GM Nico Harrison was worried about 'tumultuous' Luka Doncic summer before trade

Today at 01:22 PM

The Dallas Mavericks sent shockwaves around the NBA on Saturday night after trading away superstar Luka Doncic. The Mavericks agreed to trade Doncic to the Lakers in exchange for a package that included Anthony Davis. A recent article sheds more light on why the Mavericks decided to make such a bold move in the middle of the season.

Mavericks GM Nico Harrison was honest when talking about the trade with The Dallas Morning News. Harrison admitted that he was worried about a ‘tumultuous’ summer before the trade went down.

"We really feel like we got ahead of what was going to be a tumultuous summer, him being eligible for the supermax and also a year away from him being able to opt out of any contract," Harrison said. "And so we really felt like we got out in front of that. We know teams, they've had it out there, teams have been loading up to try to sign him once that comes available."

Doncic would have been eligible for a five-year, $345 million supermax contract extension if he stayed in Dallas. It seems the Mavericks were unwilling to hand out that contract, hence the monster trade.

Now that Doncic has been traded to the Lakers, he is no longer eligible for a supermax contract.

Nico Harrison believes adding Anthony Davis will help Mavericks win championships 

It is easy to wonder: why would the Mavericks trade away a 25-year-old superstar for an older player or similar talent?

Aside from the financial angle, it seems that Harrison has a different reason for making this trade. He argues that AD’s defensive dominance could be what takes the Mavericks over the top and makes them a championship-caliber team.

"We really feel that defense wins championships, and we think the players that we're bringing in add to the culture, which is important to what J-Kidd and I have been building here from day one," Harrison said.

Harrison pointed to AD being a first-team All-Defensive player as evidence of his dominance on defense.

"And then obviously, when you get an all NBA player who's also a first team All-Defensive player, we think that's gonna help us where we need it the most, on the defensive end."

Davis previously stated that he does not want to play center, instead preferring to play power forward. He played power forward for the Lakers when they won an NBA title.

The Mavericks intend to play AD as a power forward and believe they can achieve the same results, even without Luka Doncic.

It will be fascinating to see how this trade looks at the end of the regular season.

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