NBA General Discussion: 2025 Offseason

[Negrodamus]

I try to keep a healthy amount of skepticism, but also maintain realism when it comes to the NBA and how things happen. Refs rigging games, NBA choosing who gets first overall pick, etc, I play with the narrative because it's fun as a talking point, but probably doesn't exist within reality.

I am 100% on board with the conspiracy that the NBA forces the Lakers to be good. There is no conceivable reason to talk to only one team about a Luka trade and for that to be the return value is absolutely criminal. Pair that with the Kwame Brown trade and it's just too much evidence.

[Zumramania]

I also thought like that but yesterday I listened to a podcast with two Croatian die-hard NBA analysts who have been doing this for 20 or so years. Anyway, one of them maintained that due to the new CBA, teams are way more careful about giving a supermax contract to a player, because if you make a mistake, you sign up for years of misery. And that this signifies that almost no player in the league is "safe" now. And both said that Doncic has been really out of shape and arrogant, which did not sit well with the Mavericks org at all. Also it is taking him suspiciously long to recover from the recent calf tear, as the ususal recovery time is one week for one centimeter of torn tissue, and it looks like he is going to be out for 8 weeks which is way to long for such an injury. And it is known by Slovenian sports journalists that Doncic spends his summers in bars in Ljubljana, drinking and smoking until early morning. So maybe Mavs pulled the plug on this. And Mavs are in a win now mode, and the Lakers probably did not want to give more, and Nico Harisson wanted AD. They also tried with at least one other team but it did not work out. They also mention that Rich Paul and subsequently LeBron were informed of the trade 48 hours before it took place, and Mavs have been arranging it for at least three weeks. So LeBron was informed of the trade, but probably did not have much say in it. Luka is an acquistion for the Lakers' future after all, and LeBron will retire by then.

[Negrodamus]

I also thought like that but yesterday I listened to a podcast with two Croatian die-hard NBA analysts who have been doing this for 20 or so years. Anyway, one of them maintained that due to the new CBA, teams are way more careful about giving a supermax contract to a player, because if you make a mistake, you sign up for years of misery. And that this signifies that almost no player in the league is "safe" now. And both said that Doncic has been really out of shape and arrogant, which did not sit well with the Mavericks org at all. Also it is taking him suspiciously long to recover from the recent calf tear, as the ususal recovery time is one week for one centimeter of torn tissue, and it looks like he is going to be out for 8 weeks which is way to long for such an injury. And it is known by Slovenian sports journalists that Doncic spends his summers in bars in Ljubljana, drinking and smoking until early morning. So maybe Mavs pulled the plug on this. And Mavs are in a win now mode, and the Lakers probably did not want to give more, and Nico Harisson wanted AD. They also tried with at least one other team but it did not work out. They also mention that Rich Paul and subsequently LeBron were informed of the trade 48 hours before it took place, and Mavs have been arranging it for at least three weeks. So LeBron was informed of the trade, but probably did not have much say in it. Luka is an acquistion for the Lakers' future after all, and LeBron will retire by then.

There are 28 other teams in the league that would saw off their left leg and give every pick they have for the foreseeable future to have an alcoholic Doncic with a torn calf at age 25 fresh off an NBA Finals.

I accept all of the points you just made and maybe Doncic has red flags, but it's malpractice to not open things up to a bidding war, or at least have 5-10 teams you'd be willing to have bid against each other. Exclusively dealing with the Lakers? Give me a break.

[Arsenal]

I also thought like that but yesterday I listened to a podcast with two Croatian die-hard NBA analysts who have been doing this for 20 or so years. Anyway, one of them maintained that due to the new CBA, teams are way more careful about giving a supermax contract to a player, because if you make a mistake, you sign up for years of misery. And that this signifies that almost no player in the league is "safe" now. And both said that Doncic has been really out of shape and arrogant, which did not sit well with the Mavericks org at all. Also it is taking him suspiciously long to recover from the recent calf tear, as the ususal recovery time is one week for one centimeter of torn tissue, and it looks like he is going to be out for 8 weeks which is way to long for such an injury. And it is known by Slovenian sports journalists that Doncic spends his summers in bars in Ljubljana, drinking and smoking until early morning. So maybe Mavs pulled the plug on this. And Mavs are in a win now mode, and the Lakers probably did not want to give more, and Nico Harisson wanted AD. They also tried with at least one other team but it did not work out. They also mention that Rich Paul and subsequently LeBron were informed of the trade 48 hours before it took place, and Mavs have been arranging it for at least three weeks. So LeBron was informed of the trade, but probably did not have much say in it. Luka is an acquistion for the Lakers' future after all, and LeBron will retire by then.

There are 28 other teams in the league that would saw off their left leg and give every pick they have for the foreseeable future to have an alcoholic Doncic with a torn calf at age 25 fresh off an NBA Finals.

