When the Dallas Mavericks made the decision to trade Luka Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers, the collective reaction of the NBA world was one of shock.
In the weeks since the trade became official and Doncic donned the purple and yellow for the first time, we’ve gotten a bit more accustomed to seeing Doncic playing alongside LeBron James, but the decision that the Mavs made, and the logic behind it, has largely remained fuzzy.
That decision was once again under the microscope on Wednesday night, as it was Doncic’s first game back in Dallas to play against his old team in the arena he used to call home.
Before the game, the Mavericks played a tribute video for Doncic on the jumbotron, thanking him for all the work he had put in for the team. As the video played, Doncic could be seen wiping tears away from his eyes.
Again, this raised the question: why did this trade happen in the first place? Doncic had been clear that he wanted to spend his entire career in Dallas, as Dirk Nowitzki did before him. One of Doncic’s peers, Trae Young of the Atlanta Hawks, shared his similar feelings of confusion on social media.
He was never gonna leave… https://t.co/NSkva1tGy6
— Trae Young (@TheTraeYoung) April 10, 2025
Doncic, of course, was traded from the Hawks to the Mavericks in exchange for Young during the 2018 NBA draft. He was never gonna leave, indeed.
Instead, the Mavs made the decision for him, and the fates of two franchises, and possibly the entire NBA, were shifted with one big trade. They say time heals all wounds, but Luka, and Mavs fans, are both clearly still feeling some raw emotions.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Trae Young Just As Confused As the Rest of Us Over Mavs' Decision to Trade Luka Doncic.
