Luka Dealt to Lakers: Nico Harrison is a Basketball Terrorist

[mvossman]

So fair, so valid. Right there with you, in a sense. 

The thing is, the guy(s) who traded him want to win. They could absolutely be wrong, but they also had the privilege(?) of watching Luka go about his day-to-day with a closeness we could never imagine. I guess it comes down to whether or not you think Harrison is just delusional or sane. Assuming there was a rational reason for this, and right or wrong, I believe there must have been, imagine how significant that rational reason must’ve been in order for him to pull this particular trigger. 

Then again, maybe I’m struggling like Steve Carell’s character in The Big Short.

I think this is what you are really stuck on.  You think they want to win (which is probably true), you know they have more knowledge than we do of the situation (definitely true) and you struggle to believe this could simply be gross incompetence.  I think there is plenty of evidence that incompetence is a strong player here, but another potential factor is Nico emotional state (which can tend to lead to bad decisions).  It sounds like Nico issues with Luka may have extended from frustration to an all out grudge.  There is also evidence that he has a high preference for guys he prior association with.  We don't see everything Nico sees, but we also don't know the mind of Nico, and I am guessing it is not completely rational.

As for potential incompetency, here are just some of the moves Nico has made (or tried to make):

In their last year of cap space, he decides to run it back signing Timmy to a big contract
He decides not to extend Brunson in the hopes he can trade him (for pennies on the dollar)
He trades a first for Christian Wood
He signs Javale McGee to a 3 year 17 mil contract with a player option and a starter role
He lets Brunson walk for nothing
He traded an unprotected 2030 pick swap for Grant Williams (which could really hurt)
He tried to trade for Kuzma, probably instead of PJ and Gafford (thank you Kuzma!)

Nobody is going to be perfect.  This stuff is hard.  But the Brunson Blunder is probably the biggest FO mistake in the NBA of the last several years.  The McGee signing was so obviously bad the moment it was done its just hard to fathom someone would do that.  And we needed the player himself to save us from the disaster that would be Kuz (I thought that would be terrible to begin with, but my god he has fallen off a cliff).  Nico has shown himself more than capable of making terrible decisions that look worse after we seem them play out.