Doncic, who had dragged an otherwise unremarkable Mavericks team through the Western Conference, became the face of their failure. Dallas coach Jason Kidd was forced to come out and defend his maligned star, even though without Doncic, the Mavericks were a faded Kyrie Irving and a bunch of role players.

The Trail Blazers would likely want to make room to have more minutes for Donovan Clingan, who they recently selected early in the 2024 NBA Draft. For the Lakers, meanwhile, Ayton could have at least some tangible valuable as a player who has postseason experience and tremendous size on the inside.

The Lakers’ acquisition of Luka Doncic was the biggest move of the week, even if plenty of other teams were also able to improve.