Luka Dealt to Lakers: Nico Harrison is a Basketball Terrorist

[KillerLeft]

So yes to me it is annoying when someone suggests that not opening up the bidding is understandable. 

It is when you understand that for them, the goal was to get AD. That's all this was about. Not giving Luka the super max, and getting the very best win now player they could get. They decided that player was AD, and while it wouldn't have been my goal, I can't really identify a better win now player that they could've targeted. If forced to target a player, who would you have chosen? 

Obviously, nobody on that short list of 5-7 superstars would've been given for Luka. Too much shakeup and uncertainty for anyone with a player on that list. So, the best you're going to do is the next tier. AD is pretty close to the top of that list, maybe the top guy on it, and they had a relationship with him already. 

Not saying I agree with it, but Harrison's goal was to get AD, and so that's the team he dealt with.