Luka Dončić vs. Jalen Brunson: The Showdown That Should’ve Never Happened
And yet another reason why the Luka Dončić trade was beyond foolish
I know, I know… I should stop writing about how terrible the Nico Harrison trade of Luka Dončić was. Mavericks fans don’t deserve another punch in the gut, and Lakers fans should just sit back and enjoy the Luka experience.
But then a game like this happens.
Luka vs. Brunson. A battle between two guards who were drafted together and should have been running the Mavericks for the next decade. Instead, one is a franchise savior in New York, and the other is the next great showtime superstar in Los Angeles. And all I could think while watching was: This should have never been a debate, never been a showdown. It should have been a duo.
I won’t rehash how Brunson ended up on the Knicks. I won’t go into loyalty, what Dončić meant to Mavericks fans, or how Nico Harrison disregarded everything basketball and sports fandom are about when he pulled the trigger on what will go down as the worst trades in NBA history. Those are the emotional aspects of the game—the things that make people so passionate about this beautiful sport.
What I kept thinking while watching Dončić and Brunson duel last night—and if you missed it, my pal Panda Hank put together a 10-MINUTE highlight reel of absurd shot-making and playmaking—was just how staggeringly ignorant this trade was in the context of modern NBA basketball.
Dončić once again dazzled, burying rainbow step-back daggers and putting on a passing clinic, finishing with 32 points, 12 assists, 7 rebounds, and 4 steals. Brunson was unstoppable all night, torching every Lakers defender and shredding every coverage on his way to 39 points and 10 assists. And, of course, LeBron James joined the show, stuffing the stat sheet with 31 points, 12 rebounds, and 8 assists.
How any NBA executive could watch this game—or any of last year’s playoffs—and still believe a big man is more valuable than an elite ball-handler and playmaker defies all logic. The Mavericks beat Thunder and Timberwolves (built on the same size and two-big strategy that Harrison and Jason Kidd wanted to replicate), because they couldn’t match the playmaking and scoring of Dončić and Kyrie Irving. Then in the Finals, Dallas had no answer for all the firepower and relentless dribble-drive game the Celtics had with Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, Jrue Holiday, and Derrick White.
The fact that the Mavericks had two of the top three self-created shot-makers over the last three seasons and still decided they were better off without them is what will drive the fanbase crazy for the next decade.
Instead of building a team around elite playmakers, the Mavericks are stuck in 2020 thinking, back when Anthony Davis played next to JaVale McGee and Dwight Howard. McGee by the way, will still be on the Mavericks' payroll until 2028. Perhaps 2020 is even too recent, as it seems Harrison can't let a day pass without referencing Kobe and the Mamba mentality, which was last relevant more than a decade ago. The rest of the league has moved forward, embracing versatility, skill, and dynamic playmaking, while Dallas gone all-in on an outdated blueprint that no longer wins at the highest level.
The Lakers, on the other hand, won their eighth straight game and look like a supercharged version of the 2022 Mavericks—the last time Dončić and Brunson were still cooking together. They are built around three elite ball-handlers in Dončić, James, and Austin Reaves, who put constant pressure on defenses and who can break down opponents off the dribble. Add a versatile, wing-heavy lineup, switchable defenders, and a group who plays hard on every possession and fight for every loose ball, and you get a winning formula.
For everyone else, and especially fans in Dallas, watching Dončić and Brunson go at it will always be a painful reminder of the ultimate "what if."
Two other signings that would tend to back up your analysis of the Nico-Kidd 2 big model.
1. The failed signing (at the expense of a 1st round pick) for Christian Wood in 2021, and
2. The absolute failed signing of Javale McGee in 2022, which included promising him a starting role on the team. Both of these moves seemed to be more Kidd than Nico, so perhaps in the earlier years of their reign Nico was swayed by Kidd's outdated team-building philosophy.
Nico's moves in retrospect, seem to all have relations back to his time at Nike in the AAU basketball realm. He had known Kai for years, He was very familiar with both PJ and Gaff from there as well. His philosophy and structure is more one of personal friendships and Nike-AAU leanings than based on any prevalent knowledge of team building in the sense we use it.
Luka never fit the AAU model. Most Euro players don't. Combine that with ownership who has only interest in a casino in Texas and the BB team is simply a vehicle to make them even richer.
All that adds up to really low IQ group of professional team builders.
Thanks for the highlights--just a pleasure to watch two of the best in the NBA go at each other. Great night by both players ending in a jersey swap that probably made most Mavs fans weep!
"Beyond foolish," is an apt description of the trade.
Did the Mavs go to the finals in 22?