Luka Doncic has been phenomenal in this 2025-26 NBA season for the Los Angeles Lakers, but there is a chance we might not see him in action the rest of the way. Doncic has been diagnosed with a Grade 2 left hamstring strain that has ruled him out for the rest of the regular season, and Colin Cowherd believes this shows why former Dallas Mavericks general manager Nico Harrison wanted to part ways with him.
“Luka was hurt for the second year in a row, doesn’t defend, ball-centric, which hurts comes playoff time,” Cowherd said on The Colin Cowherd Podcast. “I said if they had included with Anthony Davis, Max Christie, two to three first-round picks, I get it. I did not get it without it. But let’s look at the Luka deal now.
“Last year, 40-year-old LeBron was more dependable because Luka was in so-so shape,” Cowherd stated. “This year, Luka had really good stats, will not be available probably for the playoffs. And so again, an injury, which he had several his last two years in Dallas.
“And this is something I’ve said,” Cowherd continued. “I’ve always said Luka is a better Carmelo [Anthony], and Carmelo’s a Hall of Famer and Carmelo’s a bucket… All my favorite basketball players of my life, Larry Bird, Michael Jordan, Kobe [Bryant], LeBron [James], you can go to all of them. I loved Kareem [Abdul-Jabbar] when I was a kid, [Julius Erving], they made an effort defensively. They really did.
“Steph [Curry] tries,” Cowherd added. ” He’s not big. He’s not great, and they’ve protected him. But when you look at that trade now, I still wouldn’t have made it. But it does make you think, okay, like Nico Harrison was thinking he’s going to age really quickly.”
Cowherd pointed out that Anthony Davis, whom Harrison ironically acquired for Doncic along with Max Christie and a 2029 first-round pick, has aged really quickly. It wasn’t long ago that Davis was talked about as one of the very best defensive players in the NBA, and his stock is at an all-time low now. He only played 20 games for the Mavericks this season and was shipped to the Washington Wizards at the trade deadline.
“With the Luka injury, yes, he’s great,” Cowherd said. “But you do understand a little bit what Nico Harrison, had he gotten a couple of first-round picks with it, you’d have said, I kind of get what he was thinking. I wouldn’t have done it. And without the draft picks, it’s egregious.”
Cowherd gets Harrison’s line of thinking, but he still wouldn’t have made that trade in February 2025. Also, parting with Doncic because you’re worried his body is going to break down, and then bringing in Davis, made little sense. The big man had been far more injury-prone, and we have barely seen him on the court since the trade.
You can maybe make a case that the idea was right, but the execution was horrible. It’s why the Mavericks fired Harrison back in November 2025.
There is no denying that, for whatever flaws Doncic has, the Lakers easily won the trade. The Slovenian has put up ridiculous averages of 33.5 points, 7.7 rebounds, 8.3 assists, 1.6 steals, and 0.5 blocks per game in 2025-26.
Yes, it is a concern that Doncic missed over a month with a left calf strain last season and is now likely to be out for a month or so with this hamstring problem. Is it time to sound the alarm about his health in the long-term? Not yet. If it happens again next season, though, then perhaps there would be cause for concern.
