Shocking Doncic/Davis trade gives Spurs power over Mavs future

The NBA world is still in shock over the Mavericks' stunning decision to punt on their future by trading Luka Doncic in favor of a few short years of an admittedly formidable duo with Kyrie Irving and Anthony Davis. There are so many angles to this deal, analysts and fans will be talking about it for weeks.

This trade immediately shifts the balance of power in the Western Conference, but in the long term, Dallas will be severely compromised. After their run, they won't have many assets to make any moves to set them up for the future. They spent much of their draft capital acquiring players over the last few seasons, and the Spurs were savvy enough to jump into the picture, snatching a pick for themselves.

The Spurs future looks brighter after bad moves from impatient teams

There was no reason for this trade to go down this way. ESPN's Shams Charania reported that virtually no other front offices were made aware that Luka Doncic was available. Trading him to the Lakers for a package that doesn't help set you up for the future is basketball malpractice. The man just had you in the NBA Finals—even with his conditioning issues—that is not an easy task.

When Kyrie was a solo show, he couldn't elevate his team to the playoffs. When Anthony Davis was a one-man wrecking crew, he also struggled to get his team over the hump. Both players benefitted greatly from playing with LeBron James, and neither has won any significant games without him, outside of last year's Mavs run to the Finals for Kyrie, but again, he was led by Luka.

Putting those two guys together will be an interesting test to see if they've learned enough over their careers to uplift the Mavericks together, but two sidekicks don't often make a lead superstar. Their starting lineup now consists of a 32-year-old Irving, a 34-year-old Klay Thompson, and a 31-year-old Anthony Davis. Dereck Lively II is still young, but he's not leading you anywhere—he's a role player.

Dallas owns their 2025 first-round pick, but after that, they won't have a draft pick in the first round until 2029, and that's the one Lakers pick they just traded for. Mikal Bridges was traded for six first-round draft picks. The Mavs' decision to make a deal like this is laughable and, honestly, a fireable offense, in my opinion.

2030 is a way off, but not that damn far. It's easy to see them at the bottom of the conference by then, with no way up. They went all in with this deal in a way that is unprecedented in trading a young All-NBA player for an aging one. But the Spurs will be better for it while their rival spirals in a few years.