Luka Dončić is officially headed to Los Angeles after a shocking blockbuster trade.
Reactions to the Luka Dončić-for-Anthony Davis trade in the wee hours from Saturday to Sunday generally lined up as:
- What the bleep?
- They did what?
- I’m not believing it until it’s official.
Disbelief reigned after the Los Angeles Lakers and the Dallas Mavericks concocted a deal even the most click-thirsty, fringe-media blogger would have scoffed at a few hours earlier.
And yet, there it was, just as real in the light of day. Superstar for superstar, a swap of mega-talents consummated behind a curtain and dropped on the sports ticker with nary a rumor nor a leak.
That’s what makes Dončić-for-Davis the most stunning trade in NBA history: Sheer surprise. No rumblings, no warnings, no whining by one, the other or both to play elsewhere. No imminent free agency, at least, and plenty of work still undone where each had been playing.
Now, poof! Everything is different. Breathtaking.
For comparison’s sake, here is a rundown of previous stunning NBA trades. Some involved huge names, some sent shock waves of impact through the league, and almost all were thoroughly unexpected.
But first, some ground rules:
— Dealing away an openly disgruntled star, especially if it’s about money, doesn’t count as “stunning.” Big names have demanded new locales often in league history – too often frankly – all but telegraphing the subsequent moves. Wilt Chamberlain, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Charles Barkley all did it, and more recently so have Carmelo Anthony, James Harden, Kawhi Leonard and Davis himself.
— Trades built around draft picks don’t count either. In hindsight, it’s shocking, for example, that Golden State sent Robert Parish and Kevin McHale to Boston for Joe Barry Carroll, but when it happened, McHale and Carroll were still just picks. The same goes for deals that swapped Chris Webber and Penny Hardaway, got LaMarcus Aldridge to Portland, landed Scottie Pippen in Chicago or delivered Bill Russell to the Celtics. All as picks or rookies who had yet to play a minute.
— Shaquille O’Neal is almost a category unto himself, same as he is his own ZIP code. The NBA landscape went seismic three times when the big fella relocated, but his moves weren’t surprises. There was enough fear in trying to re-sign him (Orlando) or team rancor (L.A., Miami) that we could see the tracks being laid each time for the Big Diesel’s departures.
With the rules in place, here is a ranking of the most stunning trades in NBA history.
15. Chris Webber to Sacramento for Richmond & Thorpe
Webber already had been traded for Hardaway as a Draft deal in 1993. But he really caught folks off-guard again when he got sent packing in May 1998 for veterans Mitch Richmond and Otis Thorpe. Webber was just 24, had been an All-Star already and was the Wizards’ best player. There was positional overlap with Juwan Howard, Webber’s teammate at Michigan, but Washington kept the lesser player. After the deal, Wizards GM Wes Unseld said: “I don’t think we’ve gotten any worse.” Except they did, from 42 victories to the equivalent of 29 in the 1999 lockout season.
14. ‘Big E’ to Washington for Jack Marin
Elvin Hayes was a force six decades ago, undersized as a center but a ferocious rebounder who led the NBA in scoring (28.4) as a rookie. He developed a reputation as an irritating, self-absorbed teammate, which made him expendable to Houston in June 1972 after four NBA seasons. But he had a hoops reason to be unhappy – the Rockets’ coach was Tex Winter, who became famous years later as Phil Jackson’s guru installing the triangle offense. Hayes chafed with Winters’ playbook and got his wish in a deal for scorer Marin. Teaming with Wes Unseld up front, Hayes helped the Wizards to one title and two Finals trips, while earning six All-NBA berths, six Top 10 MVP finishes and eventual Hall of Fame enshrinement.
13. Paul George to the Clippers
It wasn’t the headline as much as the haul that elicited gasps when George got his desired ticket to L.A. in July 2019 to join free agent Kawhi Leonard. The Thunder got back Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (a leading MVP candidate this season), Danilo Gallinari, five first-round picks and two pick swaps. Six years later, Oklahoma City would have won this day had it only received SGA. Everything else was stunning, lopsided gravy.
12. Julius Erving for $3M
Call this a purchase if you like, but the bottom line is, Philadelphia got the player it wanted (Erving), the Nets got what it needed (cash) and the teams’ next decade was set. Erving was the ABA’s brightest star, leading an infusion of new talent to the NBA via the 1976 merger.
11. MVP Moses heads north, leads Sixers
Moses Malone had just won his second NBA MVP after averaging 31.1 points and 14.7 rebounds. He was 27 years old. But ownership in Houston balked at his salary demands. Malone signed an offer sheet with the Sixers, and the Rockets matched it, extracting aging big man Calvin Jones and a future pick (Rodney McCray) in return in September 1982. Malone spent four seasons in Philadelphia but was both regular-season and Finals MVP in 1982-83, sparking the franchise’s first title since 1987 and last.
