NBA insider reveals 5 'real' reasons the Mavericks traded Luka Doncic to Lakers

Every NBA fan is still trying to make sense of the move that the Dallas Mavericks and Los Angeles Lakers made exactly nine days ago that altered the trajectory of both franchises for years to come. It was undoubtedly the most shocking trade of all time, as fan bases from both sides had no idea it was coming.

Dallas traded Luka Doncic, Maxi Kleber, and Markieff Morris to Los Angeles for Anthony Davis, Max Christie, and a singular first-round pick, and Mavericks fans have been in an uproar ever since the trade went down trying to figure out why Nico Harrison wanted to make this move and why he settled for that small of a return if he was truly set on moving on from Doncic. He had just led the Mavericks to the NBA Finals last season, and he was nearing a return to the hardwood as he was dealing with a left calf strain that he suffered on Christmas Day. He was set to return before the All-Star break (as he makes his Lakers debut tonight), and rather than riding it out and seeing if Doncic could take them to the promised land again, they traded him.

This move came out of nowhere, as Harrison and Rob Pelinka worked in silence (outside of updates with owners Jeanie Buss and Patrick Dumont), and no matter how hard fans think about this trade, no one can make complete sense of it. The logic seems flawed on the surface level, and Mavericks fans' anger about this move may never fully go away.

Insider reveals five key reasons behind Dallas' shocking Doncic trade

Dallas prematurely gave up on a generational 25-year-old superstar, and as time goes on, we continue to learn more about Harrison's thinking behind this all-time shocking move. NBA insider Marc Stein published a massive piece about the Doncic-Davis trade (subscription required) on Sunday, and his reporting revealed part of the real story as to why Dallas made this move.

Stein had an FAQ section of this intel-packed piece, and one of the questions on there was "what was the real reason for the trade?" While Stein made it clear that the "digging can, will and must continue" when it comes to the reasoning behind the trade, he did give five clear reasons on why Harrison wanted to move in another direction. Ever since Dallas' five-game loss to the Boston Celtics in the NBA Finals last season, Harrison has "increasingly believed" these things about Doncic.

5. Harrison didn't think Doncic would change his conditioning and diet

One of Doncic's biggest knocks over the past few years has been his conditioning, and it was clear on the night of the trade that this was one of Harrison's biggest reasons for making this controversial move.

Stein reported that Harrison thought Doncic "would not improve his commitment to conditioning or his off-court dietary discipline," and thus, moved on. Various reports indicate that Doncic's weight would fluctuate heavily during the season, and while this remains true, it doesn't change the fact that Doncic's conditioning was good enough to play 40.9 minutes per game in the playoffs last season and lead the Mavs all the way to the NBA Finals.

Heavily blaming this trade on his conditioning has been an interesting tactic, as he was coming off the best season of his career, but Harrison didn't seem to think that he would ever take this part of his game seriously.

4. Harrison doubted Doncic's leadership

One of the biggest quotes from Harrison's press conference after the trade last Sunday was that he believes there are "people who fit the culture and there’s people who come in and add to the culture," saying that he thought Davis and Christie would add to the culture while alluding that Doncic just fit the culture.

Dumont backed this point, as he recently alluded to thinking that Doncic wasn't a fit into the Mavericks culture and that his work ethic wasn't good enough to win a championship.

Stein's reporting further backed Harrison's mindset on this part of Doncic as Harrison thought he "would not improve as a leader or culture-setter."

Doncic's leadership had definitely improved over the two years he spent playing alongside Kyrie Irving, and while it was clear that Irving was the true leader of the team, Doncic was following right behind him. If Dallas needed a big bucket, the ball was almost always in Doncic's hands, and his on-court excellence trumped any concerns that the team could possibly have about his leadership. Doncic and Irving had grown tremendously close off the court over the last two years, and they didn't even give him the chance to reach his full leadership potential with Irving's help and grow more.

Doncic's leadership had grown considerably in front of everyone's eyes since his rookie year, but clearly not enough for Harrison's liking.

3. Harrison thought Doncic's complaining to referees wouldn't improve

One of Doncic's biggest critiques from fans and the media alike has been his complaining to referees. It truly threw him off his game at times, but Mavericks fans learned to live with it, regardless of how frustrating to watch it was at times.

Harrison thought Doncic "would not improve his well-chronicled comportment issues with referees," according to Stein, and it has been clear for some time now that the Mavericks were fed up about this part of his game. His teammates "begged" him to make this change during the playoffs last season, and Harrison thought he would never change.

Giving up on a franchise player due to the way he spoke and behaved toward referees is unfathomable, and while it was indubitably getting to the point where it was a problem considering he was consistently one of the league leaders in technical fouls, that's still not enough of a reason to trade him.

Every superstar player has a part of their game that needs to be better. Teams almost always find a way to live with these problems, but Dallas had enough.

2. Harrison didn't think Doncic could stay healthy over the years

Doncic has dealt with a plethora of injuries over the last year or so, but it didn't significantly affect his availability until this season. He fought through countless injuries on the way to the NBA Finals last year to the point that he had to receive a painkilling injection during the Finals against Boston when he was dealing with a thoracic contusion, and he was fighting through an unbelievable amount of pain to give his all to Dallas.

Doncic said that this calf injury was the first time that he actually took his time for the injured calf to heal rather than rushing back and trying to return before he was 100 percent healthy, and Harrison trading him is a bet that he won't be able to stay healthy over the course of his career.

Harrison thought that Doncic "would not be able to stay healthy as he got older," and while his injuries this season have been concerning, his injuries over the first seven seasons of his career haven't been a major problem. He played about 67 games per season over the first six seasons of his career, which is equal to about 81 percent of games.

You'll take your superstar playing in 81 percent of games any day of the week, but Harrison likely thought his injuries would just keep getting worse.

1. Harrison didn't want to give Doncic the supermax extension

Doncic was due a supermax contract extension this summer, but the Mavericks didn't want to give it to him.

Stein reported that Harrison thought Doncic "could not, after the Mavericks and Dončić grappled with these issues since Harrison arrived in June 2021, be given the five-year supermax deal worth nearly $350 million that he was expecting in July."

Doncic made it clear that he planned on signing that extension with the Mavs during his Lakers introductory press conference, and no one from his camp ever alluded to him not wanting to sign that extension. He wanted to be a Maverick for life and wanted to bring the city of Dallas a championship, but Harrison didn't feel comfortable making that type of commitment.

Any other team in the league would have likely given Doncic that contract, as he is more than deserving of it, and executives from other teams would have been drooling at the chance to make a move for Doncic and make him their franchise cornerstone, but since Harrison only talked to Pelinka, no other team had a chance.

The details about this trade continue to get more confusing as time goes on, and possibly the only things that would ever make this trade worth it would be Davis bringing a championship to Dallas and Doncic struggling with each of the issues that Harrison traded him for the rest of his career. Even then, trading a 25-year-old superstar for a 31-year-old superstar is a concerningly questionable decision, to say the least, and the Mavericks' window to win shrunk from the next 10 years to the next four years.