Mark Cuban selling his stake in the Dallas Mavericks has already had a much more seismic impact on the NBA than anticipated. Cuban's move led to Mavericks GM Nico Harrison having complete control over the roster moves.
We knew that the Mavericks' roster construction approach would be different under Harrison, with Cuban no longer being the primary decision marker. But many assumed that any moves under Harrison would made under the umbrella of retooling around Dallas' superstar backcourt duo of Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving. After all, they are coming off a Finals appearance. They had a working formula, and there wasn't much of a reason to make drastic adjustments.
Doncic has already proven he's an elite superstar capable of taking a team to its highest level if surrounded by the right pieces. With Luka, Dallas made the Western Conference in 2022, worsened their record towards the end of the 2023 season in hopes of landing Victor Wembanyama, and made the Finals in 2024.
But alas, Harrison decided to trade him to the Los Angeles Lakers for a package headlined by Anthony Davis.
Here are the details of the trade, per ESPN's Shams Charania:
BREAKING: The Dallas Mavericks are trading Luka Doncic, Maxi Kleber and Markieff Morris to the Los Angeles Lakers for Anthony Davis, Max Christie and a 2029 first-round pick, sources tell ESPN. Three-team deal that includes Utah.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) February 2, 2025
Davis is 31 years old, and Dallas doesn't have many future picks, so this is a myopic move that could backfire quickly for the Mavericks.
Joe Cronin is looking better thanks to Nico Harrison's questionable trade
Say what you will about some of the Portland Trail Blazers' questionable roster decisions over the years. But Blazers GM Joe Cronin wouldn't make that deal.
If anything, Cronin has been known as a firm negotiator who overvalues players, as evidenced when he asked for two first-round picks for Jerami Grant this past summer. That decision negatively affected Portland in the long term, but it's not something that will set their franchise back for years to come, which is what Harrison just did to the Mavericks.
Some teams reportedly didn't even know that Doncic was available:
Just taped emergency pod with @BillSimmons and @RobMahoney
— Russillo (@ryenarussillo) February 2, 2025
Heard from multiple teams tonight that said they had no idea Luka was available. You want to trade Luka, ok, but you start a bidding war. There was no reason to accept this deal so early.
If the Mavericks were set on trading Luka for whatever reason, that's certainly not the best package they could have received in return. Dallas was way too eager to make a move and should have started a bidding war.
That's the opposite problem the Blazers have under Cronin, as several veterans remain on the roster that should be traded. But between the two managerial flaws, Portland's is by far the lesser of two evils.