From the moment the Dallas Mavericks acquired Luka Doncic, the comparisons to Dirk Nowitzki were inevitable.
Both were European sensations who came to the U.S. before they were old enough to drink there legally.
Both boasted incredibly unique skill sets, with Nowitzki being a sharp-shooting 7-footer with a deadly one-foot fadeaway, and Doncic being a bulky 6-6 point guard with elite vision and play-making.
And both ended up with Dallas, a franchise known for its patience and methodical approach to roster building. The Milwaukee Bucks drafted Nowitzki ninth overall in 1998 before trading him to the Mavericks the same night. The Atlanta Hawks selected Doncic third overall in 2018 before doing the same.
Doncic’s rookie year overlapped with Nowitzki’s final season, and Nowitzki emerged as a mentor for the then-19-year-old phenom.
It made sense, then, that Doncic would follow a similar trajectory as Nowitzki, who spent his entire 21-year career with the Mavericks, led the franchise in 2011 to its only championship, and entered the Hall of Fame in 2023 in his first year of eligibility.
But the Mavericks ended that dream Saturday.
In perhaps the most shocking trade in NBA history, Dallas general manager Nico Harrison agreed to send Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers for Anthony Davis, Max Christie and, somehow, only one first-round pick.
It was the kind of trade that just doesn’t happen.
At 25, Doncic is in the heart of his prime and may not have reached his peak. He earned first-team All-NBA honors in each of the last five seasons. His career average of 28.6 points per game ranks third in NBA history — behind only the 30.1 averaged by Michael Jordan and Wilt Chamberlain — to go with 8.7 rebounds and 8.3 assists.
“We think defense wins championships, and we’re bringing in one of the best two-way players in the league,” Harrison said Sunday in reference to Davis.
No one denies Doncic’s flaws. He is a poor defender, and his inconsistent conditioning — and accompanying weight fluctuations — was reportedly a source of contention among Mavericks brass.
Doncic has not played since Christmas, when he suffered a left calf strain. It was Doncic’s fourth injury to that calf since 2022.
Despite those shortcomings, Doncic is a proven winner. He took the Mavericks to the Western Conference Finals in 2022, then carried them to the NBA Finals last year.
The Mavericks, who had just rebuilt their roster with midseason trades for P.J. Washington and Daniel Gafford, lost in five games to the Boston Celtics, whose core had spent years together.
Dallas retooled in the offseason, signing Klay Thompson and Quentin Grimes to address the lack of 3-point shooting that proved detrimental in that Finals defeat. Those additions, coupled with other shrewd moves in recent years, gave Doncic the deepest, most balanced and best supporting cast he’s ever played with.
But instead of pursuing a Finals encore with Doncic, the Mavericks shipped him away.
“I understand the magnitude of it,” Harrison said. “The easiest thing for me to do is do nothing, and everyone would praise me for doing nothing. But we really believe in it, and time will tell if I’m right.”
It’s a gigantic gamble the Mavericks never made with Nowitzki.
Nowitzki did not win a championship until his 13th season. It took more than a decade of tinkering to figure out which co-stars complemented Nowitzki best.
Like Doncic, Nowitzki lost in his first trip to the NBA Finals, falling to the Miami Heat in 2006. And like Doncic, Nowitzki was never known for his defense.
But everything came together in 2011.
Tyson Chandler proved to be the missing piece as an elite rim protector. Shawn Marion did the dirty work as a defender and rebounder. Jason Terry gave a scoring punch off the bench.
Jason Kidd, who is now the Mavericks’ head coach, provided a steady presence on that 2011 team as a 38-year-old floor general.
Make no mistake, though. It was Nowitzki’s heroics that won the Mavericks that unlikely championship over a superstar-powered Heat team in its first year of the LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh era.
That run, however, occurred with Mark Cuban as the majority owner. In 2023, Cuban sold his majority stake to casino mogul Miriam Adelson and her family.
Doncic would have been eligible this offseason for a supermax extension of five years, $345 million, and it’s unclear if the new ownership was willing to pay it. Under his current contract, Doncic can opt out after the 2025-26 season and become a free agent.
“We had to take all that into consideration,” Harrison said, “and I feel like we got out in front of what could have been a tumultuous summer.”
Doncic never indicated he would opt out or reject a supermax offer, Harrison said.
“Seven years ago, I came here as a teenager to pursue my dream of playing basketball at the highest level,” Doncic said Sunday in a message to Mavericks fans. “I thought I’d spend my career here and I wanted so badly to bring you a championship.”
The Mavericks remain equipped with a championship-caliber roster. Kyrie Irving takes over the primary ball-handling responsibilities, while the 6-10 Davis, who is averaging 25.7 points and 11.9 rebounds, returns to his natural power forward position.
But Dallas’ championship window got much shorter. Davis turns 32 next month. Irving turns 33 less than two weeks later.
The Mavericks dealt the best player in a trade that’s supposed to help them win now, while receiving minimal upside for the future.
“He fits our timeframe,” Harrison said of Davis. “If you pair him with Kyrie and the rest of the guys, he fits right along with our timeframe to win now and win in the future. And the future to me is three, four years from now. The future 10 years from now, I don’t know. They’ll probably bury me and [Kidd] by then. Or we’ll bury ourselves.”
The trade devastated Mavericks fans, many of whom described feeling betrayed.
In this era of player mobility, fans often complain about a lack of loyalty. This time, it was the Dallas front office that became disloyal to Doncic.
Fans protested by turning the American Airlines Center into a makeshift shrine to Doncic, congregating outside the Mavericks’ home arena with jerseys, signs and even a coffin.
Perhaps fittingly, they left those items by a statue of Nowitzki, whose Mavericks legacy Doncic will never get a chance to match.