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The trade deadline this year wasn’t looking particularly exciting, however, De’Aaron Fox and Jimmy Butler did appear to be on the move. The Luka Doncic headline has taken over these potential, and completed, trades that has seen a 25-year-old “untouchable” be moved to the Los Angeles Lakers in return for a player in Anthony Davis who will most likely retire in the next 10 years. LA have again provided themselves with a franchise player on the brink of another’s tenure coming to an end. They have done this many times from Magic and Kareem to Kobe and Shaq to Lebron and Antony Davis to now Luka Doncic. Questions are being raised over the sanity of Mavericks GM Nico Harrison. But the last year of NBA trades have shown us that a developing trend over the past 10 years that has empowered player movement means that there aren’t many untouchables in the NBA. Players like Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving and James Harden have begun a trend that has empowered player movement with Lebron leaving to the Heat to KD leaving two championship contenders because he wanted out, Kyrie Irving forcing his way out of Cleveland, Boston and Brooklyn: building himself a reputation as a bad locker room guy. To finally James Harden forcing his way out of Houston, Brooklyn and Philadelphia has led to players being moved that would of never have seen another jersey 20 years ago.
The Luka Doncic trade saw him moved for an All-NBA and All-Defensive player in Anthony Davis, however, they only received one first-round pick in return for arguably the best player in the NBA. Players like Rudy Gobert, Donovan Mitchell, Kevin Durant, Mikal Bridges and Karl-Anthony Towns have been traded for more. These trades are some of the biggest returns seen in recent NBA history and comparing them to the Doncic trade is astounding as it truly portrays the idiocy of the Mavericks management for moving a player of such a calibre.
Kevin Durant
Kevin Durant is one of the greatest players to have ever played basketball, often being regarded as one of the greatest scorers of all time. KD was still an All-Star at the time of his trade and still is, but he is not the player he used to be and isn’t far off retiring from professional basketball and yet, still, was traded for more than Luka Doncic because his value was known to all the NBA as he had requested out of Brooklyn. Luka Doncic was only shopped to Rob Pelinka and the Los Angeles Lakers, and it appears that Harrison had his eyes set on Davis but to hand over a player who has been an All-NBA player since his sophomore year and has taken you to conference finals and an NBA finals at only 25, is insanity. It already looks like the worst trade in NBA history, and it is unlikely it will look any better by the end of Doncic’ most likely Hall of Fame career.
The deal that sent him to Phoenix saw Brooklyn acquire: Mikal Bridges, Cam Johnson, Jae Crowder, four unprotected first-round picks and a 2028 first-round pick swap. A trade package like this isn’t something that with hindsight was worth giving up for a man on the brink of retirement. Mikal Bridges was the highlight of this trade with a role player becoming a borderline All-Star, however, he is no longer on the team and has moved to rivals New York which is another example of how player movement has taken over the NBA with Bridges being reunited with fellow Villanova graduates: Jalen Brunson, Donte DiVincenand Josh Hart.
Mikal Bridges
Mikal Bridges had begun to build his name as one of the best 3-and-D players in the NBA in his time as a Phoenix Sun where he became the first rookie since Chris Paul to obtain a steal per game throughout a 20-game stretch and is also a player that has been on an All-Defensive team and did this in his time as a Phoenix Sun where he helped them fight in the playoffs and averaged 37.6% from three, his length and skill make him the perfect wing option to provide you with versatile play on both sides of the ball being an above average scorer at his position as well as one of the best perimeter defenders in the league.
New York send Bojan Bogdanovic and five 1st-round draft picks to Brooklyn in exchange for Mikal Bridges. This package is something worthy of an All-Star player which Bridges could become, but, it is still wildly more than what Dallas received and although they are in a better position than Brooklyn through the acquisition of Anthony Davis it is still hardly what you would expect of a player of his value but due to him not being shopped around Dallas received pittance for a player who stepped into their last franchise players shoes and has guided them since his retirement.
Rudy Gobert
Although Gobert has been a Defensive Player of the Year on three occasions and a multiple All-NBA and All-Defensive player at the point of his career when he was traded, he was nowhere near as successful as Luka Doncic and the Utah Jazz’ All-Star duo in Mitchell and Gobert had to begin to peter out. He was 30 and not as valuable as 25-year-old Doncic but because his trade was known to all the NBA GMs he was moved for 5 first-round picks and multiple players which is a boatload more than what the Mavericks have gotten back for their franchise.
