Numerous NBA pundits on sports talk shows say the Mavericks have improved their chances of winning a championship after trading Doncic for Anthony Davis.
DALLAS — Why in the world would anyone trade a 25-year-old generational superstar, in their prime, seven months after leading the team to the NBA Finals?
Mavericks General Manager Nico Harrison had his reasons – which he laid out in his press conference Saturday – mainly focused on “getting better defensively.” Other reports have surfaced that the Mavericks front office was concerned about Luka Doncic’s dedication to fitness and commitment to signing a supermax deal in the summer.
No matter, the deal is done. Doncic is gone.
Mavs fans aren’t happy about it.
Meanwhile, Harrison stands firm in the stance that he believes this move gives Dallas a better chance to win a championship.
Dallas was in the No. 4 spot in the Western Conference when Doncic got shelved with a calf strain injury. Since his absence, and amid numerous other injuries, the Mavericks have fallen to the No. 11 spot in the play-in tournament, only one game above .500 (26-25).
In the wake of arguably the most shocking mid-season trade in the history of American sports, certainly in NBA history, many of the league’s top pundits actually believe Harrison’s side of this trade. Shaquille O’Neal, Charles Barkley, Stephen A. Smith and others have said on sports talk shows in the days since the trade broke that the Mavericks are either the new Western Conference favorite or top two.
“For the next 2 years, I think Dallas won that trade,” O’Neal said.
“Dallas right now is ready to roll,” Carter said.
“I got Dallas as the number one seed in the Western Conference right now,” Smith said.
“The Dallas Mavericks, they might have just become the 2nd best team in the Western Conference,” Barkley said.
Jay Williams said he believes OKC Thunder are still the favorite to win the Western Conference, but when asked on ESPN’s Get Up if Dallas could possibly be that team, he responded with one word: “Yes.”
Shock jock sports talk? Maybe.
Or did Nico Harrison just have the gall to make the move most wouldn’t?
Time will tell. But at what cost?
