Pistons are not going to land a player at the deadline the caliber of Anthony Davis, who is still a top-15 player in this league at worst.
So, let’s focus on the pick.
The lone pick the Mavericks got was the Laker’s 2029, and again, it’s a choice that made no sense.
That is only four years from now, and the Lakers are going to have Luka, so the chances of them being bad enough for that pick to matter are slim. The Mavs would have been smarter to take their 2031 pick, which has a better chance of being a good one, though the Lakers will have probably been gifted their next superstar by then.
The Mavs should have gotten both picks, at least, but didn’t so are now stuck with one that doesn’t project to be very good.
Meanwhile, the Pistons are sitting on cap space and are willing to give it away for nothing less than a first-round pick, one that could very likely be better than the one that Dallas just got from LA.
The Pistons could end up with a pick from the Bucks, Heat or some other team looking to make a big deal that needs to shed payroll. They could even get a better pick from the Lakers themselves, who still have their 2031 pick to dangle for a player like Isaiah Stewart, who would fill a glaring need.
When it comes to draft assets, the Pistons may come out of this trade deadline in better shape than the Mavericks, which is absolute malpractice on the part of Nico Harrison and their front office, who just gave away a superstar for pennies on the dollar.