FC Dallas continues their wild makeover ahead of the 2025 season as today the club has announced they have traded defender Nkosi Tafari to LAFC in exchange for $300k in 2026 General Allocation Money and a 2026 international roster slot.

Tafari leaves the club having played 121 matches for FC Dallas across all competitions.

In 2024, Tafari appeared in 28 matches, starting 25 and playing a total of 2,259 minutes. He matched his career high with three goals and was tied for second across MLS for most goals scored by a defender. Tafari was named to the MLS Team of the Matchday twice, for Matchday 20 and Matchday 24.

Tafari earned his first U.S. Men’s National Team call-up following a breakout 2023 season, in which he played a career-high 37 games across all competitions. He anchored one of the league’s best defenses, helping FC Dallas allow the third-fewest goals in MLS during the regular season (40), while ranking third in goals against average (1.00).

Tafari was the 14th overall pick in the 2020 MLS SuperDraft. He played collegiately at Seattle University and the University of Connecticut and also featured for FC Dallas' affiliate club, North Texas SC, from 2020-21.

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Random fact: Since LAFC has been in MLS, each time FC Dallas has changed managers in the offseason, they have traded a defender away to LAFC. (First was Walker Zimmerman in 2018, then Ryan Hollingshead in 2022)

BDS Take

For a team that doesn’t need to trade any center backs, they are trading a center back.

The team picked up his option for 2025 at the end of the year, but it appears they have always been shopping him.

In a way, this one actually makes a bit of sense when you consider that Tafari fell out of favor with both of the former managers in charge of the team in 2024. In key moments under both Nico Estevez and Peter Luccin, there were times when Tafari had mental lapses on the field or his quality of play took a major dip.

The bigger bummer in this is the return value, just more GAM for the coffers. I was hoping a center back would have been part of this deal, but GAM and an international roster slot is better than nothing even if they are for next year. Tafari’s salary hit wasn’t a lot, so this one also feels like they were getting what they could for a guy that would have his contract end at the end of this season.

FC Dallas will be left with two center backs on the roster. Let’s hope that Andre Zanotta has some deals up his sleeve here as the season gets closer.

2024 MLS One Planet Kit