Updated Luka Doncic trade haul will make Lakers fans die of laughter

And just like that, Anthony Davis is on the move again. A little over a year after the Los Angeles Lakers traded him to the Mavericks in the infamous Luka Dončić deal, the Mavericks sent AD to the Wizards for a return package of Khris Middleton, AJ Johnson, Malaki Branham, Marvin Bagley III, two first-round picks, and three second-round picks.

So, essentially, Dallas received the above players and picks, along with Max Christie and the 2029 first-round pick LA sent it last year, in return for Luka.

Yes, the same Luka who will turn 27 later this month and is averaging a career-high 33.4 points, 8.7 assists, 7.9 rebounds, and 1.5 steals per game in 36 minutes across 41 contests. He's played more games this season alone than AD did for the Mavericks over the past year.

Oh, and Luka is in the MVP conversation once again. His odds of winning the award increased on Wednesday with the news that Shai Gilgeous-Alexander will be out until after the All-Star break with an abdominal strain.

Yet again, everyone around the NBA is wondering what reality Nico Harrison was living in when he believed that trading Luka would work out in Dallas' favor, especially for that package. He lost his job because of it.

Mavericks' updated Luka Dončić trade haul is embarrassingly bad

Lakers fans don't care what Harrison was thinking — they're just glad that he did it, and didn't loop in other teams outside of Los Angeles. It gave the organization the best possible post-LeBron James plan, and the best part is that it happened at a fraction of what Dončić is worth.

The Mavericks were never going to be in a position where they were portrayed in a positive light with Davis on the roster (or in general). Although it seemed like he'd stay put in Texas, at least until the end of the season, the front office decided to close that heartbreaking chapter. Unfortunately, for AD, he was a reminder of what the Mavs lost, to no fault of his own.

If Dallas had made it publicly known that Luka was available (thank goodness it didn't), imagine what that haul would've looked like. It would've been for more than what Giannis Antetokounmpo will end up going for, whether he's traded before the deadline or over the summer.

It still would've been tough to justify trading Dončić at that point in his career, and less than a year after an NBA Finals run, but at least the Mavericks would have had a slew of first-round picks to show for it. At least they have Cooper Flagg, but unlike Harrison tried to say, that was pure luck, not part of the plan.

The Lakers got out with the better end of the deal by a wide margin, and that was evident as soon as Shams Charania confirmed he wasn't hacked when he first tweeted about the LA-Dallas trade a year ago. It's gotten better (and somehow, even better) since then.