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Luka to the Lakers: Where do we go from here?

By RC Nazemion

Hmm. Where to begin here? In the most shocking, mind-boggling, NBA 2K-esque trade the league has ever witnessed, the Los Angeles Lakers and Dallas Mavericks engaged in a trade that sent Anthony Davis to the Dallas Mavericks in exchange for Luka Dončić. Feel free to read that back if you need to.

When the above tweet was initially sent, everyone believed it to be fake. The only reasonable response to reading a tweet like that is to believe he was hacked. He quickly followed up with this tweet, which, funny enough, made us all believe even more that he was hacked.

Once followed by confirmations from ESPN, Chris Haynes, and many other reporters, we all knew it was real. The more news that came out, the more shock was added. It’s reported that none of Anthony Davis, Luka Dončić, or LeBron James knew that this trade was coming.

LeBron was reported to be out at dinner with friends and family when he found out. The business side of the NBA reared its ugly head tonight.

There will be no winners or losers in this trade—not this season, at least. With Luka only 25 years old, it could take 10+ years to determine a winner or loser. Since that question cannot be answered, let’s dig into the here and now.

New Look Lakers

As Shams Charania’s tweet above shows, Anthony Davis and Luka Dončić were not the only two players involved in this trade. The Lakers will also lose Max Christie while gaining Maxi Kleber and ex-Laker Markieff Morris. What does this mean for the team?

The Los Angeles Lakers just got a massive boost in the scoring department, specifically in someone who can create for themselves.

Luka Dončić is averaging 28.1 ppg this season and averages 28.6 for his career. He even scored 73 points last season against the Atlanta Hawks. The scoring accolades could fill up a book, but another hole has opened up by performing this trade.

Anthony Davis is one of the league’s best rebounding and defensive bigs. I can confidently say that Maxi Kleber is not the type of player to fill the gap AD is about to leave.

Los Angeles still has Jaxson Hayes and Christian Koloko on the roster, but we’ve seen both experiments this season yield unsuccessful results.

When it comes to losing Christie, that hurts as well. His 3&D style of play was an enormous asset to the team, and his absence will also be felt. Not as large of a void as Davis plans to leave, however, as the team still has players like Dorian Finney-Smith, Jarred Vanderbilt, and Gabe Vincent to defend the perimeter.

One More Trade Coming?

There are two schools of thought regarding this dilemma of gaps. One school of thought is that the Lakers viewed this trade as purely a move for the future. They said they would rather have security for the next decade than lose assets just for this season—a commendable, forward-thinking frame of mind.

The other possibility is that Los Angeles is out to win in the future and the present. There are now questions swirling around the league regarding the statuses of players like Dalton Knecht and even Austin Reaves. It sounds crazy, but so is what we all witnessed take place.

Going into the evening, there was only one expectation for the night: that we would play the Knicks in New York. If someone had told me yesterday that today’s events would unfold, I would have run away because I would have thought they were an insane person.

With the NBA world being turned on its head with this trade, it does beg the question of whether there is more to come. As previously mentioned, the loss of Davis leaves Los Angeles as an incomplete team, and if Los Angeles’ goal is still to compete this season, they’ll need a big.

With Luka and Austin’s skill sets somewhat redundant, does that make Reaves expendable? Is rookie Dalton Knecht now moveable, with a more secure future in Dončić? Could James be moved?

LeBron has been documented multiple times as wanting to play with Luka one day. As much as it may hurt to lose Davis, he could be beaming to play with Dončić. As of Sunday morning, Chris Haynes reported that LeBron is expected to stay with the Lakers post-Dončić / Davis trade.

Luka’s Lakers

When you move past the cloud of bitterness surrounding the loss of Davis, the view opens up, and you can look upon the sweet valleys of the next decade of Luka Dončić as a Los Angeles Laker. Make no mistake, this is Luka Dončić’s team now.

The Lakers have secured their future by landing a bonafide top-three player in the league, who is only 25. He has been a five-time All-NBA first-team player, and if he can stay healthy and pick up some hardware in LA, he’s bound to be a top-ten player all time.

His game is much different from Anthony Davis’s, meaning the Purple and Gold is about to undergo an identity change. The Los Angeles Lakers’ current future is very offensive.

Should we expect to see a shift in the types of players they target moving forward? Probably not. However, it should be very similar to what LeBron needed.

Three-and-D wings will be highly coveted to complement Luka’s exceptional passing ability while minimizing his defensive deficiencies. Funny enough, they would also be wise to target a big who is very similar to Anthony Davis.

Someone who is able to stretch the floor, run the pick-and-roll in their sleep, and protect the rim on the other end. That is the type of player Dončić needs.

He was able to take Dallas to the finals, making Daniel Gafford and rookie Derek Lively look tremendous. If you get him a player of Davis’ archetype, Dončić will have a field day.

Bittersweet

Anthony Davis is an all-time Laker, in my opinion, and he will be severely missed by players, coaches, and fans alike. While Davis’ departure is abrupt and disheartening, you can sleep well, Lakers fans.

You can sleep well knowing that your franchise is now in the hands of one of the best players in the entire world.

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RC Nazemi was born with a lifelong passion for the NBA and specifically the Lakers, and he's chosen to utilize his writing skills to share that unbridled passion with you, the fans. Based in Coeur d'Alene, ID, he's currently finishing up a Bachelors Degree in Mass Communication and Media Studies with Arizona State University, and he's looking to expand to a larger market and advance in the sports broadcasting/journalism world someday soon.
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