Holy Mother of... Luka to Lakers, AD to Dallas

[Raps in 4]

Lakers had everyone fooled for that small stretch post-trade when they went on that winning streak but it didn't last as their bodies broke down. I think Nico had the right idea as Luka is too poor of a defensive player to be a Championship cornerstone piece, similar to a Harden in that regard. But the execution and the way he went about trading him was totally stupid and he didn't extract near enough value. Should've got Reaves too and all the FRPs that the Lakers could be allowed to dole out.

Anyway, I can see a road for Kyrie/AD to get there, and they both do have rings, but trusting their health at this point in their careers, especially during a playoff grind, is a tough ask.

The Lakers are in a tough spot as they need to build a team around Luka similarly to how the Mavs did but they lack the assets to get anywhere close enough to building a real championship contending team around him and are further hamstrung by LeBron's final few years hanging around/taking up a salary spot for a more complementary #2+3 and I don't think he wants to be anywhere else and he has a NTC anyway.

They could deal Reaves for a real C, maybe to Orlando for Carter? But the rest of their roster outside of DFS are frankly garbage, one-dimensional and unattractive trade pieces and they have no picks to build out any good depth. Probably first or second round fodder material all the while Luka is just putting more miles on those tires and he's already had a long road as a professional so he won't have a normal aging curve.

I want LBJ to go to Dallas.

Kyrie/LBJ/AD as an old man superteam would be fun

I want to see all the old rivals on the Warriors. Steph, Jimmy, LeBron, Harden, KD. A super team of 40 year-olds.

[KL78192020]

Lebron is toast and hogging up the salary cap. Hes far past his prime. Probably a 3rd option at this point at 30 minutes a night. Luka has a worse team with the Lakers, Kyrie was a far better running mate who could play off ball.

LeBron is still a top 10 player in the league.

I would say still top 10 offensively but his defense has taken a dive these last 2-3 years.

If he was top 10 him and Luka should've got out of the first round. Minny doesn't really have superstars out of Edwards. For his age, Lebron is still great, but has fallen off quite a bit. He is far from dominant, his stats are still good but his impact is probably top 20 instead.

[mademan]

LeBron is still a top 10 player in the league.

I would say still top 10 offensively but his defense has taken a dive these last 2-3 years.

If he was top 10 him and Luka should've got out of the first round. Minny doesn't really have superstars out of Edwards. For his age, Lebron is still great, but has fallen off quite a bit. He is far from dominant, his stats are still good but his impact is probably top 20 instead.

Out of 5 games, Lebron was the best player on the court for the Lakers for at least 2 of them. If Luka is a top 5 guy, they win the series with the play they got from Lebron and the poor shooting from the Wolves.

[Pointgod]

Everyone knows the Lakers weren’t a finished product and still had holes to fill. The Mavs team was built specifically around Luka and centered around two injury prone players. That’s why the specific trade never made sense

This.
I know many hate the Lakres out of envy, but this doesnt excuse for beeing dishonest. When the trade happened, everybody said, they were not ready to contend this year. Then they had a very nice run towards the end of the season and the expectations grew.

Now everybody acts as if the lakers were blown out in the playofss- which they werent. They lost close games and simply were not ready yet to compete

Next season counts. Lakers clearly need some roster changes - for example, they need a center.

As for Dallas, they have dug their grave the moment they traded away Luka.

They were blown out. They lost in 5 to a Minny team that missed open shots all series. It's actually kind of crazy that Minny can win a playoff game going 7/47 from three. That's how big the gap was

Minnesota was in the WCF last year and they had an insane size advantage and Antony Edwards playing out of his mind and Julius Randle having the playoff series of his life. Wolves were just more talented top to bottom and had the match up advantage.

[Brinbe]

Lakers had everyone fooled for that small stretch post-trade when they went on that winning streak but it didn't last as their bodies broke down. I think Nico had the right idea as Luka is too poor of a defensive player to be a Championship cornerstone piece, similar to a Harden in that regard. But the execution and the way he went about trading him was totally stupid and he didn't extract near enough value. Should've got Reaves too and all the FRPs that the Lakers could be allowed to dole out.

Anyway, I can see a road for Kyrie/AD to get there, and they both do have rings, but trusting their health at this point in their careers, especially during a playoff grind, is a tough ask.

The Lakers are in a tough spot as they need to build a team around Luka similarly to how the Mavs did but they lack the assets to get anywhere close enough to building a real championship contending team around him and are further hamstrung by LeBron's final few years hanging around/taking up a salary spot for a more complementary #2+3 and I don't think he wants to be anywhere else and he has a NTC anyway.

They could deal Reaves for a real C, maybe to Orlando for Carter? But the rest of their roster outside of DFS are frankly garbage, one-dimensional and unattractive trade pieces and they have no picks to build out any good depth. Probably first or second round fodder material all the while Luka is just putting more miles on those tires and he's already had a long road as a professional so he won't have a normal aging curve.

I want LBJ to go to Dallas.

Kyrie/LBJ/AD as an old man superteam would be fun

It would be. But I think LeBron is long past caring about rings since the Bubble win. He's content in LA with his fam/son, the spotlight to grow his brands and the opportunity to keep racking up stats which will be his ace in the GOAT debate once he's done. There's no real reason for him to go anywhere else.

[Shakril]

Everyone knows the Lakers weren’t a finished product and still had holes to fill. The Mavs team was built specifically around Luka and centered around two injury prone players. That’s why the specific trade never made sense

This.
I know many hate the Lakres out of envy, but this doesnt excuse for beeing dishonest. When the trade happened, everybody said, they were not ready to contend this year. Then they had a very nice run towards the end of the season and the expectations grew.

