There seem to be many reasons for the OKC Thunder to celebrate following the blockbuster trade that went down between the Mavericks and Lakers this past weekend.
Not only have their direct conference rival in Dallas parted ways with their best player in All-World point guard Luka Doncic, but, with their more aged and weathered roster that now includes the 31-year-old Anthony Davis, they also run the risk of sending Oklahoma City a much more valuable draft pick than anticipated in the 2028 NBA Draft.
Yet, despite all the signs that suggest Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and company may actually wind up being the biggest winners of the deal, during a recent appearance on Get Up, ESPN's Stephen A. Smith dropped a surprising take on the Davis to Dallas blockbuster, suggesting that the Thunder may be in for a rude awakening when facing off against this new-look Mavs team.
Stephen A. Smith takes Mavericks over Thunder after Anthony Davis deal
"I got Dallas as the number one seed in the Western Conference right now... If you're looking at Oklahoma City, as great as they've been, what has been their Achilles heel? Recently, the Dallas Mavericks have lost five of seven games. The two games they won were against Oklahoma City. Who did they bounce out of the playoffs last year? Oklahoma City... OKC, as great and as talented as they are, and adding [Isaiah] Hartenstein, let me ask anybody out there with just a scintilla of a basketball brain -- If you had the opportunity to get Isaiah Hartenstein or Anthony Davis, who you picking? The Dallas Mavericks got Anthony Davis... and you still kept Gafford, and you still kept Lively.
And, oh by the way, one of the things that we haven't talked about enough... is Mr. Kyrie Irving... This is an NBA Champion that we're talking about here. This is a brother who is box office in and of himself... The offense is going to go through him and Anthony Davis... When you look at what they've done against OKC, OKC's got its work cut out for it," Smith said.
After being eliminated from the Western Conference Semifinals last year in six games, it has been more than apparent that the Thunder have still struggled mightily when squaring off against the Mavericks in 2024-25.
Already, the two clubs have played through their four-game regular season series this year, with Dallas pulling away with a 3-1 edge.
Now, granted, one could point to the fact that the Thunder were at sub-100 percent health in every one of these matchups, as they've been without cornerstone pivot Chet Holmgren for all outings while missing Isaiah Hartenstein for all but one.
However, this argument seems to be somewhat nullified by the fact that the Mavericks played without Luka Doncic in all but their December 10 matchup which, ironically enough, was their lone loss on the year.
This team has now gone about and offloaded Luka in exchange for the services of one of the best two-way bigs in the entire league in Davis who, behind his sensational averages of 25.7 points, 11.9 rebounds, and 2.1 blocks on 52.8 percent shooting from the floor has already claimed his 10 All-Star selection and appears to be heading toward his sixth All-NBA nod as well.
On top of this, the Mavericks have officially added his championship experience to have paired alongside Irving's own, which appears to be yet another reason why Stephen A. believes that the Thunder could be in more trouble than many seem to think following the earth-shattering blockbuster.
To say Dallas should be seen as "the number one seed" out West when they're literally12 wins behind the actual top-seed in Oklahoma City may be a bit of a stretch for the ESPN personality to proclaim.
However, perhaps there's some merit behind the notion that this new-look Mavericks team could give more trouble to the Thunder than some are anticipating. As a result, Sam Presti and company might want to look into bolstering their arsenal during these final few days heading into the February 6 trade deadline.