“This dude just bought a $15 million house, just closed like last week in Dallas. Apparently, he cried when he found out,” former Mavs player Chandler Parsons revealed. Just like Parsons, Mavs fans are also scratching their heads. Not even Mark Cuban, who is now a minority owner of the Mavs, was aware of this trade. “I texted him, and I said, ‘I’m so confused,'” Parsons explained on ‘Run It Back’ on Monday. “And he wrote back, ‘That makes two of us.’ So he’s probably just as shocked as we all are.” A trade of this magnitude doesn’t just happen overnight. Could there be more to the story than meets the eye? NBA analyst Kenny Smith certainly thinks so, and his take suggests a deeper narrative beyond just basketball.

NBA TV shared a post on X where Kenny Smith expressed there must be underlying issues behind this trade. “How do you trade up from a first-team All-NBA player? You don’t,” he said.

He further elaborated, “You don’t trade up from those guys who are first-team All-NBA players. So to do that means that there is extremely, like you said, extenuating circumstances that are beyond basketball. And those things are the things that either rub the company or an organization the right way or rubs them the wrong way.”

To back up his point, Smith brought up a past example—former Coach of the Year Don Chaney. When Chaney first took over the Rockets, he was praised for playing music during stretches, and becoming a players’ coach. But the next year? The same move was criticized. Why? He was accused of losing control over his team and fired before long.

That’s what Smith believes happened with Doncic. “So it’s just how you do things. So, you know, for the Dallas Mavericks, there was a view, obviously by Nico as well, to say that there’s something internally that he’s not doing to help us stay at that level, even though he’s playing at that level.”

Before his injury, Doncic was averaging an impressive 28.1 points, 8.3 rebounds, and 7.8 assists per game. At just 25 years old, he’s already one of the league’s most dominant forces, earning 5 All-Star nod

Though Doncic is still recovering from a calf injury, that’s sidelined him for over a month, he’s expected to suit up for L.A. within the next five games—just in time to shake things up before the All-Star break. Lakers fans are eagerly waiting for it, but Smith isn’t fully sold on Doncic being the “top star” this season.

Smith ranks Doncic low among the stars

NBA season started with many ranking the star players. Most lists have Luka Doncic in the top two or three, but not all. Bleacher Report dropped its top 50 rankings, using votes from the Inside the NBA crew—Shaquille O’Neal, Charles Barkley, and Kenny Smith. While Doncic’s overall ranking placed him third behind Nikola Jokic and Giannis Antetokounmpo, the individual votes sparked controversy.

Barkley showed Doncic the most love, ranking him second, while Shaq kept him at third. But the real surprise came from Smith, who placed Doncic at sixth. His list included Giannis, LeBron James, Jokic, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, and Joel Embiid ahead of the Mavericks star.

That ranking raised eyebrows. Bleacher Report’s Andy Bailey summed it up best, saying, “We might be getting sort of numb to the outrageous production of Luka Doncic… In just about any other era of NBA basketball, he’d be a no-brainer pick for No. 1.”

Doncic entered the season as the favorite to win MVP, riding the momentum of a stellar 2023-24 season and an NBA Finals run. But now, with his shocking trade to the Lakers, the question is—how will this shake up his ranking in the league’s elite?