MAVS NEWS:

[Chicagojk]

I think it was insane. Even if you are super low on Luka longterm you are throwing an 18 year old into a roster that was built to contend now with next to no help after his first 1-2 seasons.

Just too many goal conflicts here. Kyrie, PJ, DLive, Gaff all went to the Finals, everybody had their roles and it made perfect sense. Now we have essentially thrown away the 2024-2025 and the 2025-2026 seasons. For what? Luka is still playing MVP top 3/4 candidate level of basketball and the Lakers are - despite their limited ressources - on track for winning 50+ games.

What do we have to show here?

Luka set the bar incredibly high. Both individually (all nba from his sophomore season on) and in terms of results (WCF run and finals run within his first six years). Flagg is awesome and all that, none of this is his fault, but I seriously dont get how anybody can argue the teams outlook has improved.

The Flagg era has barely even started, the results are horrible and the team has next to no avenues to improve. Who is gonna turn this ship around next season when we just decide to start a third run with this AD and Kyrie lead team? 

How will they replace Kyrie without draft picks or caproom? 

Even if Flagg improves to All NBA level of play like Luka did in year 2 he will have to get a roster to the playoffs that might offer even less help than Luka had in a year or two.

Its not only that they have burdened themselves with AD, Kyrie is also a massive question mark. He might very well be done as much as AD is and then youre looking at $100+M annually being wasted on the sidelines. Kyrie has missed A TON of games even before the ACL injury.

I think there is a great chance this team will miss the playoffs for the next 3-4 years in a row. It will probably require Flagg to do an unhealthy level of burden lifting on his own. I think all in all its just far too much to ask. And without the results and star power of an MVP candidate you will also struggle to attract the ring chasing vets you need to bolster out your rotation on the edges when the money gets tight.

Man, I am no where close to being this dire.   It will be a tough road especially with all the talent in the West.   Although Dallas hopefully has one of the few guys that really matter...and he is the youngest player in the league.   20 teams are waiting to land a guy like him.  You can go 15 years until you get one....sometimes longer.  Getting him is the hard part, but the road ahead is obviously hard.

I never bought the argument that Dallas got too good, too early with Luka.   They had some bad luck but mostly made poor decisions.   Heck, they even had an all star they found in the second round the whole time.    

Not controlling your draft picks and the deep west will definitely make it more challenging, but basketball is not that hard.  Find your star (hopefully they have) and find winning, smart, tough players around him.   Ideally you want another all star to pair with him, but the more good decisions you make, the more opportunities will arise.