Luka Dončić is widely regarded as one of the best guards in the league, having won Rookie of the Year and five All-Pro selections, among numerous other accolades. He was key in bringing the Dallas Mavericks back to championship contention, serving as the face of the franchise and their undisputed leader. These factors added to the shock when he and two bench players were traded to the Los Angeles Lakers in exchange for Anthony Davis, a 2029 first-round pick, and role-player Max Christie.
This trade was abnormal in many ways. In the hours leading up to it, only the general managers of the Lakers and Mavericks knew of the trade. Luka was on the verge of renewing his contract, making him eligible for a supermax deal after staying loyal to the Mavericks for his entire career. Yet, despite his commitment and desire to remain on the team, he was traded, supposedly due to health and conditioning concerns — even though Anthony Davis, the deal’s centerpiece, has an extensive history of injuries. Davis is also in the twilight of his career, being 31 and in his 13th season. On the other hand, Dončić is only 25 and at the peak of his career. On paper, this is a terrible deal for the Mavericks. They lost a perennial MVP candidate who led them to a finals for an injury-prone, past-prime Anthony Davis. The trade is so skewed that it doesn’t make sense from a basketball standpoint, raising a larger question: Was this trade really about basketball?
As mentioned earlier, Dončić lost out on a contract extension from the Mavericks, as he was eligible for a record-setting five-year, 345 million dollar supermax deal. If the Mavericks had signed him to this contract, they would have faced steep luxury tax penalties, which are taken directly from the team’s revenue. By trading Dončić and replacing him with a seasoned and well-known NBA player like Anthony Davis, the team maintains marketability, TV value, and sponsorship appeal, ensuring that revenue streams remain intact. At the same time, the Mavericks avoid the financial burden of a massive supermax contract and the escalating luxury tax penalties that would ensue, giving the owners and investors more profit.
This might seem confusing — surely, the better an NBA team performs, the more profit it makes, right? But that’s not necessarily true in 2025. The NBA has been implementing a revenue-sharing system since 2007, where part of the top-earning teams’ revenue is distributed to lower-revenue teams. This gives poor-performing teams a chance to break out in the future and prevents complete domination from one team. Additionally, the majority of NBA team revenue comes from lucrative TV licensing deals, which guarantee income regardless of performance. On top of that, NBA franchises appreciate exponentially over time, meaning that even struggling teams increase in value simply by existing in the league. While this benefits the billionaires who own teams, it devalues player loyalty, lowers job security, and makes watching basketball in the NBA less entertaining, with teams less willing to pay high salaries for top-level players.
If teams such as the Mavericks are willing to trade away their generational talents to save money, opting for money in their pockets instead of banners in the rafters, then NBA viewership may be in danger. NBA viewership has steadily declined since its peak in the early 2010s as load management and lucrative contracts made players less loyal to their teams. Since the 1980s, when the NBA was saved by the Celtics-Lakers rivalry led by Larry Bird and Magic Johnson respectively, franchises were defined by their best players, like Michael Jordan on the Chicago Bulls and Kobe Bryant on the Lakers. However, as players began focusing more on making money and winning trophies than staying loyal to their teams, star players like Kyrie Irving and James Harden bounced from team to team, no longer maintaining connections between players and a specific franchise.
The Dončić trade is different. Normally, superstars such as Dončić try to force their way out of a smaller franchise like the Mavericks by requesting trades, speaking to the media, or skipping practice. However, Dončić publicly stated his desire to continue to play for the Mavericks, especially after their historic finals run last season. Furthermore, the Mavericks came to the Lakers with the offer without asking other teams for their trade packages. If a bidding war took place, the Mavericks could have easily gotten multiple first-round picks and another young MVP candidate, like Shai Gilgeous-Alexander or Anthony Edwards, or a package deal with multiple stars to improve the Mavericks’ depth. Instead, the team received an incredibly undervalued offer — Anthony Davis already out for the next month with an injury after his very first game on the Mavericks. This trend of teams forcing trades of their best players is concerning as teams become more focused on making more money than winning while leaving their fans, coaches, and players completely in the dark.
The NBA has reached another crucial point as the world around the sport evolves. It raises an important question: does the NBA maintain this status quo, allowing financial incentives to take precedence over individual player performance and loyalty, or work towards placing more incentives in place for team success? The Luka Dončić trade is not only a blockbuster trade but also a warning of shifting tides in the NBA between financial benefit and athletic competition.
