Masters of life and death in the NBA and percentages that mean nothing

The year is 2019. The Los Angeles Lakers have finished the season far from the playoff zone, and LeBron James - who joined the California crew in July 2018 - missed the post-season for only the third time in his career.

Two years after he won the title with his Cleveland Cavaliers, the popular King felt he needed a new challenge: to continue Kobe Bryant's legacy in LA and lift the Lakers, who had been without the playoffs for five seasons. But things didn't go well in his first campaign in California.

Yes, the Lakers had some experienced players like Rajon Rondo, Lance Stephenson, Michael Beasley, Tyson Chandler, and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, as well as numerous youngsters - who later became stars - such as Lonzo Ball, Josh Hart, Brandon Ingram, Kyle Kuzma, and Ivica Zubac. But LBJ needed more help and another superstar, and the Lakers found one in New Orleans.

In a "blockbuster deal" on July 6, 2019, Anthony Davis moved from NO to LA, and the Pelicans got a set of young prospects - Ball, Ingram, and Hart - draft rights to De'Andre Hunter and several future picks in exchange. Some would say a good bargain for the California crew, considering that they brought in one of the best big men in the league.

But were the Pelicans "robbed"? Well, not really. And to see why, we'd have to return about a month and a half back, to May 2019. Despite having only 6% of a chance, New Orleans won the "draft lottery" and got the right to select the first pick in the upcoming draft and choose one of the greatest American talents since LeBron, Zion Williamson.

That talent-studded New Orleans crew never reached its full potential nor delivered some notable results, while the Lakers - led by LBJ and Davis - won the NBA Championship in 2020 after a ten-year break.

Now, let's get to the present, as history repeated itself six years after 2019. Only this time, first was the trade.

In arguably the biggest and most shocking trade in the last 30 years, the Lakers got one of the most outstanding superstars in the league, Luka Doncic, from the Dallas Mavericks in exchange for the injury-prone - guess who? - Anthony Davis.

A shocking trade: Dončić sent to the Lakers

The entire sports world was shocked, the Slovenian was fuming, and everyone around the Texas franchise was bewildered. Why would anyone trade one of the greatest superstars the team has ever had? Why would anyone throw away their future like that?

The Mavs GM Nico Harrison seemed calm, as if he knew what he was doing. And the answer to the questions above might have come last night.

As usual, ahead of the upcoming draft, the lottery was held. Utah Jazz, Washington Wizards, and Charlotte Hornets - as arguably the weakest teams in the league at the moment - had the biggest chances of getting the right to choose first in the draft (14% each), but alas, the lottery gave what the Lakers took.

With only 1.8% of chance - as many as ten teams had better odds - Dallas Mavericks got the first pick on the draft! Moreover, they became the franchise with the fourth-lowest odds to win the lottery since its start 40 years ago. And all that - coincidentally - only a few months after trading their superstar to the LA franchise.

Thus, the Mavs will "snatch" the generational talent from Duke University and the next "big thing" of American basketball, Cooper Flagg, who will become the new cornerstone of the Dallas crew and try to lift the franchise alongside the "old hands," Davis and Kyrie Irving. That way, both the Mavs and the Lakers "had their cakes and ate them, too." Or at least so it seems.

New Orleans, the last team that did "big business" with the LAL, is still closer to the bottom than the top. Will things go better for Dallas? We'll see.

Are these lottery results and huge trades unrelated whatsoever and just coincidences, or are the Lakers still masters of life and death in the NBA league? We'll probably never know.