Dallas Mavericks general manager Nico Harrison has been roundly criticized for his decision to trade Luka Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers, and ESPN’s Brian Windhorst was the latest, accusing the team of “malpractice.”
Windhorst did not level the accusation just because of the trade, but because of the return the Mavs received from the Lakers.
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The Mavs received Anthony Davis, Max Christie, and the Lakers’ 2029 first-round pick, but should’ve included Austin Reaves in the trade, according to Windhorst.
“There’s a game coming up in Dallas in a couple of days, I know we’re all gonna focus on Luka as we should, but the Mavericks not getting Austin Reaves in that trade is malpractice,” Windhorst said. “Austin Reaves has been awesome in this last month, especially in this last week and last couple of weeks when LeBron hasn’t been great, and the fact that the Mavericks didn’t get Austin Reaves in that trade remains insane.”
Reaves, who went undrafted in the 2021 NBA Draft and has blossomed into a quality NBA starter, scoring 20.2 points per game with 5.8 assists and 4.5 rebounds, and at only 26 years old, could’ve been the Mavs’ long-term answer at the shooting guard position.
The Mavs and Lakers will play at 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday at American Airlines Center in the team’s second matchup since Doncic was traded to Los Angeles.