Report: Mavericks were never willing to Luka Doncic supermax

Report: Mavericks were never willing to Luka Doncic supermax

One of the ramifications of Luka Doncic getting traded to the Los Angeles Lakers is that he’s no longer eligible for the supermax extension that he would’ve been eligible for this offseason, which would have been worth $345 million over five seasons.

It was initially reported by ESPN’s Tim MacMahon that the Mavericks had concerns about Doncic’s conditioning as well as potentially paying him the supermax. According to The Athletic’s Fred Katz, Christian Clark and Mike Vorkunov, the latter part of MacMahon’s initial report was true.

“The estimation from the outside, one that The Athletic confirmed once the trade was completed, was that he wanted to re-up with the organization for the long term in July. Dončić said as much when he arrived for his introduction in Los Angeles,” the report read. “But there was one twist: The Mavericks were never going to offer Dončić that mega-deal, league sources said.

“And a general manager identifying one star to trade, negotiating with only one GM he knows and trusts and targeting only one player who he’s worked with before and whose character he can vouch for — just as Harrison did with Dončić, Pelinka and Davis — was no accident.”

While Doncic is a top-3 — a top-5 player, at worst — in the sport, one could assume almost every team would’ve offered him this mega extension, even in this second-apron economy, if he was on their respective teams. We can’t answer that definitively, but we’ll never know because he’s no longer eligible for it.

Danny Ainge didn’t know details of Luka Doncic-Anthony-Davis trade until it was too late

The how of Mavericks general manager Nico Harrison going about the trade was confusing, even though we could argue about the “why” all day. The why didn’t make much sense either after he led Dallas to their first NBA Finals in over a decade after playing like a superhuman.

Draymond Green is right; the Mavericks were trying to get ahead of the new CBA. No way this would’ve happened with just one apron, though nobody thought this would’ve happened with the second. But alas.

***

Click Here for more NBA Content

Subscribe to Vendetta’s Twitch

Subscribe to Vendetta’s YouTube

Check out the Vendetta Shop

Check out Vendetta Fantasy Contests