shocking blockbuster trades in NBA history went down, seemingly out of nowhere. Shortly after midnight on the East Coast, Shams Charania of ESPN broke the news that the Dallas Mavericks had traded Luka Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers.
All told, the Mavs sent Doncic, Maxi Kleber, and Markeff Morris to the Lakers for Anthony Davis, Max Christie, and LA’s 2029 first-round pick. The Jazz also got involved to make the finances work; they took Jalen Hood-Schifino in the deal and got a pair of second-rounders in return.
BREAKING: The Dallas Mavericks are trading Luka Doncic, Maxi Kleber and Markieff Morris to the Los Angeles Lakers for Anthony Davis, Max Christie and a 2029 first-round pick, sources tell ESPN. Three-team deal that includes Utah.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) February 2, 2025
This massive deal completely alters the entire landscape of the NBA, especially the Western Conference, and it will directly impact the Nuggets in several ways. Obviously, any time a 25-year-old phenom with five straight first-team All-NBA finishes under his belt, fresh off leading his team to the Finals gets traded it’s going to have some ripple effects, but these hit close to home.
Nuggets’ recent dominance of Lakers now in jeopardy
Over the last few years, the Lakers and Nuggets have developed a lopsided rivalry. The teams keep meeting up, and the Nuggets keep winning. For the most part, the script has been the same; LA plays well, sometimes even leads, and then Denver turns it on in the 4th quarter and pulls out the win.
They’ve owned this version of the Lakers, eliminating them from the playoffs in back-to-back years with just a single loss. And there’s no end to this in sight as the Nuggets are currently the 4th seed in the West while the Lakers are 5th. Another collision course may be in sight, but now things have completely flipped.
Doncic’s Dallas teams have always fared well against the Nuggets and he had formed a sort of rivalry of his own with Nikola Jokic. They had been through many battles, and Doncic is one of the few players in the league who is anywhere near Jokic’s level, and now he’s a Laker.
The matchup has changed entirely now as the Lakers will be built around Doncic with LeBron acting as more of a secondary option. That’s going to cause a world of hurt for the Nuggets’ already shaky defense. How they are going to stop two perimeter players like that is not an easy question to answer.
Sure, the Lakers still have plenty of problems. The defense with Doncic, James, and Austin Reeves is going to be an issue and after trading AD, they have almost no frontcourt to speak of. But they’ll make more moves and patch things together. Plus, Doncic will make a lot of role players look better.
The Nuggets may still be able to figure this out and get the upper hand, but it’s no sure thing. Denver has been bullying the Lakers for years and it was a matchup that fans gleefully looked forward to. That may not be the case going forward as playing with the Lakers will now likely mean contending with Luka Doncic for the next decade or so.