The NBA world is still in shock after one of the most baffling trades in NBA history. The Dallas Mavericks traded Luka Doncic, a soon-to-be-26-year-old superstar who’s already had five All-NBA First Team selections, to the Los Angeles Lakers for Anthony Davis. While Davis is a star and won a championship with the Lakers in 2020, he turns 32 next month and is often injured. It’s a wild move that has confused fans, players, and analysts.
Surely, the Mavericks must have gotten a lot of picks in return, right? Nope—they’ll get the Lakers’ first-round pick in 2029 and Max Christie, and that’s it. Dallas also traded Maxi Kleber and Markieff Morris, and the Utah Jazz joined as a third team for salary purposes. The Jazz will receive Jalen Hood-Schifino, the Mavs’ 2025 second-round pick, and the Los Angeles Clippers’ 2025 second-round pick.
The move will send shockwaves throughout the NBA, and it’ll also impact Doncic financially. He was eligible to sign a super max contract this summer worth $345 million over five years. It would have been the richest contract in NBA history. However, after getting traded, a super max is off the table.
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In fact, it was that impending super max that factored into this deal in the first place. Reports and rumblings have been coming out that the Mavericks were concerned about paying Doncic so much money because they thought his conditioning wasn’t the best. Unless Doncic’s body breaks down in the next couple of years and Dallas wins a championship, that still seems like a stretch to trade a top-five player in the league who arguably hasn’t even hit his prime.
Doncic can still make a lot of money if he signs an extension with the Lakers, but it won’t be as much as Dallas could have offered. ESPN analyst Bobby Marks suggested the smart move with Doncic would be to sign a three-year extension this offseason (rather than a four-year max) that includes a player option for 2028-29. By that point, Doncic could sign a deal in the 2028 offseason with a starting salary of $72 million.
There are also taxes to consider. Doncic didn’t have to pay state income taxes in Texas—he’ll now owe 13.3% for games played in California. That’s millions of additional dollars lost each year.
Another possibility: If Doncic plays this year and next with the Lakers and doesn’t win a title, he may look around the league and sign as a free agent with a team that has championship potential. Kevin Durant did it in 2016, leaving the Oklahoma City Thunder to join the Golden State Warriors, and won two titles along the way.
To date, Doncic has earned about $109.6 million in six years in the NBA. He’ll make another $89 million between this year and next, so he’ll close in on $200 million entering the summer of 2026. He’d likely still command a max contract wherever he signs.
This trade is massive now, and it will have ripple effects for years to come. Doncic joining another squad in 2026—or winning multiple championships with the Lakers—would both be enormous dominoes.