When he arrived at the Dallas Mavericks’ home arena during the GOP Convention on Wednesday night, President Donald Trump touched on an old wound the Dallas faithful still hold on to. The POTUS used his public address to weigh in on one of the most polarizing roster moves in modern NBA history: the February 2025 blockbuster trade that sent Luka Doncic from Dallas to the Los Angeles Lakers.
Addressing the audience at the American Airlines Center, Trump delivered a blunt critique of the transaction and offered an unconventional suggestion to renegotiate the terms.
“This is a big Dallas Mavericks team, which is going to be hopefully good. I must tell you, I don’t understand the trade,” Trump stated during his remarks at the venue (via MeidasTouch editor @Acyn on X). “That trade is not — what do I know about basketball? I would say it’s not going to go down as the greatest trade in the history of sports. It might go down as the worst trade in the history of sports.”
Drawing a historical parallel to Major League Baseball, Trump compared the franchise-altering deal to the Boston Red Sox sending legendary slugger Babe Ruth to the New York Yankees in January 1920 for a reported price of $100,000 – a move that would prove to be a big blunder.
“Babe will always be the worst trade. But is it Luka?” Trump questioned, before quipping about Dallas needing to reverse the transaction. “Maybe we could redo that trade. I redo deals all the time. We gotta redo that deal. I don’t get that deal. Some deals you understand; I understand deals. But that one I didn’t quite get. Somebody from Dallas, I’m sure, can explain it to me.”
The trade in question occurred in February 2025, completely reshaping the landscape of the Western Conference. In the multi-player blockbuster, Dallas traded their 25-year-old cornerstone superstar to Los Angeles in exchange for nine-time All-Star power forward Anthony Davis, young guard Max Christie, and an unprotected 2029 first-round draft selection in a deal Utah was also involved in.
At the time of the transaction, Doncic was in the middle of a strong 2024-25 season. Moreover, he was coming off a sensational 2023–24 campaign in which he led the Mavericks to the 2024 NBA Finals while capturing the league scoring title with an average of 33.9 points per game, 9.2 rebounds, and 9.8 assists. His departure from Dallas sparked widespread debate among basketball analysts and fans regarding long-term roster construction, cap flexibility, and competitive timelines.
In April 2025, Houston Rockets owner Tilman Fertitta claimed that he had a chance to meet President Trump at the White House, and they spoke about the ‘dumba–‘ Doncic trade.
Unfortunately for Dallas fans, the aftermath of the Doncic deal took another unexpected turn in early 2026 when the Mavericks reshaped their roster once again. Following that trade and GM Nico Harrison’s firing early in the season, Anthony Davis’ tenure in North Texas proved short-lived. Dallas sent Davis to the Washington Wizards in exchange for a package centered around future draft assets and some salary relief to rebuild its roster around Cooper Flagg.
The secondary transaction left the Mavericks without either of the premier superstars involved in the original 2025 blockbuster, further amplifying the bitterness it left for Mavs fans.
Meanwhile, Doncic’s transition to Southern California has reinvigorated the Lakers’ core, placing Los Angeles back in firm contention near the top of the Western Conference standings. With LeBron James’ exit, Rob Pelinka has completely reshaped the roster around Doncic and his new backcourt partner, Austin Reaves, adding Walker Kessler and more pieces.
Trump’s commentary inside American Airlines Center adds another footnote to a turning point in Dallas. While the league’s collective bargaining agreement and trade rules make any literal “redo” of the transaction impossible, the reaction from those in attendance at his speech underscored how deeply the Doncic trade still resonates with the Dallas fanbase and the broader sports landscape.