With the NBA playoffs approaching, the Dallas Mavericks are finding any reason to justify the trade that sent their franchise player to the Los Angeles Lakers. In his most recent chat with the media, Mavericks CEO Rick Welts compared the trade to the one back in 2012 between the Golden State Warriors and Milwaukee Bucks.
“Rick Welts made a comparison with the Luka trade to a team that he used to work for; the Golden State Warriors. He said ‘The Golden State Warriors once traded Monta Ellis for Andrew Bogut. Monta Ellis was beloved…’ Rick said, ‘But it got better, because they had a guard named Steph Curry, and Curry came in and made the entire fanbase love him.’ The problem here is that in this analogy, Luka is not Monta Ellis, Luka is Steph Curry.”
The Mavericks have been a united front since trading away Luka Doncic. From head coach Jason Kidd to GM Nico Harrison, the whole team has been publicly supportive of the move. In the latest defense of the trade, the Mavericks’ CEO compared it to when the Warriors gave away Monta Ellis in March of 2012.
Ellis was playing like an All-Star for the Warriors leading up to that trade, but they had to make room for Stephen Curry, and they knew that by trading Ellis, they could get a big man to fill out their frontcourt in return. It was a wildly unpopular choice at the time, but it paid off in the ultimate way. With Bogut, Curry, Klay Thompson, and Draymond Green, the Warriors established a dynasty that won four championships over eight years.
Similarly, the Mavericks believe that they can flip the script of the Luka trade by going on a championship run and creating an opportunity for their next star to rise.
The problem for the Mavericks is that instead of making room for their franchise star, they traded him away without an equal return. As good as Anthony Davis is, he can’t keep the Mavericks afloat for another decade, and now the Mavericks no longer have a top-five talent to lead and close games for them when the going gets tough.
Still, despite the Mavericks’ struggles (10th in the West), they continue to defend the trade and refuse to show any hint of remorse over breaking the hearts of their fans. Not only did they question his conditioning, but also his leadership style and work ethic. They embarrassed Luka and betrayed his trust by completely giving up.
Mavericks GM Nico Harrison is now fresh off a press conference with reporters, where he doubled down on the Luka Doncic trade and insisted that his team was better off without him. This is despite Doncic being a 26-year-old superstar in his prime with averages of 28.2 points, 8.2 rebounds, and 7.7 assists per game on 43.8% shooting this season.
In his mind, trading Luka Doncic was the only answer left for a Mavericks team stuck in the mud, but it’s hard to justify trading away a 26-year-old superstar who was willing and ready to sign a supermax contract extension this summer.
