If you still haven’t taken it all in, then you should start smelling the grass and look at the new scenery – Luka Doncic is now a Laker. That’s right, the Dallas Mavericks went on to shockingly trade their franchise star Luka Doncic in exchange for Anthony Davis, thus bringing the young future Hall of Famer’s career to a different scene in Hollywood for the years to come.

This trade didn’t exactly have any rumors at all. It was unprecedented. The Lakers were reportedly eager to bring in a big at the behest of Davis, who claimed that they needed more size in the squad to strengthen their chances for a playoff run, and yet it seems that he would have got what he wanted – just not in the Lakers’ roster for the remainder of the season.

Let’s not forget the fact that it isn’t the All-Star Break just yet. The trade deadline doesn’t come far behind, and yet we have seen one of the biggest blockbuster trades in the history of the league. At this point, however, it does seem that this trade has become quite the new landscape-changing scene that made the NBA far more unpredictable.

Grading the Trade

The trade doesn’t actually benefit the Lakers for this season. LA has been hampered with a lot of defensive issues over the course of the campaign, and they are certainly not benefitting well from the loss of Anthony Davis, who has been their main offensive leader with 25.3 points and 11.7 rebounds per game.

Davis also shares the Lakers’ biggest defensive performances, thus leaving them blank on the paint defense with him gone. The Mavericks, however, get yet another promising big man to fuel their playoff hopes, adding to the likes of Daniel Gafford and Dereck Lively II. Dallas enters a win-now mode, and it does look certain that they can make the most of it.

However, the Lakers are currently fifth in the West, while the Mavericks are struggling to keep their pace for the ninth spot alive. That could change in just a moment with both teams coming up with a different look heading into the second half of the NBA season, where a lot of things can happen in just a short amount of time.

So far, it is safe to say that there is no clear winner in this trade – as the Lakers now future-proof themselves with LeBron James’ retirement looming close, and it means that Doncic is about to get the reins of the kingdom soon.

The Odds Shift

Believe it or not, the Los Angeles Lakers have increased its odds to win in the NBA at this point. Doncic is a massive offensive engine of his own in the history of the NBA, and the Lakers have drastically improved its odds to win the NBA championship from +4000 to a whopping +1800, and even the odds of clinching the Western Conference moved from +2000 to +900.

The Dallas Mavericks, on the other hand, have seen its numbers plummet in record time. From being one of the favorites to repeat in the NBA Finals, they have gone from +2000 to just +3000, and the West odds jumping from +1200 to +1600. It does correlate well with the loss of Luka Doncic, with the Dallas Mavericks Instagram account losing over 700,000 followers in just four hours after the trade.

While Doncic is no longer a hot pick to win the MVP at this point in time with the number of games he missed, it does seem that he will have further chances to bring that run to fruition in the coming years with the Lakers.