No Player in the League is Safe
As we all know by now, the Dallas Mavericks traded twenty-five-year-old superstar Luka Dončić to the Los Angeles Lakers for Anthony Davis, Max Christie, and a 2029 first-round draft pick on 2 February 2025. While the immediate fallout has centered on the Mavs’ less-than-credible decision-making and fan outrage, this transaction carries implications that extend far beyond two franchises. The Dončić deal is not just shocking—it is game-changing for the entire National Basketball Association (NBA), and not in a good way. This trade has fundamentally shifted our understanding of player value, team construction, and the future of the league itself.
The notion of the untradeable face of the franchise has long been a pillar of NBA team building. Certain players—generational talents who combine elite performance with marketability—were considered immune to trade considerations. Dončić was the definition of untouchable; a two-time Most Valuable Player candidate who just carried Dallas to the NBA Finals despite being injured. He was supposed to be their Dirk Nowitzki 2.0. If Dončić can be traded, no player in the league is safe. Think about it: Is Jayson Tatum untouchable in Boston now? What about Nikola Jokić in Denver or Victor Wembanyama in San Antonio? Teams have built their entire competitive and business strategies around these guys, but the Dončić trade just proved that might be a sucker’s bet, if even the most valuable assets exist in a state of potential transience. Front offices across the league are definitely reconsidering what it means to have a “franchise player” right now.
The NBA has recently been all about player power with guys like LeBron James and Kevin Durant calling their own shots, but Dončić got shipped out without any say whatsoever. That is going to have some consequences. If I am Anthony Edwards, Cade Cunningham, Paolo Banchero, or any other rising star, I am telling my agent to fight for every protection possible in my next deal. No-trade clauses, player options, trade kickers—whatever it takes to make sure I do not end up blindsided like Luka. This could completely change how emerging stars approach their contracts from now on, knowing that performance and popularity alone no longer guarantee security; transforming the dynamics of rookie extensions and max contracts league wide.
Candidly, I agree with Dallas fans calling BS on the Mavericks’ defensive improvement and “culture” reasons for the trade. These explanations ring hollow against the backdrop of their previous moves and abysmal quality of the trade return—I mean, if defence mattered this much, why not trade for Kyrie Irving and Klay Thompson earlier? The real story here seems way more about business than basketball. Trading a twenty-five-year-old superstar with minimal injury history for an injury-prone thirty-one-year-old defies all conventional wisdom about team building. General managers around the league must be scratching their heads. If the process of developing a superstar draft pick—perfectly—can still end with that player being shipped out at their peak, where does that leave the idea of long-term builds?
All sorts of fan theories have been circulating for the past month as to the true basis for this decision. Some are as simple as team politics and clashing personalities. A far-reaching one interprets the trade as being a way for the Mavericks’ new majority owner and heir to the Las Vegas casino empire, Miriam Adelson, to send a message to the Texas legislature that it was serious about its threat to relocate the franchise to Las Vegas. The Adelsons have previously proposed the idea of a combined sports arena and casino development that was rejected by Dallas officials. The theory was that either Dallas would provide funding for the arena-casino project or the Adelsons would follow through with their implied threat and move the team to Vegas. Mavs co-owner, Dumont, has just explicitly shut down this rumour, stating that it is unequivocally never going to happen. This is at least a little bit comforting. If owners start seeing their teams primarily as business assets, we are entering dangerous territory.
Perhaps the most profound league-wide implication of that perspective shift is the fan-franchise relationship. The backlash to Luka’s trade was immediate in Dallas. Fans staged protests outside the arena, draped Dončić jerseys over Nowitzki’s statue—featuring an inscription that reads “Loyalty Never Fades Away”—and even held a mock funeral outside of the American Airlines Center to pay homage to Dončić’s seven years with them. Season-ticket holders cancelled subscriptions en masse, forcing the Mavericks to offer refunds—a rare concession in professional sports. Clearly, there is a lot of emotional investment from fans—and this is not just a Dallas problem. Every fanbase is now wondering if their favourite player could be next. Why buy that $120 jersey or commit to season tickets when the player could be gone tomorrow? The NBA sells itself on star power and connection with fans, but trades like this one completely undermine that. As player movement accelerates and the untradeable become tradeable, fan loyalty becomes increasingly fragile. The Dončić trade signals to fans that their emotional and financial investments come with no guarantees, inevitably affecting league-wide merchandise sales, viewership, and arena attendance. In a league that already had trust issues, this trade just poured gas on the fire. I truly believe that this decision will haunt the franchise for years to come, remembered not just for how idiotic it was, but for how it reshaped the power dynamics that govern professional basketball and invoked the ‘curse of the Mavericks.’
While Dallas deals with the immediate fallout of their decision, their playoff chances are looking grim. President of Basketball Operations and General Manager Nico Harrison made it clear that his only goal in trading Dončić was to win a championship. In his defence, the idea of pairing Davis with Irving, Thompson, PJ Washington Jr. (PJW), and the two bigs—Dereck Lively II and Daniel Gafford—was a roster move that made sense on paper. Unfortunately, the injuries that the Mavs are currently dealing with stand in the way of their ability to watch this vision come to life. Davis was injured in his debut with the Mavs and will likely be out for the rest of the regular season. This seems to be a direct result of the organization’s urge to get him back on the court as soon as possible given the timing of the trade.
The Mavericks’ curse does not stop at Davis, though. At the time of writing, PJW is missing a sixth straight game due to an ankle injury. Gafford is sidelined with a Grade 3 right MCL sprain. Lively’s ankle injury has improved, but he still has not returned to team practices. Kai Jones remains out with a quad injury. Jaden Hardy is out for an undetermined amount of time with an ankle injury. Olivier-Maxence Prosper will undergo season-ending wrist surgery. And now, Kyrie Irving is down with a season-ending torn ACL, further complicating Dallas’ hopes of staying competitive. In just five months, the Mavs’ trajectory has gone from being legitimate championship contenders led by Dončić to likely becoming a lottery team and missing the playoffs altogether. It is crunch time for Harrison to make some moves as the clock runs out for the Mavericks.