Luka to Lakers

[champs99and04]

Luka wanted to go to the Lakers so no other team could trade for him. Any team would only have him for 1.5 years then he would go to the Lakers anyway. Because he was willing to give up a max extension.

Even if this were true (which it's not), you still have him under club control, in his prime, for at minimum two postseasons. I don't care if he wants to retire two years from now - having him for the next 16 months alone would have created an unprecedented bidding war and fetched you a Herschel Walker return and a half.

The only reason I'm not (yet) convinced the league engineered this thing is that it just seems too obvious.

 

[aceboon]

It makes you wonder how the process that led to this started.

I have to imagine Dallas started shopping him around; who is calling them up out of the blue asking if they’re interested in trading their 25 year old superstar who, as you said, just got them to a Finals?

So then I wonder who they reached out to, if anyone, before the Lakers. And, if they did, I wonder what offers were discussed.

Regardless, they end up talking to the Lakers. I can’t help but picture Dallas saying “yeah we want to shop Luka around, what’ll you give us for him?” And LA goes “uh…” looks around “I guess… AD? Straight up?” And Dallas was like “Done”.

Pretty bizarre indeed.

They didn't shop him around, there was no bidding war

 

[aceboon]

Every quote that comes out of the mouth of Nico Harrison is more ridiculous than the last one, he also apparently didn't tell Jason Kidd at all before the trade. Dude is probably going to need a security detail around Dallas.

 

[Waquoit]

Every quote that comes out of the mouth of Nico Harrison is more ridiculous than the last one, he also apparently didn't tell Jason Kidd at all before the trade. Dude is probably going to need a security detail around Dallas.

Gotta figure the new owners wanted this.

 

[Deleted at users request]

For how long? Not much longer.

It's all weird to me. Dallas has promising young players at center. Now has a massive hole where Luka was. LA has no center at all and has two guys who can't stand spending more than a few moments without the ball in their hand. Hard to imagine a much worse fit than Luka and Lebron. Both teams got worse unless more moves are coming.

Mavs actually aren’t bad.

Kyrie
Klay
PJ
AD
Lively

And they have a pretty solid bench. I agree the Lakers don’t fit at all and they need a rim protecting big.

 

[Kenny11]

A guy on ESPN this morning (former front office guy, about two decades with a few teams) said that what he didn't understand was that if the Mavs put Luka on the open market (let the rest of the league know they'd listen to offers) they may have ended up with the largest haul ever.

If they were determined to trade him they could have gotten more.

It seems like they cared more about keeping the trade a secret than doing that. Strange.

 

[JohnFSilver]

It's LA. Players want to be there.

They don't. Lol. They really don't cAre anymore.

 

[JohnFSilver]

Mavs actually aren’t bad.

Kyrie
Klay
PJ
AD
Lively

And they have a pretty solid bench. I agree the Lakers don’t fit at all and they need a rim protecting big.

Still not better than they were with a healthy Luka. Trade makes little hoops sense.

 

[upstater]

Anthony Davis has a championship and is a top 10 player in the league lol

32 oft injured player for a team that needs to start all over again

 

[Deleted at users request]

32 oft injured player for a team that needs to start all over again

He played in 76 games last year and 44 out of 47 this year.

The Anthony Davis disrespect over this trade has been crazy (from everyone not just this board) lol

 

[nomar]

I am not avid NBA fan but this is like the Bulls trading Jordan in the early 90’s.

He is a generational talent.

Trade him for a 31 year old?

Not sure if there is something we don’t know but this is worst trade any sport I’ve seen in my

I am not avid NBA fan but this is like the Bulls trading Jordan in the early 90’s.

He is a generational talent.

Trade him for a 31 year old?

Not sure if there is something we don’t know but this is worst trade any sport I’ve seen in my liftetime.

Do you mean late 80s? Because the Bulls started winning titles in 1991.

It's a crazy trade. It's not so much that they decided they didn't want to roll with a guy objectively considered a top-5 player, it's that they ONLY wanted Davis and didn't even bother calling any other teams. Malpractice.

 

[nomar]

Mavs actually aren’t bad.

Kyrie
Klay
PJ
AD
Lively

And they have a pretty solid bench. I agree the Lakers don’t fit at all and they need a rim protecting big.

It's not a bad trade in the short term and very possibly a good one it Luka doesn't get healthy/in shape. And for the Lakers it doesn't make sense in the short term. Now they have two ball hogs and no beast inside.

