Luka Dealt to Lakers: Nico Harrison is a Basketball Terrorist

[omahen]

Who is going to take the last shot for the Lakers if the game is tied on the last possession?

In such a case, I think the action will be designed for LeBron

[HoosierDaddyKid]

Is fatass playing tonight?  I might have to tune in.

ESPN made sure to add his Laker debut to the schedule tonight vs Utah. A game that otherwise would not be shown. Can you say ratings and he's a Laker now?

[KillerLeft]

We will see about that. I think Kyrie wants to win. Luka provided the best chance of that.

All conversational roads lead back here, don't they? You're stating this as an objective fact, and I think many people agree, to the extent that they haven't even tried to imagine this not being a fact, even if only as a thought exercise. But, what if it's not true? 

Over the past week, we've eliminated the possibility that this is all some sort of tin foil hat conspiracy to move the Mavericks to Vegas or some other crap like that. 

With today's conversation, I think we've ended any/all talk that the new ownership is just "too cheap to pay Luka," unless you think they're HOPING Kyrie walks for nothing. I was pretty surprised to learn how close AD's salary was likely to be to Luka's moving forward. So, it's not that they just don't want to pay ANYONE that much. Salary structure wise, they're pretty much right where they would've been, only with AD instead of Luka, and they had to (or were able to?) use Kleber's contract to get there (we're probably not talking enough about HIS inclusion in the deal, and how that remaining year might have had an impact on the return, btw). 

It really is just that they do not believe Luka, specifically, is WORTH that contract, and that giving it to them would cripple the team. That's the bottom line, and all there is to see here. Obviously, they can be way wrong about that, and it's natural for we, Luka's biggest fans, to assume they are. But, I just keep coming back to the idea that these are the people who see Luka the most, behind the scenes. They did not like what they saw. 

I think there's at least a small chance this might have improved their chances of winning in this new, shorter window. I'm at least trying to stay open to it.

[Jym]

ESPN made sure to add his Laker debut to the schedule tonight vs Utah. A game that otherwise would not be shown.  Can you say ratings and he's a Laker now?

I'm most interested in seeing how the refs treat him 
Scary for the league if they suddenly love him. Essentially gets fouled on every play when he attacks the paint

[KillerLeft]

I'm most interested in seeing how the refs treat him 
Scary for the league if they suddenly love him. Essentially gets fouled on every play when he attacks the paint

Rock and a hard place for the refs, to be sure. They hate Luka, but sure love them some Lakers!

[Jym]

Rock and a hard place for the refs, to be sure. They hate Luka, but sure love them some Lakers!

No more staying back on defense to complain to the refs if they don't miss multiple iffy/maybe fouls in a row

[numnuts23]

No more staying back on defense to complain to the refs if they don't miss multiple iffy/maybe fouls in a row

My gosh, that would be frustrating to say the least 

Narrative would be:  Lakers and Lebron have Luka just playing basketball 
Truth would be:  Luka now getting calls he should have been getting all along

[omahen]

It really is just that they do not believe Luka, specifically, is WORTH that contract, and that giving it to them would cripple the team. That's the bottom line, and all there is to see here. Obviously, they can be way wrong about that, and it's natural for we, Luka's biggest fans, to assume they are. But, I just keep coming back to the idea that these are the people who see Luka the most, behind the scenes. They did not like what they saw. 

You know what troubles me. They had every opportunity to offer Luka less money because for whatever reason in the summer. They could put in the contract conditions related to his weight or number of games played. If he rejected that, they would likely still get at least same return as they did, but I am sure fan base would be much more understanding about their move. True though, perhaps Luka would say Lakers are not his destination and AD wouldn't be on the table. 

They didn't want to come to that situation in the summer. So the answer is not that they were affraid to give him that contract. The answer is that they really wanted AD, because they think they are better with him. They were in the finals last season, so in just a couple of months we will see if they were right about that for this season. 

Who knows, what happens after that. Kyrie situation will be very interesting. I wouldn't neglect the perception they are creating and the (wrong) messages they are sending. Why would he take any discount if Mavs are totally depending on him and if they showed they wouldn't have any problem trading him, if they felt like it? Talking bad about him on his way out. I woulnd't be surprised if he asks to be traded to his preffered destination. I also expect he will get max possible deal if he stays. My opinion, time will tell.

[mvossman]

All conversational roads lead back here, don't they? You're stating this as an objective fact, and I think many people agree, to the extent that they haven't even tried to imagine this not being a fact, even if only as a thought exercise. But, what if it's not true? 