Now everybody acts as if the lakers were blown out in the playofss- which they werent. They lost close games and simply were not ready yet to compete

Next season counts. Lakers clearly need some roster changes - for example, they need a center.

As for Dallas, they have dug their grave the moment they traded away Luka.

They were blown out. They lost in 5 to a Minny team that missed open shots all series. It's actually kind of crazy that Minny can win a playoff game going 7/47 from three. That's how big the gap was

This is what i mean with beeing dishonest. Its not like the lakers were shooting lights out either. And you talk about the last game, were the lakers clearly have given up already - and the game was still close until late in the 4th.

[Clay Davis]

Why are people surprised to hear that the Laker's roster has ZERO rizz? Lebron was playing 5 out there for stretches... that's how thin their roster is.

They desperately need to trade for the Yakubian golem, Jakob Poeltl

[mademan]

This.
I know many hate the Lakres out of envy, but this doesnt excuse for beeing dishonest. When the trade happened, everybody said, they were not ready to contend this year. Then they had a very nice run towards the end of the season and the expectations grew.

Now everybody acts as if the lakers were blown out in the playofss- which they werent. They lost close games and simply were not ready yet to compete

Next season counts. Lakers clearly need some roster changes - for example, they need a center.

As for Dallas, they have dug their grave the moment they traded away Luka.

They were blown out. They lost in 5 to a Minny team that missed open shots all series. It's actually kind of crazy that Minny can win a playoff game going 7/47 from three. That's how big the gap was

This is what i mean with beeing dishonest. Its not like the lakers were shooting lights out either. And you talk about the last game, were the lakers clearly have given up already - and the game was still close until late in the 4th.

Missed 40 three's. This is not being dishonest. The Lakers arent supposed to lose those games.

There was a strategy from the Lakers to give up open looks to protect their weak defenders (Reaves/Luka), and its a strategy that should never work in the NBA. Over 5 games, it really did work, and they still lost in short order.

[Los_29]

LeBron is still a top 10 player in the league.

I would say still top 10 offensively but his defense has taken a dive these last 2-3 years.

If he was top 10 him and Luka should've got out of the first round. Minny doesn't really have superstars out of Edwards. For his age, Lebron is still great, but has fallen off quite a bit. He is far from dominant, his stats are still good but his impact is probably top 20 instead.

In today’s NBA, you need depth. You can’t win with two elite players but have Jaxson Hayes as your starting center.

Look at a guy like Giannis.

[PushDaRock]

LeBron is still a top 10 player in the league.

I would say still top 10 offensively but his defense has taken a dive these last 2-3 years.

If he was top 10 him and Luka should've got out of the first round. Minny doesn't really have superstars out of Edwards. For his age, Lebron is still great, but has fallen off quite a bit. He is far from dominant, his stats are still good but his impact is probably top 20 instead.

-0.3 in on court per 100 and -5.3 in on/off per 100. He's a career +10.1 in on/off per 100.

This was his first season ever in his entire career that his team was better with him off the floor than on it, so that certainly matches up with his impact falling off significantly despite the numbers still being really good.

[TheGeneral99]

I would say still top 10 offensively but his defense has taken a dive these last 2-3 years.

If he was top 10 him and Luka should've got out of the first round. Minny doesn't really have superstars out of Edwards. For his age, Lebron is still great, but has fallen off quite a bit. He is far from dominant, his stats are still good but his impact is probably top 20 instead.

-0.3 in on court per 100 and -5.3 in on/off per 100. He's a career +10.1 in on/off per 100.

This was his first season ever in his entire career that his team was better with him off the floor than on it, so that certainly matches up with his impact falling off significantly despite the numbers still being really good.

Yes this makes sense.

As I said above, his offense is still elite but the defense has taken a big nose dive and no surprise he's now a net negative.

[Shaazzam]

Lakers had everyone fooled for that small stretch post-trade when they went on that winning streak but it didn't last as their bodies broke down. I think Nico had the right idea as Luka is too poor of a defensive player to be a Championship cornerstone piece, similar to a Harden in that regard. But the execution and the way he went about trading him was totally stupid and he didn't extract near enough value. Should've got Reaves too and all the FRPs that the Lakers could be allowed to dole out.

Anyway, I can see a road for Kyrie/AD to get there, and they both do have rings, but trusting their health at this point in their careers, especially during a playoff grind, is a tough ask.

The Lakers are in a tough spot as they need to build a team around Luka similarly to how the Mavs did but they lack the assets to get anywhere close enough to building a real championship contending team around him and are further hamstrung by LeBron's final few years hanging around/taking up a salary spot for a more complementary #2+3 and I don't think he wants to be anywhere else and he has a NTC anyway.

They could deal Reaves for a real C, maybe to Orlando for Carter? But the rest of their roster outside of DFS are frankly garbage, one-dimensional and unattractive trade pieces and they have no picks to build out any good depth. Probably first or second round fodder material all the while Luka is just putting more miles on those tires and he's already had a long road as a professional so he won't have a normal aging curve.

I want LBJ to go to Dallas.

Kyrie/LBJ/AD as an old man superteam would be fun

I want to see all the old rivals on the Warriors. Steph, Jimmy, LeBron, Harden, KD. A super team of 40 year-olds.

Have to cut a commercial at the Y for that one.

[ItsDanger]

Watch on YouTube

;si=8SmPJM1Ua2A1FNg2

Not sure if posted already. Nico worked with Kobe via Nike relationship. Age 25+ (after athleticism starts dropping) Luka playing style is more similar to Harden's style although slightly better version. Nico's management philosophy is likely heavily influenced by Kobe's way of thinking about the game.

[mdenny]

Is it possible that Luka becomes a much more high profile version of Ben Simmons meltdown? I don't think it WILL happen.....but I could SEE IT happening. And It would be glorious lol.