MAVS NEWS:

[Reunion Mav]

I agree with this. And I felt like you do on going forward - "I was critical of Luka's habits BECAUSE he's great and I wanted the world to SEE his greatness in a Mavs jersey, not because I wanted him gone."

Having said that, I also admit I may have only seen the tip of the iceberg on Luka issues, and perhaps if I knew more I would feel differently. 

Was he ditching practices, refusing to work on anything (including teammate chemistry) except for his latest horse masterpiece, blowing off rehab and therapy and workout sessions? Were his teammates getting fed up behind the scenes, and was he a team leader that didn't take his role seriously? I'm not saying any of those are true, but the adamance with which Nico expressed his decision sure makes me wonder how deep it all went.

Thank you FGump for saying this. I have not been able to shake the thought that this trade might have avoided an impending drawn out loss of the wonderful years we have had with Luka as our new and maybe even improved Dirk. Barkley put me in that thought mode the very next morning with his long interview on ESPN. 

Either Luka looking more and more like his very large Dad soon or the salary cap he’ll of the Super Duper Max may have contributed or even worse the poor leadership you mention might have contributed. I wonder if Nico was so concerned he chose to escape whatever he thought was coming.