The Dallas Mavericks continue to catch heat for their decision to trade Luka Doncic away to the Los Angeles Lakers for Anthony Davis and Max Christie. Doncic has been great for the Lakers, as you'd expect he would be, averaging 27.5 PPG and 7.9 APG. Davis and Christie are combining to average 27.7 PPG and 7.1 APG, and neither player is striking fear into opposing defenses.
But that one trade doesn't really paint the picture it needs to. It takes another bad trade from this season to put things into perspective.
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Mar 17, 2025; Houston, Texas, USA; Philadelphia 76ers guard Quentin Grimes (5) reacts after making a basket during overtime against the Houston Rockets at Toyota Center. Mandatory Credit: Troy Taormina-Imagn Images / Troy Taormina-Imagn Images
Dallas also traded away Quentin Grimes to the Philadelphia 76ers for Caleb Martin, which has also been a horrible trade. Since the trade, Grimes has averaged 21.8 PPG. Anthony Davis, the key return of the Luka Doncic trade and a 10-time All-Star, has averaged 16.6 PPG.
Some of that is due to injury. Davis has only played in five games for the Mavericks due to two injuries, most recently an adductor strain, and he's clearly not 100% healthy. The defensive effort hasn't been there, and his offensive efficiency has fallen off a cliff. It would be better if he just sat for the rest of the season, but Dallas is insistent on trying to remain competitive for the Play-In Tournament.
But forget Davis being on a comparable level to Luka Doncic like he was supposed to be; he's not even a better player than Quentin Grimes, who was basically dumped from the Mavs at the trade deadline. Somehow, these trades that looked bad at the time have only continued to get worse.
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