President Donald Trump's latest attempt to rally support at Wednesday's Republican midterm convention included a dig at the Dallas Mavericks' front office.
The Mavericks forever shaped their franchise when they shocked the sports world by trading Luka Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers for Anthony Davis in February 2025. Nearly everyone questioned it. Mavericks fans protested the move. General manager Nico Harrison was fired in November 2025.
Trump added his two cents Wednesday while speaking at the Mavericks' home, the American Airlines Center in Dallas, saying that it has a case to be among the worst sports trades of all time.
"I must tell you, I don't understand the trade. 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," Trump said.
Just to revisit: On Feb. 2, 2025 a three-team trade was executed where the Mavericks sent Doncic, Maxi Kleber, and Markieff Morris to the Lakers for Davis, Max Christie, and a 2029 first-round pick.
The Mavericks lucked out and landed the No. 1 pick in the 2025 NBA Draft and drafted Cooper Flagg and are now attempting to rebuild their team. Davis no longer plays in Dallas, traded to the Washington Wizards the following season.
Although Dallas is moving on with its new, young face of the franchise, Trump apparently still can't believe they shipped Doncic out of town.
"That's not good. That wasn't good. Maybe we could redo that trade. I redo deals all the time. We got to redo," Trump said. "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."
Donald Trump shares thoughts on the worst trade in sports history
Trump was really hard on the Mavericks for trading Doncic. Though he said it could go down as one of the worst sports trades ever, it didn't compare to his No. 1 trade fail.
He named the Boston Red Sox trading Babe Ruth to the New York Yankees after winning three World Series as the worst trade in sports history.
"You know the worst trade in the history of sports, right?" Trump asked a rallying crowd of supporters 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?"
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Donald Trump says Mavericks' Luka Doncic trade among worst deals in the history of sports
