It still doesn't feel real, but it is: the Dallas Mavericks, under the guise of prioritizing defense and conditioning, decided to trade Luka Doncic away to the Los Angeles Lakers in exchange for Anthony Davis. Make no mistake about it, however; the Mavericks still have a quality team that could be a huge threat come playoff time, even though Davis and Kyrie Irving, the team's two best players, are in their 30s.

And it seems as though this partnership between the number one overall picks in 2011 and 2012 has been a long time coming. In an interview prior to the Mavericks' 118-116 loss to the Philadelphia 76ers on Tuesday night, Davis mentioned that in 2018, he and Irving had exploratory talks about a potential team-up — with Davis potentially joining Irving on the Boston Celtics.

“I'm very excited. Me and Kai talked about this, I think in 2018, when I asked for a trade from New Orleans. He was in Boston, I think, at the time. We've been wanting to play alongside each other for a very long time, and now, you know, we got the opportunity to do so,” Davis said, via the official Mavericks account on X (formerly Twitter).

Since 2018, Irving has been linked with a move to the Lakers in a potential reunion with LeBron James. There may have been a time that the Purple and Gold could have made a trio of Irving, James, and Davis work from a financial perspective, but Irving signed with the Brooklyn Nets and was later traded to the Mavericks.

Nonetheless, no one could have expected that Irving and Davis would be teaming up as soon as this season — especially at the cost of Doncic. That is not something anyone had in their 2024-25 NBA season bingo card. Nonetheless, only time will tell if the Mavericks' gambit will work.

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Can Anthony Davis lead the Mavericks over the hump?

Anthony Davis is one of the best players in the association, so it's not like the Mavericks got completely and absolutely fleeced in their trade with the Lakers. But will he be the missing piece for a Mavs team that made it all the way to the NBA Finals last season?

Davis certainly makes the Mavs a more resolute defensive team, but the onus to create offense will now fall on the shoulders of Kyrie Irving and Spencer Dinwiddie. Irving has become more of an off-guard in recent seasons, so the Mavericks truly lost a ton of playmaking on the roster with the departure of Doncic. Davis, meanwhile, thrives the most while playing alongside a brilliant playmaker, so there will be kinks for head coach Jason Kidd to work out moving forward.