I accept all of the points you just made and maybe Doncic has red flags, but it's malpractice to not open things up to a bidding war, or at least have 5-10 teams you'd be willing to have bid against each other. Exclusively dealing with the Lakers? Give me a break.

This. It's the fact they wired him directly to the Lakers without getting any other bids which proves the process was RIGGED.

[Slacktard]

I also thought like that but yesterday I listened to a podcast with two Croatian die-hard NBA analysts who have been doing this for 20 or so years. Anyway, one of them maintained that due to the new CBA, teams are way more careful about giving a supermax contract to a player, because if you make a mistake, you sign up for years of misery. And that this signifies that almost no player in the league is "safe" now. And both said that Doncic has been really out of shape and arrogant, which did not sit well with the Mavericks org at all. Also it is taking him suspiciously long to recover from the recent calf tear, as the ususal recovery time is one week for one centimeter of torn tissue, and it looks like he is going to be out for 8 weeks which is way to long for such an injury. And it is known by Slovenian sports journalists that Doncic spends his summers in bars in Ljubljana, drinking and smoking until early morning. So maybe Mavs pulled the plug on this. And Mavs are in a win now mode, and the Lakers probably did not want to give more, and Nico Harisson wanted AD. They also tried with at least one other team but it did not work out. They also mention that Rich Paul and subsequently LeBron were informed of the trade 48 hours before it took place, and Mavs have been arranging it for at least three weeks. So LeBron was informed of the trade, but probably did not have much say in it. Luka is an acquistion for the Lakers' future after all, and LeBron will retire by then.

There are 28 other teams in the league that would saw off their left leg and give every pick they have for the foreseeable future to have an alcoholic Doncic with a torn calf at age 25 fresh off an NBA Finals.

I accept all of the points you just made and maybe Doncic has red flags, but it's malpractice to not open things up to a bidding war, or at least have 5-10 teams you'd be willing to have bid against each other. Exclusively dealing with the Lakers? Give me a break.

This. It's the fact they wired him directly to the Lakers without getting any other bids which proves the process was RIGGED.

When you see a GM trading a 25 year old who has been in the top-10 MVP voting every year after his rookie season for a 32 year old more injury prone and then look at the connections.

That Dallas GM has been friends with the Lakers GM going back to when the Lakers GM was his agent. That Dallas GM has been friends with LeBron and Clutch Sports Rich Paul to the point that Bronny called him "Uncle Nico"

It is gross negligence to not shop around for the best possible deal. He was gift-wrapped to the Lakers and it was intentional. Dallas GM Nico Harrison probably is fired in the future and ends up with the Lakers or back in Nike where LeBron has a lifetime deal.

Even more-so than the GM... The ones I really hold accountable are the owners who would let something like this happen. I guess he convinced them Luka getting the Supermax and ending up with team payrolls costing them more money isn't worth it.

[mjkvol]

I also thought like that but yesterday I listened to a podcast with two Croatian die-hard NBA analysts who have been doing this for 20 or so years. Anyway, one of them maintained that due to the new CBA, teams are way more careful about giving a supermax contract to a player, because if you make a mistake, you sign up for years of misery. And that this signifies that almost no player in the league is "safe" now. And both said that Doncic has been really out of shape and arrogant, which did not sit well with the Mavericks org at all. Also it is taking him suspiciously long to recover from the recent calf tear, as the ususal recovery time is one week for one centimeter of torn tissue, and it looks like he is going to be out for 8 weeks which is way to long for such an injury. And it is known by Slovenian sports journalists that Doncic spends his summers in bars in Ljubljana, drinking and smoking until early morning. So maybe Mavs pulled the plug on this. And Mavs are in a win now mode, and the Lakers probably did not want to give more, and Nico Harisson wanted AD. They also tried with at least one other team but it did not work out. They also mention that Rich Paul and subsequently LeBron were informed of the trade 48 hours before it took place, and Mavs have been arranging it for at least three weeks. So LeBron was informed of the trade, but probably did not have much say in it. Luka is an acquistion for the Lakers' future after all, and LeBron will retire by then.

I suspected James was lying when he said he first heard about it after it happened, so that's no surprise.

The whole thing stinks to high heaven. Like others have said, when you're trading a 25-year old transcendent talent who is coming off a Finals trip, you could essentially set your franchise up for the next decade by opening up a bidding war. Harrison got about as little as he would have been offered had he opened it up.

It's possible that moving Luka was the right move, if all the rumors about his lack of care about his fitness and habits are true and Dallas is unsure about giving him a supermax. But the way they did it just raises the usual stuff about the league being involved, especially given it's the Lakers and James.

Adam Silver is constantly running around giving interviews about how to improve the NBA product. He might want to start by cleaning up his own act and stop screwing with the sport.

