US President Donald Trump dropped his vehement criticism of the Dallas Mavericks Luka Doncic trade: “It may go down as the worst trade in sports history”

Donald Trump issued a harsh verdict regarding the business with Luka Doncic. Image via: Luke Hales/Getty Images | Brendan SMIALOWSKI/ AFP via Getty Images The Luke Doncic trade is not going away because he has found a new critic. United States President Donald Trump stopped by the Dallas Mavericks’ home arena on Wednesday night and told a packed room that he still doesn’t understand the deal that sent Doncic west.Trump was speaking at the American Airlines Center during the Republican National Committee’s midterm convention, and basketball wasn’t even the main focus of the evening. Still, he brought it up and went on to compare Dallas’ trading of its franchise star to one of the most infamous trades in baseball history.

Donald Trump delivered a harsh verdict on the Luka Doncic trade 19 months later

Nineteen months after the trade went through, Donald Trump stood inside the building where Doncic played and admitted he was still confused by the whole thing. His remarks came on the opening night of the two-day RNC convention, held for the first time at Mavericks Arena. When Trump took the stage around 8:10 p.m., Lee Greenwood’s “God Bless the USA” was still playing.He was open about not being a basketball expert. Even that didn’t stop him from passing judgment. Trump said, “This is a great Dallas Mavericks team that hopefully will be good. I have to tell you, I don’t understand the trade. The trade isn’t, what do I know about basketball? I would say it’s not going to go down as the greatest trade in the history of sports. It may go down as the worst trade in the history of sports.”Next, the president compared the wild Red Sox-New York Yankees trade to Babe Ruth in 1919: “The Babe will always be the worst trade. But is it Luke? Maybe we could repeat the trade. I keep repeating the trades. We have to repeat the deal. I don’t understand it. You understand some trades, I understand trades. But I didn’t quite get that one.”The trade closed on February 2, 2025 and was larger than a one-for-one straight swap. It was actually a three-team deal that also drew in the Utah Jazz. Dallas sent Doncic to Los Angeles and got back Anthony Davis, Max Christie and a first-round pick in 2029. Nine months later, the Mavericks fired general manager Nico Harrison, the man who built the deal, and turned the front office over to Michael Finley and Matt Riccardi.

How the Luka Doncic trade changed the Mavericks and the NBA

Three months after the trade, Dallas got lucky in the draft lottery and took Cooper Flagg first overall. Flagg entered every game he played as a freshman, averaging 21.0 points, 6.7 rebounds and 4.5 assists and won Rookie of the Year. Davis lasted just 20 games in Dallas before a February 2026 trade sent him to Washington, while Christie stayed put and shot 40.4 percent from three in 77 games. The Mavericks are still in a conundrum trying to rebuild the roster.The Mavericks still finished 26-56. Masai Ujiri took over basketball operations in May, hired Mike Schmitz from Portland and parted ways with coach Jason Kidd soon after. Dusty May now runs the bench. Doncic, meanwhile, is averaging 31.9 points, 7.8 rebounds and 8.1 assists in 92 games in Los Angeles, numbers that make Trump’s frustration easy to understand, even if the front office saw it differently.There was a huge fan outcry after the trade and it was definitely one of the most talked about trades in history as it even got attention from Trump.