De’Aaron Fox trade details just prove Mavericks fleeced themselves with Luka Doncic
That raucous laughter you're hearing in the background? That's the entire NBA continuing to cackle at just how badly the Dallas Mavericks botched the Luca Doncic trade. The Sacramento Kings, San Antonio Spurs and Chicago Bulls only reinforced that feeling on Sunday evening.
The Kings traded away De'Aaron Fox, who is heading to his ideal landing spot with the San Antonio Spurs. The deal came together with the help of the Chicago Bulls, who finally dumped Zach Lavine while picking up three players and a draft pick.
It's the Kings' haul that really makes the Mavericks look silly. Dallas accepted Anthony Davis and a single first round draft pick in exchange for a generational talent like Doncic. A day later, Sacramento gathered up Zach LaVine, Sidy Cissoko and six draft picks, including three firsts. (Technically it's closer to two firsts because one of them is top-14 protected.)
De'Aaron Fox trade details put Luka Doncic trade in stark perspective
Obviously LaVine and Davis are not comparable, nor are Fox and Doncic. Still we're talking about an injury-prone 31-year-old big man being swapped for a five-time All-Star and former No. 3 overall pick who has lived up to every inch of his projection. Giving up just one first round pick in that deal is absurd value for the Lakers.
Meanwhile, the Kings managed to get multiple firsts out of a a 27-year-old one-time All-Star who was selected No. 5 overall the year before Doncic. Fox is a massive addition for San Antonio and their mission to surround Victor Wembyama with the talent to contend, but he's not even close to Doncic in terms of value.
And there's still a question of whether the Kings got back enough to make the Fox deal worthwhile.
The Mavericks didn't just get fleeced. They fleeced themselves by only offering Doncic to the Lakers. If they had reached out to anyone else, they could have created the bidding war of the century.
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