10. CP3 to Clippers in 2011
This was the other sneaker dropping, the aftershock in the wake of the initial quake. On Dec. 8, 2011, coming out of another fractious lockout, the Lakers, Hornets and Rockets had a deal to send Chris Paul to L.A., while the Lakers sent out Lamar Odom and Pau Gasol. Not so fast! NBA commissioner David Stern, in his capacity as custodian for league-owned Charlotte at that time, vetoed the trade. Six days later Paul was sent to the Clippers instead for a package of players and picks.
9. Earl Monroe to Knicks
It wasn’t the why as much as the where, the when and the whom when scoring savant Monroe got traded by Baltimore. He wasn’t happy with his salary and wanted out, but the surprise factor was Monroe landing on the Knicks, on the fly 14 games into the 1971-72 season. New York was seen as the consummate ensemble team with an All-NBA point guard already in Walt Frazier. Could this possibly work? Just 6-8 when they made the deal, the Knicks went 42-26 from there. As Monroe fit himself into the team style, they won their second title in 1973.
8. Bulls get Rodman for Will Perdue
The idea that the vaunted Chicago Bulls would turn to perceived knucklehead Dennis Rodman as the third pillar of a new three-peat was the shock in this move. Coach Phil Jackson made sure Michael Jordan and Pippen signed off on acquiring not just a wild child but an instigator from their Detroit-Chicago antagonisms. They agreed on the brink of the 1995-96 season to let Dennis be Dennis away from the court and milked three more championships out of the mix.
7. Aguirre for Dantley and the ring
Both Mark Aguirre and Adrian Dantley were relatively wide-bodied, low-post scorers for Dallas and Detroit in February 1989. Aguirre, with a 24.6 scoring average and three All-Star trips with the Mavs, had worn out his welcome with coach Dick Motta. But his Chicago buddy Isiah Thomas saw how he could help the Pistons, and Dantley didn’t fit well in that team’s tight, scrappy culture. Dantley eventually became a Hall of Famer and Aguirre’s scoring average got cut in half (12.9) in five seasons with Detroit. But he helped that team win NBA titles in 1989 and 1990.
6. Allen Iverson to Denver in 2006
The Sixers lost 18 of 20 games to start the 2006-07 season and coach Maurice Cheeks wasn’t serving Iverson’s game sufficiently, so the six-foot volume scorer at 31 decided it was time to go. Denver acquired him for Andre Miller, Joe Smith and a pair of 2007 No. 1 picks. But neither Philadelphia nor Iverson climbed the heights separately that they had together.
5. Rasheed Wallace’s quick turnaround
Wallace was a steady force for the Blazers but after eight years, it was time to go – twice. Portland shipped the 6-foot-11 center to Atlanta on Feb. 9, 2004, but after 12 days and one appearance with the Hawks, they moved him on to Detroit. His emotion put a finishing touch on those Pistons, who reached the Finals for the first time since 1990 and beat a crumbling Lakers dynasty.
4. Lillard to Bucks for Holiday
Lillard’s determination to play elsewhere was widely known, but his destination was an utter surprise: Instead of going to his preferred team in South Florida, he wound up in Milwaukee. Teaming with Giannis Antetokounmpo seemed like a great path to a ring, but when Bucks guard Jrue Holiday got re-routed by Portland to Boston, Milwaukee’s rivals got a bigger boost from the transactions than it did.
3. Pau Gasol sent to Lakers
These in-season trades often pack the fiercest emotions, and the one in February 2008 that air-dropped Memphis Pau Gasol in Los Angeles was a great example. San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich was steamed, calling the deal “beyond comprehension” and suggesting he would have vetoed the deal (based on how little the Lakers seemingly gave up) if he sat on a “trade committee.” No one really appreciated then how good Marc Gasol, Pau’s brother, would become. Still, the elder Gasol helped rejuvenate Kobe Bryant to three straight Finals and championships in 2009 and 2010.
2. Divac to Charlotte for Kobe’s rights
If we’re breaking our own ground rule here, so be it. But the “wow” factor of this deal in July 1996 didn’t require finding out how good Bryant would become. Folks already had an idea, and the only reason he slid to Charlotte at No. 13 in the June Draft was the sense the prep player with overseas options would be tough to sign. That’s why the Hornets sent his rights to the Lakers for Vlade Divac, a solid center rendered optional a week later when O’Neal landed in L.A.
1. The Lakers did it again
Funny how one franchise has popped up multiple times on this list. Cranky fans of competing franchises grumble about the Lakers’ favored-nation status, and they do seem able to replenish and re-imagine around other teams’ stars, from Chamberlain, Abdul-Jabbar and O’Neal to Gasol, James and Dončić.
Many rival GMs and executives were aghast, livid or both Sunday morning, unaware that either star was available. Which, frankly, is a pretty good standard for “stunning.”
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Steve Aschburner has written about the NBA since 1980. You can e-mail him here, find his archive here and follow him on X.
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