Jason Kidd Thinks It's 'Kinda Cool' Luka Doncic Trade Is Being Compared to Babe Ruth

That's one way to look at it.
Jason Kidd whispers to Luka Dončić during an October game against the Suns.
Jason Kidd whispers to Luka Dončić during an October game against the Suns. / Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

Could Boston Red Sox owner Harry Frazee have known, when he sold left fielder and pitcher Babe Ruth to the New York Yankees in December 1919, that people would still be talking about his decision 106 years later?

Frazee never saw Los Angeles Lakers guard Luka Doncic play. On Feb. 2, the Dallas Mavericks bafflingly traded Doncic to the Lakers—and fans and observers immediately tripped over themselves comparing the Doncic trade to the Ruth sale.

On Wednesday, a highly unlikely source co-signed that comparison: Mavericks coach Jason Kidd.

"Some are comparing this to Babe Ruth, which is kinda cool," Kidd said before Dallas's game against Los Angeles on Wednesday evening.

Kidd, of course, misses that the durability of comparing seismic trades to the Ruth deal comes from its one-sidedness. The Yankees, previously a backwater club relative to their New York peers, became the envy of the sports world. The Red Sox, winners of four World Series titles in the 1910s, won their next title in 2004.

At the moment, the Mavericks' next title coming in 2097 doesn't look impossible, so perhaps Kidd is on to something.


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Patrick Andres
PATRICK ANDRES

Patrick Andres is a staff writer on the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated. He joined SI in December 2022, having worked for The Blade, Athlon Sports, Fear the Sword and Diamond Digest. Andres has covered everything from zero-attendance Big Ten basketball to a seven-overtime college football game. He is a graduate of Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism with a double major in history .