Donald Trump Critiques Mavericks’ Luka Doncic Trade: A Call to Redo

The American Airlines Center has seen its share of boos, buzzer-beaters and banner-raising nights. On Wednesday, it became the backdrop for something else entirely: a former U.S. president torching the Dallas Mavericks’ front office over a trade that still makes the city wince.

Standing on the Mavericks’ home floor at a Republican midterm convention rally, Donald Trump veered from politics into basketball and went straight for the franchise’s sorest spot — the decision to ship Luka Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers.

“I must tell you, I don't understand the trade,” Trump told the crowd in Dallas. “That trade is... What do I know about basketball? I would say that 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.”

The line landed hard. It also reopened a wound that has barely started to scar over.

Revisiting the shock deal that rocked Dallas

On Feb. 2, 2025, the Mavericks detonated the foundation of their franchise.

In a three-team deal, Dallas sent Doncic, Maxi Kleber and Markieff Morris to the Lakers. In return, the Mavericks received Anthony Davis, Max Christie and a 2029 first-round pick.

The move stunned the league. Doncic, the face of the franchise and one of the game’s brightest stars, gone. Mavericks fans revolted, questioning how a 25-year-old cornerstone could be moved in what many saw as a win-now gamble built around Davis’ health and short window.

The backlash didn’t stop at the arena doors. General manager Nico Harrison was fired in November 2025, months after the trade, as the organization scrambled to reset its direction.

Dallas tried to pivot quickly. The lottery balls bounced their way, delivering the No. 1 pick in the 2025 NBA Draft. With it, the Mavericks selected Cooper Flagg, immediately branding him the new young face of the franchise and the centerpiece of a long-term rebuild.

Davis, the supposed prize of the Doncic deal, didn’t even last. By the following season, he was on his way to the Washington Wizards, leaving Dallas with Flagg, Christie and a distant first-rounder as the lasting remnants of a seismic decision.

The Mavericks have moved on. Their former president for the night has not.

“We got to redo that deal”

Trump leaned into the disbelief that still lingers around North Texas.

“That's not good. That wasn't good. Maybe we could redo that trade. I redo deals all the time. We got to redo,” he said, pacing through the punchlines. “We got to redo that deal. I don't get that deal. You know 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 crowd roared at the familiar mix of bravado and mockery, but the basketball point cut through the showmanship. Even in a city trying to embrace Flagg and a fresh start, the idea of Doncic in purple and gold still feels like a bad dream.

Dallas didn’t just trade a superstar. It traded an identity. Trump, never shy about branding winners and losers, framed it in the harshest possible light.

From Luka to Babe Ruth

Trump didn’t stop at calling it one of the worst trades ever. He put it on a very short list.

He reminded the crowd of his personal No. 1 all-time disaster: the Boston Red Sox selling Babe Ruth to the New York Yankees after three World Series titles.

“You know the worst trade in the history of sports, right?” he asked the rally in the Lone Star State. “The great Babe Ruth. Babe Ruth (for) $100,000. At that time, that was like $10 million, I guess, because Boston needed money, so Babe will always be the worst trade. But is it Luka?”

That was the question he left hanging in the air.

Dallas, now hitching its future to Cooper Flagg and a slow rebuild, has no choice but to live with the answer. The rest of the sports world will keep watching to see whether the Luka Doncic deal stays a punchline at political rallies — or becomes the kind of cautionary tale that gets mentioned in the same breath as Babe Ruth for generations.