Devin Harris did not dance around the biggest question facing the Mavericks after the Luka Doncic trade. Speaking Run It Back, the former Dallas guard said, via HoopsHype, “In hindsight, yes. If you’re looking at it, we probably should have kept him, absolutely.”
Harris said that before the deal Dallas briefly looked capable of chasing a title, pointing to a game against Houston where “for those first 15 minutes of that game… I’m looking like, ‘Oh my God, we could win this championship.’”
That optimism did not last long. Harris noted that Doncic was injured “like two minutes later,” and the roster momentum vanished with it, making the trade look far different in hindsight than it did in the immediate aftermath.
Still, Harris said he understood why the front office believed in the move at the time. “At that point, I saw the vision that Nico had,” he said, adding that the early glimpse made it seem as though “this could really work out really well for us.”
The full context now looks even sharper. Doncic was traded on February 2, 2025, from Dallas to the Lakers in a blockbuster that brought Anthony Davis to the Mavericks, along with Max Christie and a future first-round pick. It was one of the most stunning midseason trades in NBA history because it involved two reigning All-NBA players.
Harris also addressed the long-term direction of the franchise and the question of whether Jason Kidd might move into the front office. “I think it intrigues him,” Harris said, but added that with Cooper Flagg in the stage he is in, Kidd would “rather remain as coach and just continue that development and that connection.”
The numbers show why the debate around Doncic remains so loud. Across eight NBA seasons, he has averaged 29.2 points, 8.5 rebounds and 8.2 assists in the regular season, and 30.9 points, 9.2 rebounds and 7.8 assists in the playoffs.
For Harris, the final verdict is simple. The vision made sense in the moment, but the reality is hard to ignore: “We’re talking about a top-five player.”
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