Grading the Mavericks' all-time shocking trade that sent Luka Doncic to Lakers

All was quiet on Saturday evening for Dallas Mavericks fans.

The team was coming off a loss to the Detroit Pistons on Friday night, and they had a game in Cleveland on Sunday afternoon against the Cavaliers, and trade murmurs about the team had been extremely quiet recently.

The team had been linked to Herbert Jones of the New Orleans Pelicans, but outside of that, the rumors had been fairly nonexistent. The Mavericks always hold their cards close to their chest ahead of the trade deadline, but this year had been way more quiet than we had ever seen.

Grading the trade that sent Luka Doncic to the Lakers

The quietness around the Mavericks immediately turned into some of the loudest buzz in NBA history late into the night on Saturday as they traded Luka Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers.

This trade was between the Mavericks, Lakers, and Utah Jazz, and the full details make absolutely zero sense for all parties involved.

The Lakers acquired Doncic, Maxi Kleber, and Markieff Morris, the Mavericks acquired Anthony Davis, Max Christie, and a 2029 first-round pick from the Lakers, and the Utah Jazz got Jalen Hood-Schifino, a 2025 second-round pick from the LA Clippers, and a 2025 second-round pick from Dallas.

This was one of the most confusing trades in NBA history, and it gets even more confusing as you dive into the full details.

Grading the trade for the Los Angeles Lakers

The Lakers robbed the Mavericks.

They just landed a player who has been selected to five All-NBA First Teams in a row and led Dallas to the NBA Finals for a 31-year-old Davis, Christie, and one first-round pick. While losing Davis could sting, they landed a player who will be the face of the franchise for years to come, and he is the perfect player to take the torch from LeBron James.

Doncic playing in Los Angeles and starting a new era of Lakers basketball is going to change everything for that franchise, and this trade is almost so bizarre that it doesn't feel real. The Lakers are the clear winners of this deal, and Doncic is going to be the clear face of the NBA moving forward.

Grading the trade for the Dallas Mavericks

This is undoubtedly the worst trade in NBA history.

The Mavericks just traded a player who has the potential to go down as one of the greatest players of all time and is only 25 years old. He gave the franchise all he had and led them to their first NBA Finals appearance since 2011 last season, and he hasn't even reached his prime yet.

Dallas gave up on him, blindsided him by sending him to the Lakers, and flat-out gave up on him because they were worried about giving him a long-term deal and thought his conditioning was an issue.

That is nowhere close to enough of a reason to trade a future Hall of Famer and the face of the city of Dallas, and now Davis is going to be the face of the franchise alongside Kyrie Irving. The Mavericks are playing an extremely dangerous game with this one considering that they have little to no first-round capital moving forward, and this move will age horribly if they can't win within the next few years.

Dallas did get to shed Kleber as part of this deal, which they were rumored to be wanting to do, and on top of that, they lost the leader of the locker room, Morris.

This is an extremely risky move, and the fact that the Mavericks approached the Lakers with this move is absolutely absurd.