Mea culpa!Let's just say I fumbled the ball when I immediately cried 'fake' when I first saw a post on social media that the Dallas Mavericks were essentially trading Luka Doncic for the Los Angeles Lakers' Anthony Davis.I was burned by a Shams Charania bomb before when someone posted an update that the Miami Heat's petulant Jimmy Butler has finally been traded to Milwaukee for the corpse of Khris Middleton and Bobby Portis. So, my first instinct was Trump-like and labeled the Doncic trade as fake news.But boy was I wrong—I don't have X or Twitter so couldn't really verify—and I wasn't alone.You can't really blame little old me (okay, not little...chubby), as never in a hundred years would a self-respecting sports journalist could predict Dallas trading its 25-year-old franchise player, who just months ago led them to the NBA Finals, for a 32-year-old often-injured former all-star (he's not nicknamed Plain Clothes for nothing, courtesy of Charles Barkley).LA just keeps on winning and they now have a player who can take the reins from LeBron James—and even learn from him—when The King finally hangs up his jersey in a couple of years (sorry, it's not Bronny). Doncic is really HIM, but sports reporters should ditch Luka Magic when referring to the Slovenian Walking Triple Double as there could only be one Magic in Tinseltown (Earvin Johnson Jr.). He is also not the Baby GOAT as first-time NA All-Star Tyler Herro is.The Luka-AD swap was the most shocking trade in NBA history, bar none.Me thinks NBA commissioner Adam Silver should've stepped in and nullified the trade the same way his predecessor, David Stern, vetoed the Chris Paul trade to the Lakers in exchange for essentially Pau Gasol and Lamar Odom in a complicated three-team trade with the New Orleans Hornets and Houston Rockets. The abrogated deal back in 2011 would've also included Kevin Martin, Luis Scola, and Goran Dragic, one of my favorite Heat players (Miss you Gogi!).A conspiracy theory floating around is that Silver didn't lift a finger to block the Doncic-Davis trade because the NBA wants to revive the Lakers' flagging hopes even as the Boston Celtics captured its 18th NBA championship last season (they were previously tied with 17 titles apiece).NBA viewership is down allegedly because of the rise of player empowerment and a shift to an offense heavily reliant on the 3-point shot (anyone wants to be Steph Curry nowadays) and what better way to alleviate the troubling trend than to prop up the time-and-tested Lakers-Celtics rivalry.There are also rumblings that LeBron and Luka can't co-exist because the two basically play the same position—point forward. However, both are basketball savants and will figure it out one way or the other. The only thing the Lakers need now is a starting center to replace Davis and his all-NBA defensive talents.Unless they trade for the Indiana Pacers' Myles Turner, the Utah Jazz's Walker Kessler, the New York Knicks' Mitchell Robinson, or the Portland Trailblazers' Robert Williams III, LA's starting center at the moment is Jaxson Hayes. Joining him in the Lakers' potential starting lineup are, of course, James at small forward, Doncic at shooting guard, Austin Reaves at point guard, and Rui Hachimura at power forward.As for the Mavericks, I don't know what Dallas GM Nico Harrison was smoking (he previously botched Curry's shoe deal renewal with Nike). OK, Luka may not be at the best of shape but he's still a leading MVP candidate. He may oftentimes look like the Philadelphia 76ers' Joel Embiid or the New Orleans Pelicans' Zion Williamson due to their injury-induced unavailability, but you're still talking about Luka here who averaged a near triple double in the 2024 NBA playoffs (28.9 points, 9.5 rebounds, and 8.1 assists).The Doncic-Davis deal isn't the most lopsided trade in NBA history, mind you, as that would be the heist the Lakers pulled off when the Memphis Grizzlies GM Jerry West gifted Gasol to the Lakers in exchange for Kwame Brown, Javaris Crittenton, Aaron McKie, the rights to Marc Gasol (Pau's younger brother who wasn't highly rated at that time), and 2008 and 2010 first round draft picks.As for the Butler saga down in South Beach, I hope there's a resolution soon as like everyone else who loves the Heat and the NBA, we're all pretty much sick and tired of this drama—trade him to the Phoenix Suns for Bradley Beal and a bag of Chippy for all I care! Decaffeinated Buckets anyone?
