NBA Insider Thinks Lakers May Have Talked Mavs Down to Get Luka Doncic Deal Done

Turns out, it's possible this deal could have involved more.

Ex-Dallas Mavericks guard Luka Doncic on Dec 23, 2024. / Jerome Miron-Imagn Images

In the wake of the bombshell Anthony Davis-Luka Doncic trade, everyone is wondering why, exactly, Dallas Mavericks team president Nico Harrison so easily agreed to give up his star player. Does he know something the public doesn't know? Do reports that the team was concerned about Doncic's weight hold water? Could it have to do with the possibility of paying Doncic on a supermax contract extension? Or was this just a potential managerial miss, considering the by-and-large consensus is that L.A. won this one?

All told, the final trade sends Los Angeles Lakers big man Anthony Davis, Max Christie, and a 2029 first-round pick to Dallas, and the Mavericks' Doncic, Maxi Kleber, and Markieff Morris to L.A. As a third party, the Utah Jazz also received the Lakers' Jalen Hood-Schifino, plus a 2025 second-round pick from both L.A. and Dallas.

Per NBA analyst Kirk Goldsberry, however, the original agreement may have involved much more for Dallas, bolstering the idea that Harrison either (a) screwed up, or (b) so badly wanted to get rid of Doncic that he settled for way too little.

Indeed, as Goldsberry tells it, the deal was reportedly "whittled down" because Lakers general manager Rob Pelinka was likely successful in convincing Dallas the Doncic was actually a big risk.

"One of my sources inside the Lakers was indicating that the deal was bigger—and I think you guys were literally joking about this last night—that there were two [first-round picks] and there was Dalton Knecht, and the deal got whittled down," Goldsberry tells Bill Simmons on Monday's episode of The Bill Simmons Podcast. "Because I think Rob Pelinka was able to convince the Dallas Mavericks that Luka is a lot of risk. 'You guys are right for trying to think of this this way, because this guy, oh, his drinking, whatever. Oh, his weight problem, whatever it is,'" he continues, imitating Pelinka.

"This was a weeks-long process. That's another thing that came out today. And Dallas started it. And Dallas started it, dude. This fell in Rob Pelinka's lap and then he was able to reduce the outward Lakers assets."

REPORT: The Luka Doncic-Anthony Davis trade originally included multiple firsts and Dalton Knecht, per @kirkgoldsberry

“A deal got whittled down, and I think Rob Pelinka was able to convince the Mavs that Luka is a lot of risk… His drinking, his weight problem…”

(via Bill… pic.twitter.com/QjmmBWvjpx

— Legion Hoops (@LegionHoops) February 3, 2025

It is truly confounding.

For what it's worth, the Mavericks still grabbed a worthwhile haul—Davis is a great get and still has game left in him at 31. But if the Mavericks were going to give up one of their best players, they probably could have gotten more for him than they ultimately did, as Goldsberry's report posits.

This thing gets crazier and crazier as the days go on.

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