Report: Mavericks Tried To Trade Luka Doncic To Bucks For Giannis Antetokounmpo

According to NBA reporter Gery Woelfel, the Dallas Mavericks tried to trade Luka Doncic to the Milwaukee Bucks for Giannis Antetokounmpo.

The Bucks were not interested in trading Antetokounmpo.

Dallas wound up trading Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers for Anthony Davis and Max Christie. 

“According to one source, the Mavs reached out to the Bucks,” Woelfel wrote. “But the Bucks made it clear to Mavs they wouldn’t trade Antetokounmpo even though his future with the team is murky.”

Doncic appeared in 422 games with the Mavericks. He averaged 28.6 points, 8.7 rebounds and 8.3 assists and made five All-Star teams and five All-NBA teams. 

According to NBA insider Marc Stein, Mark Cuban urged Nico Harrison not to trade Doncic. 

However, Cuban was too late. 

“By the time Cuban found out about the Luka-for-AD trade, it was too late,” Stein wrote. “Patrick Dumont never approached for advice. Sources say Cuban urged Harrison not to go ahead with the swap … only to find out that the deal had already been sealed with the Lakers by verbal handshake.”

Harrison was the man behind the Doncic-Davis trade. He approached Lakers general manager Rob Pelinka about the deal in January. 

“It was largely Harrison, league sources say, who has increasingly believed since the Mavericks’ one-sided loss to the Boston Celtics in the NBA Finals, that Doncic: Would not improve his commitment to conditioning or his off-court dietary discipline,” Stein wrote. “Would not improve as a leader or culture-setter. Would not improve his well-chronicled comportment issues with referees. Would not be able to stay healthy as he got older. And thus could not, after the Mavericks and Doncic grappled with these issues since Harrison arrived in June 2021, be given the five-year supermax deal worth nearly $350 million that he was expecting in July.”

Harrison has received death threats since trading Doncic, who made his Lakers debut on Monday (2/10) against the Utah Jazz. He finished with 14 points, five rebounds and four assists in 23 minutes while shooting 5-of-14 from the field, 1-of-7 from beyond the arc and 3-of-3 from the free-throw line.