Well, we just had one of the biggest blockbuster trades that we have seen in a long time in the NBA with the Luka Doncic and Anthony Davis trade that happened over the early hours of the morning on February 2nd. This trade has created a huge seismic shake when it comes to the actual dynamics on the basketball court in general for both of these teams going forward but how does it impact the fantasy basketball in both redraft and DFS? Here are the three ways I think this trade impacts fantasy going forward the rest of the way.
Kyrie Irving Becomes an instant TOP FIVE GUARD PLAY
The Luka trade is the Mavericks trusting Kyrie Irving to be the Cavs Kyrie and leading this team to the promised land of winning a title. And Kyrie in these last few games has shown that he is capable of being that high-level player once again as the leader of the team and having a strong fantasy impact. Irving has had 5+ 40 fantasy point games over the last two weeks including a 55-point fantasy night on January 22nd against the Timberwolves.
Irving with Davis is going to be one of those duos that will create a lot of fantasy value like Kobe and Pau did back in the day because of both guys’ offensive versatility as well as the pick-and-roll game that could arise now that Irving will be the undisputed ball handler now in late-game situations and the Luka trade just created another guard/big duo that can be lethal if they continue to stay healthy.
Lebron and Doncic’s Fantasy Numbers will Be slightly down
Lebron James has always had huge fantasy numbers because he’s been mostly the primary ball-handler even with Kyrie as a teammate in those Cavalier days. But Doncic has also been the main ball-handler for his teams and doesn’t have that much experience playing off-ball as much as he’ll probably will in Los Angeles most likely to start.
I do not doubt that Doncic will have huge numbers as Laker after Lebron retires but I think both Lebron and Luka will go down in fantasy production especially the rest of this season. I think they both could still average about 40-50 fantasy points per game together but they won’t average their full potential of the high 50s-60s together.
Don’t take this criticism as me hating this duo, because I don’t hate this new duo at all, on the contrary, I F***ING LOVE THIS DUO on the court because the magic that they can create on the court together with the magic of JJ Redick coaching this team is pure CINEMA. BUT UNDERSTAND IT WON’T PRODUCE IN FANTASY RIGHT AWAY!
DAVIS will be back to NEW ORLEANS DAVIS
Anthony Davis has been excellent in Fantasy Basketball this season thus far as he has averaged 52.9 fantasy points per game this season to this point. But his being in Dallas now puts him in his best position of being the four on the floor with Daniel Gafford and Derek Lively being the fives in Dallas. This means he has full freedom on the offensive side of the floor to be that dominant force that he was in New Orleans which is DEADLY.
Plus having Kyrie Irving’s ability to create and dribble around tight screens to get to dangerous spots for defenders is going to get Davis in more advantageous positions for great offensive opportunities against mismatches if the other team switches on the pick-and-roll action. Yes, long term the Mavericks made a silly and dumb trade because they didn’t want to pay Luka the Supermax because of his lack of professionalism sometimes, but you can’t argue with the potential of having an Anthony Davis that could be even better than he was on the Lakers because of the roster dynamics in place.
Total Apex Fantasy is the place to be for great analysis and NBA DFS picks throughout the remainder of the 2024-25 NBA season. For more on this Luka/AD trade in particular Total Apex Sports will have more in-depth on what this means for both of the teams themselves.
