The Dallas Mavericks made the shocking decision to trade Luka Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers before the deadline earlier in the season – a move that will likely haunt the team’s fan base for years to come.
Mavericks general manager Nico Harrison’s answers on the trade have not sat well with anyone who enjoys the NBA or are fans of the team. On Monday, Harrison addressed the trade once again after the team’s playoff hopes were dashed in the play-in tournament.
“I did know that Luka was important to the fan base,” Harrison told a small group of reporters. “I didn’t quite know it to what level.”
The Lakers’ Doncic acquisition re-energized the team’s NBA championship chances. He averaged 28.2 points, 8.1 rebounds and 7.5 assists in 28 games for the Lakers.
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Harrison said he expected criticism from the trade but thought it would have died down sooner if Anthony Davis was able to play more with Kyrie Irving, Klay Thompson, P.J. Washington and Dereck Lively II. Davis suffered an injury in the first game he played for Dallas. Irving suffered a season-ending injury as well.
“We feel that’s a championship-caliber team and we would have been winning at a high level and that would have quieted some of the outrage,” he added. “And so, unfortunately, we weren’t able to do that, so it just continued to go on and on.”
History will determine how the trade eventually is looked at. But the Lakers adding Doncic to an aging LeBron James was definitely the best idea for their future.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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