Over the past week, we've eliminated the possibility that this is all some sort of tin foil hat conspiracy to move the Mavericks to Vegas or some other crap like that. 

With today's conversation, I think we've ended any/all talk that the new ownership is just "too cheap to pay Luka," unless you think they're HOPING Kyrie walks for nothing. I  was pretty surprised to learn how close AD's salary was likely to be to Luka's moving forward. So, it's not that they just don't want to pay ANYONE that much. Salary structure wise, they're pretty much right where they would've been, only with AD instead of Luka, and they had to (or were able to?) use Kleber's contract to get there (we're probably not talking enough about HIS inclusion in the deal, and how that remaining year might have had an impact on the return, btw). 

It really is just that they do not believe Luka, specifically, is WORTH that contract, and that giving it to them would cripple the team. That's the bottom line, and all there is to see here. Obviously, they can be way wrong about that, and it's natural for we, Luka's biggest fans, to assume they are. But, I just keep coming back to the idea that these are the people who see Luka the most, behind the scenes. They did not like what they saw. 

I think there's at least a small chance this might have improved their chances of winning in this new, shorter window. I'm at least trying to stay open to it.

This argument would have more pull if I thought we were dealing with competent people making these decisions.  We are talking about a shoe salesman and a casino owner (by marriage) who are calling the shots.

[StrandedOnBeauboisHill]

Ok, fair enough. For the record, I'm a little skeptical he was as shocked as he's pretending to be, and I'm VERY skeptical he'd choose to play with Luka over AD, if given the choice in a vacuum. That's where I'm coming from, but I'm having to really try to think like I feel like he'd think, which is not at all how I see this past week's events, so I could be way off.

I get why everyone wants to jump to conclusions about Kyrie's offseason but I keep coming back to this as well.

Kyrie has been wanting to play with AD since the FIBA cup over 10 years ago which is easy for us to overlook because of the shock that we're all in but we shouldn't assume that Kyrie is in the same state as shock as us.

[KillerLeft]

This argument would have more pull if I thought we were dealing with competent people making these decisions.  We are talking about a shoe salesman and a casino owner (by marriage) who are calling the shots.

This could be the absolute truth, and to be clear, I don’t know that I don’t feel the same way. I’m just trying to remain open, for now, if only to stay sane.

[Chicagojk]

https://www.reddit.com/r/nba/comments/1i...ka_doncic/

[Chicagojk]

https://x.com/franfraschilla/status/1889024116252135602

[Dahlsim]

As much as I love the players still on the team, I’m so disgusted by how Nico and the FO has handled all of this. They got what they wanted (Luka off the team) and they’re still disparaging his character on the way out in a sad attempt to try to justify their actions. I really don't think I can ever bring myself to fully root for this team (at least with Nico as GM and the under these new owners)

This points to another aspect of this I don't understand how they can be ignorant of. 
Have these guys ever heard of Poking the Bear? 
1) You trade your young star to a contending team inside of your Conference! 
2) You already say you believe he lacks motivation to be his most physically fit and hasn't been leading with the attitude you need to create the team culture for a championship yada, yada.  

So don't you think that being insulted by his former team might actually motivate Luka and drive him to be even better, more fit and more committed than he was before you traded him? 

So you really want to have motivated, insulted and angry Luka to go through just to get out of the Western Conference?  Is that smart to make poke-the-bear comments. Is it in your teams best interest? 
Dallas Mavericks vs. Los Angeles Lukas will be some interesting games.  
NBA can't wait for the ratings bounce. 

[audiosway]

All conversational roads lead back here, don't they? You're stating this as an objective fact, and I think many people agree, to the extent that they haven't even tried to imagine this not being a fact, even if only as a thought exercise. But, what if it's not true? 

Over the past week, we've eliminated the possibility that this is all some sort of tin foil hat conspiracy to move the Mavericks to Vegas or some other crap like that. 

With today's conversation, I think we've ended any/all talk that the new ownership is just "too cheap to pay Luka," unless you think they're HOPING Kyrie walks for nothing. I  was pretty surprised to learn how close AD's salary was likely to be to Luka's moving forward. So, it's not that they just don't want to pay ANYONE that much. Salary structure wise, they're pretty much right where they would've been, only with AD instead of Luka, and they had to (or were able to?) use Kleber's contract to get there (we're probably not talking enough about HIS inclusion in the deal, and how that remaining year might have had an impact on the return, btw). 

It really is just that they do not believe Luka, specifically, is WORTH that contract, and that giving it to them would cripple the team. That's the bottom line, and all there is to see here. Obviously, they can be way wrong about that, and it's natural for we, Luka's biggest fans, to assume they are. But, I just keep coming back to the idea that these are the people who see Luka the most, behind the scenes. They did not like what they saw. 

