Anonymous NBA players shocked at Mavericks’ lack of return in Luka Doncic trade: ‘Messed the league up’

The Athletic polled over 150 NBA players around the league to gauge their thoughts on the Dallas Mavericks’ decision to trade star guard Luka Doncic in February, and plenty of players were shocked at the return that the Mavericks got for a player who’s in his prime and one of the elite talents in the league today.

The Mavericks received big man Anthony Davis, guard Max Christie and a first-round pick in 2029 for the Slovenian superstar. One anonymous player claimed that he was in “disbelief” at the fact that Dallas didn’t get more draft capital in exchange for Doncic.

“I was in disbelief because if you’re trading a guy like Luka Dončić, you get the entire kitchen sink back,” he told The Athletic. “I mean, obviously with Anthony Davis, let’s not act like he’s not a top-75 player and perennial All-Star and an All-NBA guy himself. But you would imagine there would be several first-round picks attached to that, and there wasn’t, so something is going on there.”

Another player said that while Davis is an incredibly talented player, Doncic will likely be the best player in the NBA for the next decade-plus.

“I don’t get it,” he said. “I think (Dončić) is probably the best player in the league for the next 15 years. Maybe there was something behind the scenes we didn’t know about, but I didn’t understand it. At the same time, getting Anthony Davis back is not like any slouch. He’s obviously a star in this league. So superstar for superstar. But I didn’t really understand the trade.”

There was also a player who argued that the Mavericks’ return for Doncic “messed the league up.”

“Terrible,” he said. “Wow. Like, what did they do? I thought (the Mavs) were gonna come out of the West again two months ago. That was terrible, man. I don’t care how you slice it. To not get back what they should’ve gotten back is ridiculous. Messed the league up.”

Davis played well for the Mavericks when he was healthy enough to suit up for the team, as he averaged 20.0 points, 10.1 rebounds and 2.2 blocks per contest in his maiden season in Dallas. But injuries limited him to just nine appearances with the squad in the 2024-25 regular season.

Plus, Davis couldn’t lead Dallas to an appearance in the 2025 NBA Playoffs after the Mavericks came up just a few wins short of a title last year. Dallas won just 39 games in the 2024-25 campaign and got knocked out by guard Ja Morant and the Memphis Grizzlies in the play-in tournament.

Christie was the other player Dallas netted in the Doncic trade, and he could go down as the best long-term asset that the Mavericks obtained. He averaged 11.2 points, 4.2 rebounds and 2.5 assists per game across 32 contests in Dallas this season, and he’s just 22 years old.

For as skilled as Davis and Christie are, there are clearly a good chunk of players in the league who think that Dallas didn’t get enough in return for Doncic, who is trying to lead the Lakers deep into the 2025 NBA Playoffs. Los Angeles is tied up with the Minnesota Timberwolves at one game apiece in its first-round series.