The Dallas Mavericks completely blindsided the basketball world when they made the stunning decision to trade an in-his-prime Luka Doncic. One hilarious conspiracy theory tried to make sense of it all.
On Saturday, the bombshell report dropped about the Mavericks sending Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers in exchange for Anthony Davis. While Mavericks GM Nico Harris has since tried to give his reasoning behind making the trade, the deal still remains baffling to most.
One theory online went viral because it offered a funny explanation for the move. The post on X insinuated that assistant GM Michael Finley, a former Mavs fan favorite himself, may have pushed for the trade to prevent Doncic from catching him on the all-time Mavs scoring list.
“Luka Doncic was exactly 300 points shy of Michael Finley’s standing of 12,389 franchise points for the Mavs. Finley is an Assistant GM for the Mavs,” the post read.
Luka Doncic was exactly 300 points shy of Michael Finley's standing of 12,389 franchise points for the Mavs. Finley is an Assistant GM for the Mavs. pic.twitter.com/dHVkZfmqu0
— Stathole (@Statholesports) February 2, 2025
Finley and Doncic rank fifth and sixth on the Mavs’ all-time scoring list, respectively. Dirk Nowitzki (31,560), Rolando Blackman (16,643), Mark Aguirre (13,930), and Derek Harper (12,597) round out the rest of the list.
Given that Doncic averages just shy of 30 points per game for his career, he would have likely been able to catch Finley in about 11 games. The Mavs executive obviously had to act quickly and could not wait until the offseason to make the move.
While the theory is obviously ridiculous, it doesn’t seem as crazy when you consider how outlandish the deal was in and of itself.
Fans can’t help but wonder about any personal vendettas the Mavs front office may have had with Doncic given that they rushed trading him as opposed to having the rest of the league get into a bidding war.
A video showing an old interaction between Doncic and Finley has also fittingly resurfaced. In the clip, Finley was seen taking a beer away from Doncic, who had a can in hand while celebrating leading Dallas to the NBA Finals last May.
Luka was enjoying a post W beer with his dad before Mavs VP, Michael Finley, took it away 😂
(via @GrantAfseth) pic.twitter.com/uirmr8f4HJ
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) May 31, 2024
Just before Finley arrived, Harrison was seen sharing a moment with both Luka and his father, Sasa Doncic.
Sasa isn’t treating the trade like a laughing matter. The 50-year-old Slovenian ripped into the Mavericks for trading Luka.
