The recent Luka Doncic trade from the Dallas Mavericks to the Los Angeles Lakers has become headline news, not just in sports. Many Mavs fans wonder how their team could trade their 25-year-old face of the franchise not even a year after he almost single-handedly led them to the NBA Finals.
Los Angeles Hit the Jackpot
Over on the West Coast, though, the Tinsel Town faithful can’t believe their luck, bringing in perhaps the best player in the league on recent form and a potential replacement for the 40-year-old LeBron James for peanuts. King James had been rumored to be on his way out of the franchise, but now, he may have just been convinced to stay and form a blistering offense alongside the sensational Slovenian.
Doncic has been leading the European revolution Stateside for some time now. He, along with Denver Nuggets star Nikola Jokic and Milwaukee Bucks’ resident Greek Freak Giannis Antetokounmpo, are the current dominant players in the league. In addition to the rapid ascent of giant Frenchman Victor Wembanyama (recent injury notwithstanding), the future of the NBA may not belong to the natives anymore.
Perhaps the league may no longer be solely American; the Larry O’Brien Championship trophy could well belong to the Lakers courtesy of their recent trade activity… if the online basketball betting sites are to be believed anyway. Since Doncic’s arrival, websites offering basketball betting in Canada and the US have slashed prices on the title coming back to the City of Angels. The latest odds make the purple and gold a +800 fourth favorite for the title, narrowly behind the Celtics, Thunder, and Cavaliers.
Despite his tender years, the Slovenian sensation’s lofty standing in the game is crucial to LA’s renewed championship aspirations. Huge trades involving the Lakers are hardly new. Here are some other monumental trades that have taken place in recent years.
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Lands in LA
A 7’2” scoring machine in his prime, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was already a household name when he landed in Southern California, having racked up an MVP and an NBA title in Milwaukee. But by 1975, he wanted a change. The Lakers swooped in, trading four players—Elmore Smith, Brian Winters, Junior Bridgeman, and Dave Meyers—to bring the star to Los Angeles. The cost was steep, but the payoff was even more remarkable.
Over the next 14 seasons, Kareem became the centerpiece of Showtime basketball. Alongside Magic Johnson, he won five championships and set the NBA’s all-time scoring record – which he held for nearly 40 years before current Laker LeBron broke it two years ago. The Lakers’ glorious 1980s era might never have happened without this move.
The Shaquille O’Neal Partnership
While Kobe’s trade hogged the draft-day spotlight, the Lakers simultaneously orchestrated one of the biggest free-agent coups in NBA history, signing Shaquille O’Neal shortly after bringing in the Black Mamba. The move didn’t come cheap—it required clearing cap space, which led the Lakers to trade key veterans like Anthony Peeler and George Lynch to the Vancouver Grizzlies. Though not a straight trade, the ripple effects illustrate how bold roster moves can lead to monumental success.
Shaq joined Kobe to form an electrifying duo that dominated the early 2000s. Together, they claimed the franchise’s first-ever threepeat and created one of the most unstoppable tandems the league had ever seen.
Pau Gasol Joins Kobe in LA
Following the aforementioned big man’s departure for the bright lights of Miami in 2004, the Lakers needed a new center if they were to return to contention. Pau Gasol was the man they opted for, trading for him midway through 2007-08 from the Memphis Grizzlies in a package deal that included a young Marc Gasol. The move catapulted the Lakers back into the big time and reignited the storied career of Kobe Bryant, who had been searching for a co-star to return to glory.
With Pau Gasol in the mix, the Lakers reached the Finals in three straight seasons starting in 2008, ultimately winning back-to-back championships in 2009 and 2010. Gasol’s high basketball IQ and elite post-scoring complemented Bryant’s tenacity, making them one of the most formidable duos of their time.
Anthony Davis Joins the Fold
It’s tough to overstate the impact of the trade that brought Anthony Davis to the Lakers in 2019. The cost? A treasure chest of young talent—Lonzo Ball, Brandon Ingram, Josh Hart—and a haul of draft picks were sent to New Orleans. The reward? Immediate success.
Pairing Davis with LeBron James resulted in a championship in their first season together in 2020, breaking the team’s ten-year title drought. Davis was instrumental on both ends of the court, and while his recent trade to the Mavericks to secure Luka Doncic was a necessary evil, the big man will be sorely missed at Crypto.com Arena.
