Luka Dealt to Lakers: Nico Harrison is a Basketball Terrorist

[mvossman]

Barring a Flagg miracle, is getting KD (while keeping PJ, Max, Lively) Nico's BEST path forward to a possible contender anytime soon? And if so, why would that door have been closed?

And (in light of the common views that KD is a step too far) is there another path, perhaps even more viable, that builds on the existing cast of depth with the idea for Kyrie to re-join the quest next season? Isn't it still there?

There are some good to very-good talents here. It's not like they necessarily all have to hate the Mavs, or jump ship. We are frustrated, but they see the setbacks are due to injuries, and injuries can go away. FAs probably only need the right amount of money to want to stay. There is the potential of a lottery pick, even if it's not a super high one.

I'm not confident in Nico, that's for sure. But while it bugs me not to see a good ending for this season, I wonder if we are too hasty to assume a completely dead future.

From everything I am reading, given that Kyrie is an older small guard who relies (at least to some degree) on quickness, there is a reasonable chance he will never get back to what he was, and if he does it probably wont be next season.

That means your first real chance at contention is the following season when KD is 38, Kyrie is 34 coming off ACL and AD is an injury prone 33.  Between that and the toxic environment with the fans, I feel like it would have to be full bro code for KD to want to come here.

In light of this injury, the best route might be to fire Nico, showcase AD for a couple of weeks if healthy, sell off every player older than 27 in the offseason and go full tank for a year.  Then you have to try to win because you have no control over your picks after that.