By Johnny Askounis/ info@eurohoops.net
United States president Donald Trump weighed in on one of the most polarizing trades in NBA history during his address at the Republican midterm convention on Wednesday night. Speaking directly to a packed crowd inside the American Airlines Center, where Slovenian superstar Luka Doncic cemented his status as a global icon between 2018 and February 2025, the 80-year-old politician expressed absolute mystification over the blockbuster deal that sent the Ljubljana native from the Dallas Mavericks to the Los Angeles Lakers.
While Trump maintains a notoriously turbulent relationship with the sport, ranging from getting booed by fans at the NBA Finals 2026 to frequently offering unsolicited commentary on league matters, he used the Dallas venue to tap into local sporting grievances. He aligned himself with the broader basketball community, questioning the logic behind Dallas parting ways with their franchise centerpiece in a multi-team deal that utterly blindsided fans.
“I must tell you, I don’t understand the trade,” he mentioned. “I would say 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.”
Trump went on to compare the exchange to the infamous Babe Ruth transaction of 1919, when the Boston Red Sox shipped the legendary baseball icon to the New York Yankees.
“Babe will always be the worst trade. But is it Luka?” he wondered. “Maybe we could redo that trade. I redo deals all the time. We gotta redo that deal. I don’t get that deal. Some deals you understand. I understand deals. But that one I didn’t quite get.”
Meanwhile, Doncic is currently preparing to spearhead the Lakers‘ campaign heading into the 2026–27 Regular Season.
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