Do Lakers' Failures vs. 'Wolves Prove Nico Harrison Was Kinda Right About Luka Dončić?
Even as we work our way toward the second round of the 2025 NBA Playoffs, the biggest story of this entire campaign may still be the internet-shattering trade that sent Luka Dončić to the Los Angeles Lakers for Anthony Davis, Max Christie and a single future first-round pick.
And that story came roaring back to the forefront of the NBA world this week, when Luka's third-seeded Lakers were eliminated in the first round...in five games...by a Minnesota Timberwolves team they were heavily favored to beat.
Surely, somewhere, the Dallas Mavericks general manager who was lambasted for this move just about every day since the trade deadline unleashed a smile on Wednesday. For at least a moment, and at least in his own head, Nico Harrison was vindicated.
But how far outside the walls of Nico's home and internet memery does that vindication go? Was he, dare we say it, kind of right about Luka? Is "defense wins championships" more than a cliche and Harrison's favorite deflection?
Generally speaking, the answers to those questions can be summed up with a simple: No, Nico was not right. However, the Lakers' early flameout does mean that answer deserves an explanation.
First of all, Dončić went from a team tailor-made for him in Dallas to one that simply wasn't in L.A. In theory, having three All-Star level offensive players in Luka, LeBron James and Austin Reaves in the starting lineup should've led to a dynamic attack. But there's only one ball and it's possible to actually have too much playmaking if it comes at the expense of the rest of the roster.
The playoffs proved the Lakers needed at least one more finisher. Ideally, that player would've been a center. When we look back on this series, head coach JJ Redick's decision to shut down Jaxson Hayes will earn plenty of analysis, but the reality is that L.A. doesn't have a starting-caliber 5.
That doesn't make a ton of sense for any roster, but it's especially problematic for one with Dončić. Covering for his defensive shortcomings requires rim protection. The Lakers had almost none. Perhaps more importantly, having a rim runner makes Luka's pick-and-roll playmaking significantly more dangerous. Instead of having that lob connection, the Lakers spent the overwhelming majority of this series with Dončić, LeBron, Reaves, Rui Hachimura and Dorian Finney-Smith on the floor.
By Game 5, the Timberwolves were able to pummel that small-ball lineup (Rudy Gobert had 27 points, 24 rebounds and two blocks in the closeout effort).
It's hard to put all of that on Luka, who averaged 30.2 points, 7.0 rebounds and 5.8 assists in this series, despite playing through an illness in one game and a back injury in another. L.A. was minus-6.1 points per 100 possessions when he was on the floor, but it was minus-16.8 without him.
More to the point, from the Lakers' perspective, the Luka trade was never entirely about this season, anyway.
A better showing in the first round may have been nice for fans, but the fact remains: L.A. swapped an injury-prone, post-prime AD who never had high-end playoff success before he joined LeBron for a pre-prime, constant triple-double threat with five First Team All-NBA nods and at least two playoff runs that lasted way longer than they should've.
With Davis, the Lakers were looking at a post-LeBron future mired in mediocrity and play-in berths. The runway with that wasn't very long, either. With Luka, they could be in the hunt for titles for the next decade.
The inverse is true for Dallas, which dramatically shortened its own window for contention, did so without negotiating with a single team other than L.A. and got way less than market value for one of the biggest young stars in the league.
The Mavs are still short on draft capital, too, thanks in large part to the moves they made over the last few years to build a Luka-centric roster. They don't have control of any of their first-rounders from 2028 through 2030.
And it's not like Dallas can sit around and gloat about L.A.'s early playoff exit. The Mavericks didn't even escape the play-in tournament. And their final loss there featured the unfortunate embarrassment of Davis, the supposed "prize" of the Luka trade, limping off the floor.
It's fair to point to the laundry list of injuries that came together after the trade, but L.A. falling short doesn't really change the fact that the Luka trade made Dallas worse in both the short and long terms.
And while the Lakers problems are pretty easy to identify—they need Dončić to get stay healthy, they need a starting center and they need a full offseason and training camp to put together a better offense for their new face of the franchise—the Mavs look destined to hover around the middle of the league for a while. And beyond that, who even knows?
With Luka, they would've been in the mix for the foreseeable future. With AD, Kyrie Irving and the current supporting cast, they may have to tip off a rebuild in the next couple years.
