In the history of professional sports, few decisions have ignited such immediate and unrelenting fury from fans as the Dallas Mavericks‘ decision to trade Luka Dončić to the Los Angeles Lakers in February. The man who made the decision, Mavs general manager Nico Harrison, was fired on Tuesday. With Harrison ousted, the Mavs in a bad competitive position (despite getting the No. 1 overall pick and drafting Cooper Flagg), and Luka thriving with the Lakers, it’s worth discussing … was this actually the worst trade in sports history? The Mavericks are firing Harrison nine months after the jarring and stunning Luka Doncic trade – a move for which Dumont took accountability and accepted as a mistake in a court-side interaction with a fan on Monday night. https://t.co/PDzeix8ZmM— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) November 11, 2025 Let’s review the details of the deal. Executed on February 2, 2025, the transaction sent the 25-year-old Dončić, along with Maxi Kleber and Markieff Morris, to the Lakers in exchange for Anthony Davis, Max Christie, and a protected first-round pick. At the time, Harrison pitched the move as a bold pivot toward rim protection and versatility, pairing Davis with Kyrie Irving to form a gritty, championship-caliber duo. The NBA world recoiled in disbelief; fans stormed social media with boycott threats, and analysts labeled it a panic move born of impatience rather than strategy. Dallas ownership, led by governor Patrick Dumont, initially backed the call. For Harrison, the aftermath reads like a cautionary tale of hubris. From the moment the trade went down, fan protests escalated, from “Fire Nico” chants at home games to organized walkouts, turning American Airlines Center into a cauldron of resentment. AD and Kyrie suffered major injuries. The Mavs finished 10th in the West last season and were defeated in the Play-In. They’ve begun 2025-26 with a 3-8 record and in general aren’t entertaining to watch (despite Flagg), and fans remain incensed. Meanwhile, the Lakers have feasted on the windfall. Luka is averaging 37.1 points, 9.1 assists, and 9.4 rebounds so far this season, propelling Los Angeles to an 8-3 record. Ultimately, Harrison traded a generational superstar in his prime for an injury-prone, aging star. At the time, the trade looked terrible … and it still looks terrible. Story continues below advertisement Yet, despite its appalling nature, the Luka deal may not claim the crown as the absolute nadir of sports trades. Consider the 1989 Herschel Walker exchange between the Dallas Cowboys and Minnesota Vikings, often revisited as the blueprint for lopsided deals. The Vikings, desperate to land the aging Walker, gave up a haul that included 10 total draft picks over three years. Those picks ended up giving the Cowboys players like Emmitt Smith, Alvin Harper, and Darren Woodson, fueling three Super Bowl triumphs in the 1990s and cementing Jerry Jones’s dynasty. Walker wasn’t bad in Minnesota, but he was part of zero playoff wins. The Vikings were stuck in rebuild purgatory for a decade. Another contender for worst trade ever hails from the NBA: the 1982 Moses Malone swap, where the Houston Rockets dealt the dominant center to the Philadelphia 76ers for Caldwell Jones and a second-round pick. Malone, fresh off MVP honors, powered Philly to a sweeping NBA title alongside Julius Erving. Houston, meanwhile, was made irrelevant until Hakeem Olajuwon’s arrival years later. Unlike Harrison’s move, which at least netted a proven All-Star in Davis (when healthy), the Malone trade yielded scraps that haunted Houston for years. Story continues below advertisement The Dončić trade’s verdict remains fluid—Dallas could rebound with smart hires and Davis’s resurgence, potentially softening the blow. But nine months in, with a GM sacked and a fan base fractured, it stands out as possible the worst trade in the history of sports. Parting with a 25-year-old supernova for an injury-riddled big man feels unforgivable. Whether this deal endures as the worst depends on what comes next; but this trade is a scar the Mavericks will forever possess.