[Jailblazers7]

The part I don’t get is why the Mavs ownership signed off on this. They just bought a controlling ownership stake for $3.5B and then traded away their revenue driver for the next decade. I get the Nico conspiracy stuff but the ownership approval makes no sense.

[Arsenal]

The part I don’t get is why the Mavs ownership signed off on this. They just bought a controlling ownership stake for $3.5B and then traded away their revenue driver for the next decade. I get the Nico conspiracy stuff but the ownership approval makes no sense.

Strong armed by or quid-pro-quo with the league. You know, like our guy Joshy just did in killing the new downtown arena plan.

[GoSixersBro]

I also thought like that but yesterday I listened to a podcast with two Croatian die-hard NBA analysts who have been doing this for 20 or so years. Anyway, one of them maintained that due to the new CBA, teams are way more careful about giving a supermax contract to a player, because if you make a mistake, you sign up for years of misery. And that this signifies that almost no player in the league is "safe" now. And both said that Doncic has been really out of shape and arrogant, which did not sit well with the Mavericks org at all. Also it is taking him suspiciously long to recover from the recent calf tear, as the ususal recovery time is one week for one centimeter of torn tissue, and it looks like he is going to be out for 8 weeks which is way to long for such an injury. And it is known by Slovenian sports journalists that Doncic spends his summers in bars in Ljubljana, drinking and smoking until early morning. So maybe Mavs pulled the plug on this. And Mavs are in a win now mode, and the Lakers probably did not want to give more, and Nico Harisson wanted AD. They also tried with at least one other team but it did not work out. They also mention that Rich Paul and subsequently LeBron were informed of the trade 48 hours before it took place, and Mavs have been arranging it for at least three weeks. So LeBron was informed of the trade, but probably did not have much say in it. Luka is an acquistion for the Lakers' future after all, and LeBron will retire by then.

I suspected James was lying when he said he first heard about it after it happened, so that's no surprise.

The worst part about LeBron lying about literally everything he does/says is he's so terrible at it.

[Jailblazers7]

The part I don’t get is why the Mavs ownership signed off on this. They just bought a controlling ownership stake for $3.5B and then traded away their revenue driver for the next decade. I get the Nico conspiracy stuff but the ownership approval makes no sense.

Strong armed by or quid-pro-quo with the league. You know, like our guy Joshy just did in killing the new downtown arena plan.

Backroom dealing in real estate is standard businesses practice tho. This Luka trade is not only bad business, but it makes them look like the stupidest people to ever live.

[Negrodamus]

Read on Twitter

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[M2J]

The part I don’t get is why the Mavs ownership signed off on this. They just bought a controlling ownership stake for $3.5B and then traded away their revenue driver for the next decade. I get the Nico conspiracy stuff but the ownership approval makes no sense.

Strong armed by or quid-pro-quo with the league. You know, like our guy Joshy just did in killing the new downtown arena plan.

Backroom dealing in real estate is standard businesses practice tho. This Luka trade is not only bad business, but it makes them look like the stupidest people to ever live.

I overall disagree with the trade, but I see where what they did was wise in terms of birth retrieving assets and playable talent. We saw that Max Christie at 21 years can do Tuesday.... True 3 and D under team control that's a proven asset with upside rather than a future pick in 6 years and he's worth more assets. Davis is on track to be all NBA this year, he's work players and up to 4 picks by next year.... Plus they still can win on Kyrie and Klay timeline,aka now. Plus after a year or 2, they world likely be rebuilding around Luka 350 million deal and he'll probably ask out then. Plus they wanted him gone. I've seen worse strategies, where teams get theoretical picks and nothing comes off it

[76ciology]

My tin foil hats says that Cuban gave the new Mavs owner a discount on the team, with the condition that he would eventually sell Luka to the Lakers. In return, he made a deal with the Lakers where they would pay him more than the discounted price he sold the Mavs for.

[GoSixersBro]

Very typical for Marcus Smart's career to implode once he exited the Atlantic Division.

[76ciology]

Watch on YouTube

Giannis has a bright future after basketball lol

[the_process]

Ben got bought out by BKN.

Meeting with the Cavs and Clippers.

There's no way he doesn't go to LA.

[76ciology]

Isaiah Collier is legit. I fully trust our scouting—they quietly targeted three standouts in this recent draft: Missi, Collier, and McCain.

Justin Edwards and Adem Bona also are legit.

[76ciology]

This warriors game with Jimmy is entertaining. He really has figured out this game and is GOAT at pacing himself.

[the_process]

Lakers rescinded their trade with CHA for Mark Williams.

That had nothing to do with the physical and everything to do with buyer's remorse. Good thing for them the league lets them do whatever they want.

Also saw Ben signed with the Clippers, which was the single most predictable thing of all time.

[Negrodamus]

Lakers should’ve gone for Ben if they could swing it (don’t know their cap situation). He would have been an interesting small ball C option.