Why the Lakers couldn’t say no to Luka Dončić trade — and why the Mavs are taking a huge risk
Now for the fun part. The construction of this trade is pretty technical because both teams were in the luxury tax at the time of the deal. The Mavericks set it up to get out of the tax, but the Lakers were constrained by being over the collective bargaining agreement’s first apron and capped at the second apron.