The stunning trade in the wee hours Sunday morning that sent Luka Doncic from the Dallas Mavericks to the Los Angeles Lakers for Anthony Davis was hard to believe. So hard to believe, in fact, that most of the social media world thought Shams Charania’s X account had been hacked.
The skepticism was understandable, as there had been absolutely no rumors suggesting Doncic was on the market. Plus, the trade was one of a kind: it was the first time in league history two All-NBA selections from the previous season were traded for each other midseason the following campaign.
This deal has been evaluated forward and backward by just about every sports media outlet, so I’m not here to give my thoughts on the winners and losers. However, below are 10 things on the most shocking trade in NBA history:
Doncic is just the fifth All-NBA First Team selection to be traded midseason the following campaign. The others are George Yardley (traded from Detroit to Syracuse in February 1959), Wilt Chamberlain (traded from San Francisco to Philadelphia in January 1965), Truck Robinson (traded from New Orleans to Phoenix in January 1979), and James Harden (traded from Houston to Brooklyn in January 2021).
Davis is only the third player to earn both All-NBA and All-Defensive recognition one season and be traded midseason the following campaign. He joins Gary Payton (traded from Seattle to Milwaukee in February 2003) and Jimmy Butler (traded from Minnesota to Philadelphia in November 2018).
Doncic’s five All-NBA First Team selections tie him with Tim Duncan and Kevin Durant for the most such selections in league history by a player age 25 years or younger (age calculated on the final day of the regular season). He will turn 26 at the end of this month.
Davis has only been an All-NBA selection once in the past four seasons. He’s missed 110 of a possible 318 games over that span, although last season’s 76 games played were a career high.
Doncic has averaged at least 27 PPG, 8 RPG, and 8 APG in each of the past five seasons, tying him with Oscar Robertson for the most such seasons in NBA history. In fact, they are the only qualifying players to record more than one such season. Michael Jordan (1988-89), Russell Westbrook (2016-17), James Harden (2016-17), and LeBron James (2017-18) have each done so once.
Davis owns career averages of 24.2 PPG, 10.7 RPG, and 2.3 BPG in 778 games. Since the NBA began tracking blocks in 1973-74, only four other players have averaged at least 20 PPG, 10 RPG, and 2 BPG in 400 or more games played: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Hakeem Olajuwon, David Robinson, and Shaquille O’Neal.
Doncic ranks seventh on the NBA’s all-time list with 80 triple-doubles, almost doubling the total of all other players in Mavericks history combined (41). He’s one of five players in NBA history to record 10 or more triple-doubles in at least five consecutive seasons (Oscar Robertson, Nikola Jokic, Magic Johnson, and Russell Westbrook).
Davis has recorded 22 career 40-point, 15-rebound games, the most such games by any NBA player over the last 50 seasons. Two of those games have come this season (Dec. 15, 2024 and Jan. 27, 2025).
Doncic ranks fourth on the Mavericks’ all-time list for rebounds, fifth for assists, and sixth for points despite ranking only 19th in games played. Requiring a minimum of 200 games played, he’s first in points per game (28.6), second in assists per game (8.3), and fourth in rebounds per game (8.3).
Among Lakers with at least 200 games played, Davis ranks sixth in points per game (24.8), sixth in rebounds per game (11.0), third in blocks per game (2.2), and seventh in field goal percentage (53.2%).