The deal was a two-team trade between the Utah Jazz, where Gobert spent his first nine seasons and the Timberwolves. It was a trade that involved six players and five picks, with all those assets going to the Jazz outside of Gobert. The Jazz received five players in the deal. These players were Patrick Beverley, Malik Beasley, Jarred Vanderbilt and Leandro Bolmaro. They acquired the draft rights that gave them Walker Kessler along with picks from 2023, 2025, 2027, 2029 and a 2026 first-round pick swap. This is a massive deal compared to what Dallas received for Luka and again, it is just insane that he was moved for so little.
Donovan Mitchell
Donovan Mitchell’s trade package was worthy of a player of his class. At the time of his trade he, like Luka Doncic, was 25 and an All-Star player. However, Doncic is an All-NBA 1st team player and would have been considered an untouchable in the NBA. Mitchell has become an incredible player in his tenure in Cleveland and was worthy of his trade package in the eyes of the Cleveland Cavaliers with him guiding them to the longest unbeaten run in NBA history at the start of this season.
When he was moved to Cleveland, Utah received forward Lauri Markkanen, rookie wing Ochai Agbaji, guard Collin Sexton, three unprotected first-round picks in 2025, 2027 and 2029 and two pick swaps in 2026 and 2028. Although he was and is a great player Mitchell’s value was nowhere near as much as what Dallas could have received for Luka Doncic if his situation was known.
It is truly amazing that the GM of the Dallas Mavericks would believe that a player who is 32 and one young player is enough to provide what Doncic could of for their team. Cleveland view this as a good trade and it would be imagined that a team that could afford Doncic in the trade market would be happy with giving up anything to receive the player with the most potential in the NBA. The Mavericks want to stay in a win-now state but if that doesn’t pay off they will have received all of their return for Doncic by 2029 and the likelihood of Max Christie stepping into the shoes of the stars on the team is highly unlikely and given Doncic views loyalty as a “big word” it is hard to see him leaving LA and Dallas not regretting this trade.
Karl-Anthony Towns
Karl-Anthony Towns was traded away from the Minnesota Timberwolves while being their longest tenured player and pone of the greatest in their history playing on some of the greatest Timberwolves teams to ever play with the likes of Jimmy Butler and new frontman Anthony Edwards. They were both Minnesota number 1 picks and had guided them to deep playoff runs in recent seasons and Towns was traded out of the blue to play under the bright lights at Maddison Square Garden.
The Timberwolves wanted out of his contract and put the bait out with the Knicks biting having missed out on a trade for previously mentioned native Donovan Mitchell and being desperate for a true star to pair with Jalen Brunson, another player traded from Dallas. Towns was moved for Julius Randle, Donte DiVincenzo, Keita Bates-Diop and one first round pick. This trade is perfect, it portrays KAT’s value and saw him leave for an All-Star player in Randle and an excellent role player in DiVincenzo, however, it hasn’t played out perfectly for the Timberwolves.
Although this trade is like the Mavericks trade in that both the Timberwolves and Mavericks received a player of a similar calibre, the difference is that Luka can carry a franchise on his own and KAT has been a part of multiple championship contending teams and not been able to deliver in a way that Luka can do on his own.
These trades portray the stupidity of moving a player like Doncic but also the reason you capitalise on a deal when it is offered to you. Trades in this list like the Kevin Durant and Rudy Gobert trade have received such a return because the player was shopped around to multiple teams and rumours were flying around the association, leading to their value rising and a good return coming back to the teams who are trading them away. The De’Aaron Fox and Jimmy Butler trades this deadline also portrays this perfectly. When players like De’Aaron Fox or Jimmy Butler have their mind set on a new location it is not hard for them to force their way out is they are promising their movement to a different team. Jimmy Butler has spent the past few months plummeting his trade value and getting suspended in an attempt to force the Miami Heat’s hand which eventually led to his movement to the Golden State Warriors who have finally found another All-Star partner for Steph Curry.
The De’Aaron Fox trade was a three-team deal but it saw his previous team in the Sacramento Kings acquire Zach Lavine to partner with his former Bulls teammate Demar Derozan as well as 3 first round picks and three seconds and sent Fox to the San Antonio Spurs to build what could be the next dominant duo in San Antonio history. Although, as mentioned, Dallas have acquired an All-NBA player and Defensive Player of the Year contender in Davis trades that see teams throw themselves into a situation without acquiring picks for the future leaving them regretting the trade. If the Clippers have regretted the Paul George trade for losing out on Shair Gilgeous-Alexander there doesn’t appear to be a way that Dallas don’t regret the Luka trade even if they can win a championship with Davis and Kyrie Irving. Luka is generational and joining the Lakers to play with Lebron is a “dream come true.” Although this has focused on the negatives for the Mavericks in comparison to other “untouchable” players the future is bright for Doncic and the only question that remains is: who are the NBA’s “untouchables” ?