It’s the trade the impact of which continues to reverberate across the NBA landscape and with each Luka Doncic performance, only looks worse for the Dallas Mavericks.

The Dallas Mavericks are flirting with missing out on the playoff altogether while Luka Doncic is carrying the LA Lakers to genuine title contention immediately after joining.

Doncic has become an upgrade on Anthony Davis in many aspects in quick time which is all the more appreciable considering the circumstances of the trade.

NBA analyst Tim MacMahon has now made the claim that the Mavs broke the player’s heart and what Doncic has gone through since then is worth putting into words.

Dallas Mavericks broke Luka Doncic’s heart

Nothing about the Luka Doncic trade made sense from the Mavs’ perspective, especially in light of the things that have appeared since then.

Doncic was fully committed to Dallas, he was happy to sign an extension, was loved in, and by the city, had taken the team to the NBA Finals and played through injury.

His Lakers version has also put to rest allegations of his unprofessional lifestyle off the court, which seemed difficult to believe at first anyway.

Doncic clearly cut a broken figure when the Lakers introduced him but has since warmed to his new surroundings, undoubtedly helped by great teammates in a big market.

Speaking on ESPN, MacMahon said that Doncic was effectively ‘dumped’ by the Mavs, giving an insight into the Slovenian’s psyche.

He said: “This is a team that made a major trade at the deadline, you have to be impressed with how connected they are. Luka is fully engaged with this team, the kid’s heart was broken.

“He had to go through an emotional period of coming out of that, basically getting dumped, you see the joy back in him, and you see it at both ends of the floor.”

Dallas Mavericks have hurt their future prospects as well

Nico Harrison might be willing to die on the “win-now” hill, as less sense as it makes, but the reality is that he’s probably ended the Mavs’ path to contention for the foreseeable future as well.

With Dirk Nowitzki, the Mavericks had become the place to be for foreign superstars to flourish in the league.

Doncic was his natural successor, much like Victor Wembanyama was so happy to go to the San Antonio Spurs because he had Tony Parker to look up to.

With their treatment of Doncic, Harrison has ensured that the Mavs are never a desirable destination for any foreign superstar ever, at a time when the best players are coming from outside the USA.

That is not even considering how badly their “win-now” motto has gone with Kyrie Irving’s season-ending injury and Anthony Davis’ injury on his Mavs debut.

This was an abominable trade at the time it happened. Events since have ensured that it goes down as arguably the worst trade ever by a team. At least the Lakers are happy…