CANDACE BUCKNER: The Luka Doncic-Anthony Davis trade was terrible for the Mavericks but great for the NBA

The midseason transaction was so insane that some fans noticed the word “hacked” trending on their social media accounts - because no one could believe the initial report.

It was so callous and confounding that it sobered up several players around the league, who are now wondering whether they should keep an emergency “go bag” just in case.

And when it became clear that, yes, Dallas Mavericks General Manager Nico Harrison had intentionally ripped the hearts out of all those Metroplex parents who had named their kids “Luka,” trading away the team’s superstar because he believes defence - not once-in-a-generation talent - wins championships, his business decision rocked the NBA.

That is why my early nod for executive of the year goes to Harrison. He deserves it, for giving the league the juice it had been seeking (and lacking) over the past several seasons.

Even more than that, the Mavericks’ GM has proved this truth: The NBA is far more fun when the players focus on performing on the court and the executives are the ones working deals from the front office.

Don’t confuse the message. This is not me telling players to “shut up and dribble” or calling for an end to this era of player empowerment, though that has morphed from giving the workforce some muscle to only an elite handful having control.

Instead, this is just admitting that LeBron James shines brighter as the league’s all-time leading scorer than he does as the Los Angeles Lakers’ would-be president of basketball operations.

Paul George looks better playing on anyone’s court than he did sitting on the Clippers’ sideline next to Kawhi Leonard after the Southern Californians negotiated their own ill-fated partnership. And who in their right mind gave Bradley Beal the power to hold up the entire trade market?

When players moonlight as executives - LeBron masterminding the Lakers’ failed Russell Westbrook experiment and George forcing his way out of Oklahoma City, even after signing an extension, just to form one half of the league’s most underachieving duo in Los Angeles - the league dulls. Not only on the court but in the sports conversation.

LeBron’s legacy should be all he has done for the game and for society. But let’s just say no one at the Basketball Hall of Fame will honour him for that one time he handpicked his podcast buddy to coach the Lakers.

Players, who lack self-awareness yet are full of years remaining on their contracts - such as George (twice), James Harden (pretty much every other year), Ben Simmons and Kyrie Irving - have forced their way out of NBA markets without positive returns for their new teams or their personal brands.

And again: WHY DOES BRADLEY BEAL HAVE A NO-TRADE CLAUSE?!

Because Beal is in an unmerited position of authority, he’s potentially holding up a Jimmy Butler trade from Miami to Phoenix, along with all the other dominoes that will fall before Friday’s trade deadline.

While we should be all for players having freedom of movement and doing what’s best for themselves and their families - fair compensation and improved workplace conditions and all - recent history would indicate many of those players make crummy front-office decisions.

Let LeBron finish burnishing his on-court accomplishments. I would prefer the executives orchestrate the deals that make us blink in confusion and rage online.

For myriad reasons, too long to explain here, this was going to be the season when I officially said goodbye to the NBA.

It had been a good run, fellas: from Bird and Magic, Ahmad Rashad and Willow Bay to Grant Hill’s teal jerseys and “boomshakalaka” dunks from the three-point arc in NBA Jam.

This league had been an essential through line from my childhood to my career choices. However, I had fallen out of love with a game in which coaches encourage their teams to settle and jack up 30-plus three-point attempts per game.

And I’m completely done watching the all-star showcase because not a single multimillionaire gives a darn about respecting the fans, or their time and money.

But just when I thought I was out … Nico Harrison and his love for perimeter defense pull me back in.

This trade, heartbreaking for some yet invigorating for others (mostly Lakers fans), has jolted a league that once held such cultural relevance from falling deeper into obscurity. For several years, as salaries expanded but the passion for performing from October through March deteriorated, the NBA has struggled to hold on to its shrinking cachet.

This Christmas, a game averaging about five million viewers was seen as progress. Try to imagine that Kobe vs. Shaq Christmas matchup in 2004 getting swallowed up by an NFL game. You can’t. Because it never would have happened.

But Sunday (local time), believe it or not, it was the NBA dominating the news cycle at the start of Super Bowl week, not the Chiefs nor Eagles.

Even Patrick Mahomes weighed in. In the literal sense, casuals awakened Sunday morning to news of the trade, which happened past midnight on the East Coast. And figuratively, the conversation shook all sports fans during a sleepy time on the NBA calendar.

All because Harrison pocket-listed one of the top five players in the NBA and shopped him solely to the league’s glamour franchise.

So, thank you, Mr. Harrison, for giving us something to talk about.

The NBA is more interesting today, following the trade of the century, than it was even a week ago, when fans had to nourish themselves on bland January basketball and reports of Butler sabotaging his way out of Miami. The Doncic trade is a perfect prescription for what has weakened the NBA. It sounds cold, but there can be a thrill in seeing a superstar occasionally treated merely as a trade asset.

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