I think there's at least a small chance this might have improved their chances of winning in this new, shorter window. I'm at least trying to stay open to it.

This is what I keep coming back to as well. Even ESPN guys were saying it. Yes it's the Lakers, BUT, no one knows more about Luka than Dallas. And they weren't going to commit a supermax to that guy.

I think with this current crew they have a 3-4 year window competing for a title. I know something they have mentioned is not just the conditioning but the complaining to the refs. I could see Kidd frustrated with that. They had to tell Cuban to just chill out with that because he kept hurting their chances. Once he got quiet they won a title.

Like you said, it's evident they don't mind paying. The salary situation with AD is right there with Luka and they had to include salary to get it done. There is already talk that Kyrie and AD will both resign in the offseason. I wouldn't be terribly surprised if Durant tried to make his way to Dallas in the offseason as well. We'll see on that one though. I'm not in favor of giving up of the assets they do have to make that happen.

As GM Nico has made some good moves. The Brunson thing was done by the time he got to Dallas. The previous regime with Cuban had already botched that I believe.

I'm not saying this is a great move by Nico. It will take quite some time to realize if it was a good move or not. But, I am going to stick around and see how it turns out.

Feels like to me this current injury was from rushing AD back sooner than he should have been to quiet the fans.

[hakeemfaan]

https://x.com/franfraschilla/status/1889024116252135602

Nico reading this and thinking…”Wait..  Luka is not fat and drunk anymore????  He is a gift and top 3 player now as per Pelinka? But, but you told me Luka was a huge risk Rob my buddy “

I want to convince myself that Nico is not stupid but even if you believe he made this deal because he genuinely felt AD for Luka puts this roster over the top , there is zero excuse for Pelinka to further whittle down the trade.  Nico got played for the amateur GM he is.  Pelinka must have felt like the sleazy  car salesman seeing a sucker run up to him and pitch a deal that the salesman, sleazy as he was, himsel would not have dared pitch. 

However once he realized Nico was over his head, Pelinka still applied that extra sleaze for good measure. 

Well played Pelinka.

[Jym]

Feels like to me this current injury was from rushing AD back sooner than he should have been to quiet the fans.

Saw several Laker fans mention he was supposed to be out until after the all-star break

[F Gump]

This points to another aspect of this I don't understand how they can be ignorant of. 
Have these guys ever heard of Poking the Bear? 

.......

So you really want to have motivated, insulted and angry Luka to go through just to get out of the Western Conference?  Is that smart to make poke-the-bear comments.  Is it in your teams best interest?

I have thought about that - BUT, as I considered the total context, I don't think that will happen. I may be wrong, of course. 

But I don't think the motivation is yet great enough to get Luka to adopt different daily habits, because he's found (and had it reinforced on a daily basis for many years) that he can still be a top player without doing any of that stuff. He's seen examples and watched role models. He's undoubtedly been lectured, cajoled, and maybe even reprimanded. But he has tested it, and found he can come in and still play better than most of the NBA without the extra work, so what he's doing (or not doing) has been just fine for his tastes.

It's like an addict. They can resolve, promise, wish, try, intend to change -- but the lifestyle is so ingrained, that it takes rock bottom to force a real change. And even that is often not enough.

Being traded, and landing in LA where he will be treated like a rock star, I don't think it's "rock bottom" at all, and certainly not enough to get him to change. But we'll see.

In my estimation, it will take something seismic to get Luka to work on his conditioning and change his diet, and to be committed every day in the off-season to improving his body and his game. But that's HUGE change, and what would be big enough of a consequence to make him desperate enough to change his life so completely? I don't think this is it.

[Dahlsim]

One of the underreported aspects of this from LA's perspective is they don't really have a financial advantage over anyone now that the Super Max is off the table.  Luka won't sign a five year extension.  He'll sign for long enough to get to 10 years of service with a PO after that.  So, the PO year plus two gets him to 10 and he'll take another year after that for protection purposes only.

So, LA's ability to go five years with larger raises is meaningless.  I'm not saying Luka isn't likely to stay with LA.  But, it isn't guaranteed and they have almost no advantage over other teams.  That is why they were able to remove the 2031 pick from the deal.

So the master plan is for Dallas to bring back Luka in free agency after a brief break and an AD championship.  
It all makes sense now, thanks! 

[Smitty]

But that's HUGE change, and what would be big enough of a consequence to make him desperate enough to change his life so completely? I don't think this is it.

Reaching the Finals and losing badly certainly didn't do it.