The venue made the punchline. Trump was standing inside the American Airlines Center, home of the very franchise that shipped Dončić to the Los Angeles Lakers in February 2025, when he detoured from midterm politics into basketball.
“I don’t understand. I must tell you, I don’t understand the trade. That trade is not good,” Trump told the Dallas crowd.
“It’s not going to go down as the greatest trade in the history of sports. It might go down as the worst trade in the history of sports,” he added, before conceding that the Boston Red Sox sending Babe Ruth to the New York Yankees more than a century ago probably still holds that title.
Then came the sales pitch.
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“Maybe we could redo that trade. I redo deals all the time.”
The convention behind the joke
Trump was in Dallas for the Republican National Committee’s two-day midterm convention, running on 9 and 10 September at the Mavericks’ arena. The Dončić detour landed inside a broader keynote that also included a promised $5,000 “dividend” check for every American if Republicans held Congress and a full-throated endorsement of Texas Senate candidate Ken Paxton.
A trade Dallas fans still have not forgiven
The deal Trump was ridiculing is the one that broke a fan base. On the night of 1-2 February 2025, Dallas sent Dončić, Maxi Kleber and Markieff Morris to the Lakers in a three-team package facilitated by the Utah Jazz. The Mavericks got Anthony Davis, Max Christie and a 2029 first-round pick.
Dončić was 25 at the time. The deal blindsided the league and unleashed months of “Fire Nico” chants aimed at then general manager Nico Harrison, with fans ejected from Mavericks games for holding up protest signs. Harrison was fired in November 2025, nine months after the trade, as the backlash refused to fade.
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The centerpiece Dallas got back is already gone
The story has since taken another turn Trump did not mention. Davis, the centerpiece the Mavericks received for Dončić, is no longer on the roster. In February 2026, Dallas moved him to the Washington Wizards as part of an eight-player deal that brought back Khris Middleton, AJ Johnson, Malaki Branham, Marvin Bagley III and multiple first- and second-round picks. Davis had been limited by injuries in Dallas, including a ligament tear in his left hand in January 2026 that ruled him out for around six weeks.
Dončić, now 27, remains a Laker, and the Mavericks are heading into a new season without either him or Davis on the roster.
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