But when you're trading a 25-year-old generational talent, it's not about the short term.

 

[auror]

He played in 76 games last year and 44 out of 47 this year.

The Anthony Davis disrespect over this trade has been crazy (from everyone not just this board) lol

Now do almost every other year of his career. If you think he's "fixed" being injury prone as he's entered his 30s as opposed to "just in a lucky good stretch", I'd love to sell you some beachfront property in Arizona.

 

[gtcam]

Is Lebron going to put up with Luka's lack of desire to expend any energy on D?

 

[CardiacAndre7]

It's not a bad trade in the short term and very possibly a good one it Luka doesn't get healthy/in shape. And for the Lakers it doesn't make sense in the short term. Now they have two ball hogs and no beast inside.

But when you're trading a 25-year-old generational talent, it's not about the short term.

Two ball hogs???

 

[Deleted at users request]

Now do almost every other year of his career. If you think he's "fixed" being injury prone as he's entered his 30s as opposed to "just in a lucky good stretch", I'd love to sell you some beachfront property in Arizona.

Idk. It seems like he was very intentional about being healthier and maybe Lebron put him on to some secret regime.

But I do remember him talking about doing extra work to prepare his body for the season.

 

[upstater]

He played in 76 games last year and 44 out of 47 this year.

The Anthony Davis disrespect over this trade has been crazy (from everyone not just this board) lol

And before that he averaged 45 games a year for 5 straight years.

The year is young.

 

[Mike Honcho]

Agree with BJ

 

[Waquoit]

Agree with BJ

You read it here first on post #79.

 

[JohnFSilver]

Is Lebron going to put up with Luka's lack of desire to expend any energy on D?

Lebron is over.

He is in the sunset of a legendary career and they don't have enough horses to win. Luka and Lebron will not work.

Assume that LeBron to Golden State or back to Cleveland might happen.

 

[thekollieman]

Lebron is over.

He is in the sunset of a legendary career and they don't have enough horses to win. Luka and Lebron will not work.

Assume that LeBron to Golden State or back to Cleveland might happen.

That’s a thought-provoking perspective. Combined with the BJ Armstrong take, it makes me wonder if the primary reason for doing the trade owner-to-owner in the night was in order to keep Lebron in the dark about it because they knew he wouldn’t like it… Having said that, Lebron is definitely not a ball hog (as stated by someone who implied it by saying that now they’ll have two). I haven’t watched enough Luka to make the same claim on his behalf, however I’m pretty sure he’s had a whole bunch of triple doubles in his career.

 

[JohnFSilver]

That’s a thought-provoking perspective. Combined with the BJ Armstrong take, it makes me wonder if the primary reason for doing the trade owner-to-owner in the night was in order to keep Lebron in the dark about it because they knew he wouldn’t like it… Having said that, Lebron is definitely not a ball hog (as stated by someone who implied it by saying that now they’ll have two). I haven’t watched enough Luka to make the same claim on his behalf, however I’m pretty sure he’s had a whole bunch of triple doubles in his career.

Both Luka and Lebron are ball dominant. They both need ball in their hands. Luka can't play off ball, while Lebron off ball makes no sense. So what they will do is take turns.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

I am not the huge Luka fan that others on this board are. He is an incredible player, but Luka’s conditioning is clearly an issue, just look at him. I have always had a bad taste in my mouth over him running off Porzingis, who is one of the best centers of this era. I wonder if Luka is a little more difficult to manage than we know about, and giving him a “bet the franchise” contract was too much risk for the Mavericks front office.

That said, why didn’t Dallas shop Luka if they didn’t want him long-term? They would have gotten a lot more back. Davis is a great player, but he is getting old and his stats are slipping a little already. 32 or 33 is when most NBA stars start to really decline. Klay Thompson is one example. Khris Middleton is a 3 time all star that plays on minutes restrictions and, while still good, is declining rapidly at 33. Even a freak of nature like Al Horford made his last all star team 8 seasons ago.

The NBA has the top athletes in the world, and even a barely perceptible slow down can turn a player from a star to just a good player, or worse, in a season. The Mavericks should have shopped Luka if they didn’t want him.

 

[Rocktheworld]

They didn't shop him around, there was no bidding war

As in, they went straight to the Lakers? It does seem that way

 

[aceboon]

As in, they went straight to the Lakers? It does seem that way

yes, that is what Shams reported, that the Mavs GM reached out to the Lakers and initiated the trade talks to swap Luka for AD.