Even Rob Pelinka couldn’t believe the Mavs wanted to trade Luke Doncic to the Lakers

Mark Rob Pelinka as those who thought the idea of the Mavs trading Luka Doncic to the Lakers was a joke.

The more we learn about the Luka Doncic-Anthony Davis trade between the Lakers and Mavericks, the worse it gets for Dallas.

All things considered, the Lakers come away massive winners in this trade, even if it came at the cost of a fan favorite in Anthony Davis. It’s a mixed bag of emotions where losing AD hurts, but it’s a trade you do 100 times out of 100.

But how does a trade both of this magnitude and one this lopsided even come about? Well, fortunately for the Lakers, through a lot of incompetence from the Mavs, it seems.

Somehow, it was the Mavs who approached the Lakers about trading Luka to them. And when Pelinka first was asked about it, he apparently thought Mavs general manager Nico Harrison was joking.

Really!

Brad Townsend of The Dallas Morning News spoke to Harrison about the trade and how it came about and he shared the original exchange between himself and Pelinka.

Harrison told The News that he and Pelinka began having “basketball” conversations more than a month ago.

“Then all of a sudden we’re like, ‘Would you ever do this?’

‘Nah, you’re joking, right?’

‘Hmm. Interesting. Maybe I would.’

Added Harrison: “And then it just built over time over the last three weeks.”

If the first reaction of the team you’re beginning trade negotiations with is assuming you’re joking, shouldn’t that be a warning sign? Wouldn’t that trigger some reflection that maybe you are making a mistake?

He wasn’t the only one who didn’t believe Harrison, either. While speaking to the media on Sunday before Dallas’ game against the Cavs, Harrison shared the reaction of owner Patrick Dumont when he told him about trading Luka.

“The first time, he laughed at me.”

Again, was this not a signal to maybe change course! Two very prominent people have laughed in your face or thought you were joking about this deal and you pushed on?

And this isn’t even reporting about what happened where there’s a chance the reporting is wrong. This is Harrison going on the record and saying on two separate occasions, people were flabbergasted at trading Luka.

Incredible stuff.

Harrison also complimented Pelinka for keeping things under wraps and confirmed that this deal had been in the works for several weeks.

“I’d like to give Rob Pelinka a lot of credit. Trades don’t happen at the smallest level without stuff getting out. Rob and I were able to have really intense conversations over the course of three, four weeks that started out as a [talk over] coffee that was more ‘Hey, would ever...’ ‘I don’t know, would I? Let me think’ and it built upon that. We kept it between us. We had to. We had to keep it tight.”

Honestly, it’s very wild that nothing about this deal leaked. Kudos to Pelinka and Harrison on that front because, for all the noise over the last month about trades, there was not a peep about a Luka-AD swap.

Keep that in mind moving forward. Pelinka often completes deals in the shadows and pulls off surprising moves with little warning.

But, more importantly, keep in mind that the Mavs front office is one of the funniest and probably worst of all-time.

You can follow Jacob on Twitter at @JacobRude.