Luka Dončić-Anthony Davis trade grades: How will Lakers, Mavericks, Jazz fare after blockbuster?

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You know a trade is a historic blockbuster — and completely out of nowhere — when everybody assumes the initial report was because of internet hacking and tomfoolery at its most devious. But all of the headlines and text messages you received about this are, in fact, real. The Dallas Mavericks are reportedly trading Luka Dončić to the Los Angeles Lakers for Anthony Davis. This is a three-team deal that involves the Utah Jazz receiving a contract and some picks to make the deal happen under the trade rules.

• The Lakers receive: Luka Dončić, Maxi Kleber and Markieff Morris
• The Mavericks receive: Anthony Davis, Max Christie and a 2029 first-round pick
• The Jazz receive: Jalen Hood-Schifino and two 2025 second-round picks

This is a stunning moment in the NBA that nobody was prepared to even consider as a possibility. It makes the trade discussions about Jimmy Butler and De’Aaron Fox seem inconsequential. Now, we’re left wondering what the Mavs are doing, and what the next era of the Lakers will look like. Let’s bust out our red pens and start grading one of the most surprising trades this league has ever seen.

Lakers receive: Luka Dončić, Maxi Kleber, Markieff Morris

For a couple of years, the Lakers have been praying Davis would take the torch from LeBron James and carry the Lakers into the next era of championship success. Despite winning a title in the chaotic 2019-20 season, that never really came close to happening again. Davis is great. He’s a future Hall of Famer, but he’s not the guy on a title-contending team. Now, they no longer have to wonder who will take that torch. They’ll hand it to Dončić.

The weird thing about that? How is this going to look with Dončić and James on the court together? They’re two brilliant players who make everybody better, but they’re also very ball-dominant. James has played off the ball here and there, but he primarily has the ball in his hands. Dončić is the same way. We’ve seen him play off-ball some next to Kyrie Irving, but this is another heliocentric superstar who needs the ball to orchestrate the floor.

I’m sick rn….

— Patrick Mahomes II (@PatrickMahomes) February 2, 2025

WOWWWWW NO F WAY

— Joel Embiid (@JoelEmbiid) February 2, 2025

🤯

— De’Aaron Fox (@swipathefox) February 2, 2025

😳

— Dirk Nowitzki (@swish41) February 2, 2025

pic.twitter.com/izCntB3dd6

— DWade (@DwyaneWade) February 2, 2025

Dončić has been out for more than a month with a calf injury, but he might be able to return soon. When he is back, this fit could be a bit clunky for the Lakers. I also do not believe this is about winning now with James and Dončić, not when a trade forces you to play more Jaxson Hayes at center (although Kleber can play there some). The Lakers are doing this for the future of their franchise.

The hallowed “Lakers mystique” of the past was always about being able to bring the next big stars to town. And it’s mostly been something they did over the last couple of decades. Dončić is about as big a superstar as there is in the NBA. Instead of trying to maximize this current iteration of the Lakers, the team can now hope to have a runway for the next decade with one of the best players in the league on its payroll.

The risk here is that Dončić doesn’t stay in 2026, when he becomes an unrestricted free agent. Apparently, Dallas must have believed he wasn’t sticking around — otherwise, you wouldn’t initiate this trade. The Lakers have a good history of keeping big names around, but you never know what a player might want to do.

In that sense, it is a risk, and that’s before considering whether the 2029 first-round pick they moved becomes valuable if Dončić goes elsewhere. I’ll assume Dončić sticks around after 2026. Otherwise, I’m not sure why the Lakers would agree to this deal. They get high marks because of course they do, but this is going to be really weird before it looks smooth on the basketball court.

The Lakers just went from a team people groan about seeing all the time to one of the more fascinating on-court experiments to watch for the rest of the season (and assuming next season if James has one more in him for a full retirement tour).

Grade: A

Mavericks receive: Anthony Davis, Max Christie and Lakers’ 2029 first-round pick

The Mavericks were in the NBA Finals eight months ago because Dončić was special in the 2024 playoff run. He was their best player. He was their franchise guy. And this isn’t a knock on Davis as a player, but in no way does this feel like adequate compensation for Dončić. To be fair, aside from maybe four or five players in the NBA (that might be pushing it), I’m not sure there is adequate compensation for Dončić when it comes to trade value.

The Mavericks will pitch this as a win-now move with the threat of Dončić leaving in the summer of 2026, but to get one All-NBA player, who is 31 with a deep history of injury issues, a nice role player and one first-round pick for one of the most productive 25-year-olds in the history of the league doesn’t seem like nearly enough to me.

Maybe Dončić’s health and conditioning are that questionable. It’s possible he wasn’t going to sign the five-year, $345 million supermax extension to stay in Dallas (he won’t be eligible for it with the Lakers now that he’s been traded). Maybe Dončić was going to head to Miami or somewhere with cap space in 2026, like we’ve heard occasional whispers about. At the same time, a healthy Mavs team with Dončić at the helm is capable of winning a championship. I don’t believe a healthy Mavs team with Kyrie Irving and Davis leading the way can win the West.

This isn’t a bad trade for Dallas, but I also don’t think it’s a good one. It’s a step back without a lot of future hope on the horizon. If Dončić stays with the Lakers beyond his upcoming free agency, the 2029 first-round pick probably doesn’t seem destined for the top five or top 10.

As for the Davis angle, he’s having another great year, averaging 25.7 points and 11.9 rebounds. He’s been a good defender trying to anchor a bad defense. He’s also spent a good amount of time lately complaining about not winning Defensive Player of the Year. He’s also currently dealing with an abdominal injury that has him out for roughly a week. The core of the Mavericks is now centered around a 31-year-old Davis playing next to soon-to-be 21-year-old Dereck Lively II in the middle with 32-year-old Kyrie Irving and 34-year-old Klay Thompson. Does that sound like a championship core in the West?

GO DEEPER

LeBron James, Anthony Davis ramp up pressure on Lakers’ front office: ‘We need another big’

Maybe. But I don’t think the Mavs can win the conference with this swap. I thought they could win it all with Dončić being healthy and the rotation around him also remaining in shape. They could have repeated as West champs and then seen if their roster changes last summer were enough to overcome the East champs this time around. I don’t know how you make a “win-now” move that ensures you’re less likely to win now.

The Mavericks did get something significant in return, but not in the context of trading their second-best player in franchise history, one who had the opportunity to become their best player ever and is still only 25. They should have received so, so much more, especially in draft capital. Rudy Gobert went for a handful of firsts! So did Mikal Bridges. Dončić went for one.

Grade: C

Jazz receive: Jalen Hood-Schifino, 2025 second-round pick from Clippers, 2025 second-round pick from Mavs

The Jazz do what the Jazz do in this deal. They grabbed a player who already seemed like a bust for the Lakers, and two second-round picks for their troubles. Maybe they’ve missed Talen Horton-Tucker so much that they wanted to get the next version of him from the Lakers without the big contract attached. Regardless, this is what bad teams with cap flexibility are supposed to do: absorb contracts and get some picks in the process.

As for Utah’s grade, we’ll use the pass/fail method instead of the letter-grade variety.

Grade: Pass

More on the stunning Luka-Anthony Davis trade:

(Top photo: Andrew D. Bernstein / Getty Images)