(Sasha Matthews • The Student Life)
It’s Feb. 2 at 7:32 p.m. and less than 24 hours ago, I was preparing to write a story about what 5C students and staff wanted to happen at the NBA trade deadline. This is no longer that story.
Luka Doncic, a top-three player in the NBA, just got traded from the Dallas Mavericks to the Los Angeles Lakers for Anthony Davis and one first-round pick. Then, just hours later, former all-star De’Aaron Fox got traded to the San Antonio Spurs to team up with last year’s rookie of the year (and arguably top-10 player in all of basketball), Victor Wembanyama.
All day around campus, I overheard people talking about the Luka trade, so I followed up with some of the same people I interviewed for my initial story. Here are their reactions to the past 24 hours of the NBA:
“I thought the trade [Luka Doncic to the Lakers] was fake when I first saw it,” Eli Roggen PO ’25 said. “In the morning, I tried to find an article or voice anywhere in the media that could explain Dallas’s logic but it seems like most insiders are as confused as I am.”
“I think the whole world was shocked by this Luka trade,” Edwina Polynice SC ’25 said. “I think that Luka was a true pillar of the Mavericks, and I’m not sure how [Anthony] Davis will fit on this new team… I can also totally see any Maverick fans burning their Doncic jerseys.”
“It is just chaos,” Charlie Treene PO ’26 said. “The Luka trade was predicted by no one, so surprising … A top-three player — and a young one at that — getting traded without knowing will likely never happen again for years to come. Also, the Fox-LaVine trade is exciting… Fox with Wemby will bring more eyes to San Antonio.”
“I can applaud [Lakers General Manager] Rob Pelinka a little bit, I guess,” Powell Mathewson PZ ’26 said. “No, actually, that’s not even true. I can’t. This is pure malpractice on [Mavericks General Manager] Nico Harrison’s part. This is investigation worthy, arguably.”
“I thought Shams had been hacked when I first saw it!” Pitzer Director of International Programs Todd Sasaki said. “Unless Nico Harrison knows something big he’s not disclosing about Luka, it doesn’t seem to me to improve Dallas’s chances… that team is built to be maximized by Luka.”
Now for my take on the crazy situation. For one, the rich only get richer in sports, especially in Los Angeles. Shohei Otani came to the Dodgers last year and a championship followed. The Lakers have perennially had all-time great players, many of whom they did not draft, like LeBron and Kareem (the two leading scorers in NBA history).
To give context to how insane the Luka to Lakers deal was, my mom asked me about it over the phone this morning. She doesn’t follow basketball and lives in rural Tennessee. Trying to put this trade into terms of things outside of the NBA is so difficult because players as valuable as Luka don’t get traded. I’ll try my best to put it in terms that any 5C student can understand. The Mavs traded Malott brunch with no line for a meal on the stage of Frary and a game of pickleball with your second favorite group project partner. It was basically an absolute fleecing.
For the Dallas Mavericks, the move is devastating. There was even a protest outside of the Mavs’ stadium in Dallas the day after the trade. The Mavs built a “win now team” by trading away their best player for an aging star. It is hard to make much sense of trading a 25-year-old five-time all-NBA player for a 32-year-old Anthony Davis. If the Mavericks don’t perform very well in the playoffs this year, Nico Harrison will most likely be unemployed by this time next year.
All of the talk about Luka to the Lakers is in some ways overshadowing what I think is the more impactful trade that went down in the last 24 hours: De’Aaron Fox to the Spurs. This trade is on a different level than the Lakers’ trade.
The Spurs have the best up-and-coming player since Lebron James and managed to pair him with an all-star point guard. Luka may set the Lakers up to build a dynasty over the next 10 years, but the Spurs just got the Tony Parker to their Tim Duncan. The league just got put on notice. The Spurs are no longer waiting for greatness to develop. They are going to grab it.
Again, I will put this in 5C terms so that everyone understands. That cool freshman, from the Orientation Adventure trip your suitemate led, just teamed up with a senior from North Dorm at Mudd to compete in a beer pong tournament, and they are running the table.
Needless to say, it will be a good decade to be a 5C student if you care about L.A. pro sports. Tickets may be pricey, but if the buzz around the Lakers is anything like it was around the Dodgers on campus this year, they’ll be worth paying up for. Now is the time to start following the NBA. The trade drama is electric, the talent is unparalleled and the closest stadium to Claremont will be the home of two of the most talented basketball players to ever touch the hardwood.
Mac Kelley PZ ’25 joined the sports desk in the fall of 2023. He is a long-time NBA fan and even longer-time LeBron fan. He has written everything from music studio profiles to book reviews, but always finds his way back to sports. He dreams of covering an intramural championship where the underdog NARPs defeat one of the varsity teams.
Here is a full list of the trades that happened in the 2024-2025 NBA season for exact details on deadline deals.
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