Luka Doncic trade proves again the Lakers are the luckiest franchise in sports history
Feb 2, 2025, 12:50 PM
We have seen bad trades, lopsided trades and trades that work for both teams.
Never have we seen a trade so shocking.
Luka Doncic to the Lakers? For Anthony Davis and one valuable draft pick? Impossible.
The news was so incredulous and so incomprehensible that everyone assumed the messenger (Shams Charania) had been hacked.
Sports fans in Dallas are gutted. The Lakers have their next superstar in place. LeBron James might get another run at a championship, after all. The characters in this drama are like heroin for the hot-take shows, and this story will overshadow the Super Bowl in the coming days.
The trade guarantees that Jimmy Butler will not be the biggest meteor to hit the NBA at the upcoming trade deadline. It guarantees that selecting DeAndre Ayton will no longer be the worst move in history involving Luka Doncic. And it underscores one of the biggest issues currently facing NBA Commissioner Adam Silver: transient superstars and player empowerment run amok.
Publicly, the Mavericks say they want better defense. Privately, there are whispers about Luka’s lifestyle and training habits. Others say they were terrified Luka was going to demand a trade in the offseason. The details may be irrelevant, but the chaos is very real. The Western Conference is now careening toward conclusion.
This is also very personal to basketball fans in the Valley. It’s not about getting Luka. It’s about getting lucky. And that’s the defining characteristic of the loathed Lakers.
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar forced his way to the Lakers because he had outgrown Milwaukee. That would’ve never happened if the Suns hadn’t lost a coin flip for his services in 1968. Abdul-Jabbar has said on many occasions that he would’ve loved to play in Arizona. Instead, he went to our rival.
The Lakers once traded an aging Gail Goodrich for a draft pick that became Magic Johnson. They stole Shaq from the Magic. They turned a lopsided trade into a draft pick that became James Worthy. They acquired Chris Paul in a trade so one-sidedly absurd that David Stern used his commissioner powers to veto the trade. They got LeBron, which brought A.D., who was traded for Luka in one of the most stunning developments imaginable.
Welcome to L.A., home of the luckiest franchise in the history of sports.
Reach Bickley at dbickley@arizonasports.com. Listen to Bickley & Marotta weekdays from 6 a.m. – 10 a.m. on Arizona Sports 98.7.