The Los Angeles Lakers’ trade for superstar guard Luka Doncic will forever go down as one of the most shocking in the history of the NBA, if not all of sports. Not only did the Lakers acquire the face of the franchise from the Dallas Mavericks, but they also did so without any discussions or negotiations leaking out. It was a complete surprise, even to those involved in the deal.
It had long been a question of who would be taking over as the franchise player once LeBron James retires, but now there is no question. Doncic is a perennial MVP candidate and objectively one of the best basketball players alive and the Lakers were able to bring him in while only giving up one first-round draft pick in addition to superstar Anthony Davis and promising wing Max Christie.
It is frankly one of the best trades a team can make and the Lakers were recognized for that at the Sloan Analytics Conference as they received the Alpha Award for Transaction of the Year, via Dave McMenamin of ESPN:
The Lakers were presented with an Alpha Award for Transaction of the Year across all sports at the Sloan Analytics Conference today for their trade for Luka Doncic. The Celtics won the same award last year for the Kristaps Porzingis trade en route to their 2024 championship.
— Dave McMenamin (@mcten) March 9, 2025
Some may argue that the Lakers didn’t really have to do much as the Mavericks approached them with the deal. But Rob Pelinka deserves a ton of credit for negotiating a trade that is clearly in the Lakers favor. Acquiring a player of Doncic’s caliber for only one first-rounder, when many lesser players have required three or four, was a stroke of genius.
Trading for Doncic was not only an outstanding long-term move for the Lakers, giving them their face of the franchise for the next 10 years, but has also completely rejuvenated this year’s team and catapulted them into championship contention as one of the best teams in the Western Conference.
Luka Doncic: Lakers must have ‘next man up’ mentality in wake of LeBron James injury
Luka Doncic has already taken over as the Lakers’ primary creator, but now with LeBron James suffering a groin strain, there will be even more pressure on the guard to lead this team.
Doncic knows it won’t be easy and it will take the efforts of the entire squad to help offset the loss of James. Following the loss to the Celtics, Doncic called for the entire team to have a ‘next man up’ mentality as everyone will need to step up with LeBron out.
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