Luka Doncic Trade to Lakers Reportedly Got Some 'Pushback' from Inside Mavericks

The Luka Dončić trade continues to confound folks in the NBA world, particularly after he returned to Dallas on Wednesday night and torched the Mavericks to the tune of 45 points in the Los Angeles Lakers' 112-97 win.

Mavs president of basketball operations Nico Harrison and team governor Patrick Dumont orchestrated the shocking move, but questions remain about whether everyone within the organization was actually on board.

"I've heard that there was some level of pushback within the Harrison cabinet," NBA insider Marc Stein said during an appearance on The Zach Lowe Show Thursday (20:45 mark). "... I do think there was some level of debate within those walls. The exact extent, I can't sit here and tell you that I know."

One would hope that at least a few folks stepped up and questioned the rationale for trading a then-25-year-old superstar, in his prime, who had just led the team to the NBA Finals and accumulated five first-team All-NBA selections in his first six seasons.

In the months since the trade, reports have emerged that the Mavericks questioned Dončić's conditioning and training regiments, were worried about committing supermax dollars to him given the possibility of future injuries and wanted to build more of a defensive identity.

But when Dončić returns and puts 45 points up against you, with the Dallas crowd cheering him along at every turn—and did all of that despite wearing the weight of emotion that led him to tears during the pregame tribute video—many of those justifications for the trade fall pretty flat.