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The Luka Doncic trade that the Dallas Mavericks and Los Angeles Lakers made before the 2025 NBA trade deadline may go down as one of the most controversial deals ever. Doncic, a five-time All-Star and five-time All-NBA performer, has already cemented himself as one of the best talents in the league at only 25 years old. Despite general NBA fans calling for Adam Silver and the league to step in and veto this trade, there is nothing the commissioner can do.
With the NBA preparing for All-Star Weekend in San Francisco just one week after what many are calling the wildest trade deadline ever, Silver took some time for an interview on Barstool Sports' Pardon My Take. In addition to hearing out wild ideas from the Barstool podcasters, the NBA commissioner also explained why there was nothing he could do about what seemed to be a very lopsided trade that sent Luka to the Lakers.
“No, believe it or not,” Silver smiled when questioned if he can veto trades made across the NBA. “There's some confusion. People have yelled out to me for some reason in the last week or so when I've been at games that I should be vetoing that trade the way David Stern vetoed a trade back in the old days. There's always some confusion there. David never vetoed a trade.
“When he was the acting owner of New Orleans [Hornets] and the commissioner at the time, he turned down a trade that was proposed to him by the general manager of the team.”
In 2011, the New Orleans Hornets, who became the New Orleans Pelicans, agreed to trade 25-year-old All-Star point guard Chris Paul to the Lakers in a deal that would've seen the future Hall of Fame point guard play alongside the legendary Kobe Bryant.
The only problem with this trade was that the NBA held ownership over the Hornets due to Gary Chouest's decision not to proceed with the acquisition of the interest of majority owner George Shinn at the time. As a result, David Stern and the league purchased the franchise due to the absence of any viable purchaser seeking to own the Hornets in New Orleans.
This meant that Stern was the acting owner of the team, as well as the commissioner of the league, and he decided it wasn't in the best interest of the franchise for Paul to be traded to Los Angeles. While many tend to think this was Stern and the NBA vetoing the Paul trade, it was a rare instance where the NBA commissioner got to make the impartial decision as the owner of the organization.
“When a trade comes into the league office, what our basketball and legal folks do is they make sure that trade works under the confines of the collective bargaining agreement with whatever rules are in place,” Silver continued. “Then it's up or down; it gets approved based on those rules. We don't get to weigh in on what we think the merits of the trade are or should be.”
Unfortunately for fans of the Mavericks, this means that Doncic won't be coming back.
To make matters worse in Dallas, Anthony Davis is now out indefinitely with a groin injury he suffered in his first game with the Mavs. Between this trade looking like one of the most lopsided deals in NBA history and continuous protests from the Mavericks' faithful, these are trying times in Dallas.
