re: Former Pel, AD traded to Mavericks

I can agree with this but if he had shopped Luka and received league wide bombshell offers, they would have had more leverage and been able to command more from the Lakers. By keeping it a secret, they gave LAL all the leverage. They basically acted like they were trying to quickly dump him.

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I can agree with this but if he had shopped Luka and received league wide bombshell offers, they would have had more leverage and been able to command more from the Lakers.

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Naw. Once Lebron/Luka heard about this it would tank them.

Luka would demand specific locations.

Lebron would go nuclear because he doesn't want to be on a rebuilding team to possibly end his career, and he still has the Klutch angle to attack teams.

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They basically acted like they were trying to quickly dump him.

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For a reason (see above)

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lol who cares. Y

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Clearly the GM.

I've already said this strategy made the trade suboptimal and less efficient

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You wait until the offseason and then you put him on the market to every team.

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If rebuilding was the goal, sure. Clearly that's not his goal.

It makes the trade suboptimal but not insane like y'all are trying to spin it. Like I said, it's very likely this version of the Mavs goes further than Luka on the Lakers go moving forward, even with the extreme gift they were given in not being able to give him the supermax.

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Like I said, it's very likely this version of the Mavs goes further than Luka on the Lakers go moving forward

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Seriously, what the hell are you basing this on? Anthony Davis leading the Pelicans to one second round appearance? Neither AD or Kyrie have ever been able to be the primary option on a deep playoff team. That isn't going to get better as they approach their mid 30's.

It is amazing that people are buying into Nico Harrison's framing of this trade. So you are saying that AD's actual injury history and actual missing of games and Kyrie's actual history of destroying teams doesn't matter? And Luka's history of making the last 5 first team all NBA teams and leading a team to both a western conference finals and NBA finals before his 26th birthday doesn't matter? Based on all of that you think Dallas wins this trade and will go further than the Lakers with Luka ever will? That post is almost as dumb as this trade.

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Seriously, what the hell are you basing this on?

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The Lakers are a rebuilding shite show and Luka's limitations.

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It is amazing that people are buying into Nico Harrison's framing of this trade.

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I have said numerous times it's suboptimal.

As I've explained, the reality is that this perception the Lakers will win that "playoff bet" is something like 85-90% is over-valuing their position, and it's probably closer to 55-60%, which would mean the trade is an advantage to the Lakers, but not nearly as much as people are melting over.

If the Lakers weren't the other team involved, I have to imagine the emotionality would be decreased, especially for Pellies fans.

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And Luka's history of making the last 5 first team all NBA teams and leading a team to both a western conference finals and NBA finals before his 26th birthday doesn't matter? B

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He had a a magical, outlier run last year. Before last season there were rumblings starting about how his ball-dominant, defenseless style was giving his teams a ceiling. If I'm right that their run last year was an outlier fluke, this talking point gets a lot louder and my point above gets stronger. How you see this deal seems to largely depend on how people view that run last year. This is the same issue I had with people on this board overrating Trae Young last offseason, mind you. This isn't a Lukca-centric take.

Also he doesn't treat his body well and he put a lot of miles on as a young pro, so the projection is his body doesn't age gracefully and being 26 isn't as valuable as a player who does care for his body.

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It's also a possible deal where 2 superstars trade places and their teams get worse, which would add the craziness to the discussion down the road.

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McNamara is already predicting Luka won't resign with the Lakers and it will look like a lose lose trade in the future. I don't think he's wrong. The secrecy makes more sense in that light if you had already identified Davis as one of the returns you'd accept.

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The secrecy makes more sense in that light if you had already identified Davis as one of the returns you'd accept.

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I think the story is that the GM had 2 targets (that we know of, but I can't see a 3rd other than Paulo, but the money doesn't work I don't think)

He called the Bucks about Giannis and was told no

He called the Mavs about AD

He was clearly targeting a 4 that plays D with offensive output. If LAL says no (for whatever reason) I'm not sure he makes a 3rd call.

He was clearly all in on Giannis or AD

Yeah, exactly how much money is Luka losing by not being able to sign the Supermax (besides the extra tax losses)?

Because when we talk about winners and losers in the deal, it definitely looks like Luka is a loser.

It was reported he stopped taking mavs calls and wouldn't return text.

He should have blocked them on the spot