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

Rapsalot · Post #1081 » by **Rapsalot** » Thu May 1, 2025 12:31 pm

So both team worse because they build team around “star”. Now they will have to rebuild around new players.

WuTang_CMB · Post #1082 » by **WuTang_CMB** » Thu May 1, 2025 5:19 pm

DreamTeam09 · Post #1083 » by **DreamTeam09** » Thu May 1, 2025 5:23 pm

Rapsalot wrote:So both team worse because they build team around “star”. Now they will have to rebuild around new players.

One team is worse because their star player got injured, the team built around the Mavs is good.
The other team isn't constructed well around their star players

Raps in 4 · Post #1084 » by **Raps in 4** » Thu May 1, 2025 5:47 pm

WuTang_OG wrote:

Read on Twitter

Damn, shots fired. Luka can't be happy about this. Time for Masai to step in and get Luka and Giannis on this team.

Raps in 4 · Post #1085 » by **Raps in 4** » Thu May 1, 2025 5:48 pm

DreamTeam09 wrote:
Rapsalot wrote:So both team worse because they build team around “star”. Now they will have to rebuild around new players.

One team is worse because their star player got injured, the team built around the Mavs is good.
The other team isn't constructed well around their star players

Kyrie and AD are completely broken down and a few years away from retirement. That team is not constructed well at all.

Brinbe · Post #1086 » by **Brinbe** » Thu May 1, 2025 6:08 pm

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.

dohboy_24 · Post #1087 » by **dohboy_24** » Fri May 2, 2025 7:29 pm

Can anyone else think of another mid-season trade of star players that amounted to such little in return for both teams?

LA Lakers - traded for Luka. 1st round exit.
Dallas Mavericks - traded for AD. Didn't make the playoffs.

Pointgod · Post #1088 » by **Pointgod** » Fri May 2, 2025 10:51 pm

dohboy_24 wrote:Can anyone else think of another mid-season trade of star players that amounted to such little in return for both teams?

LA Lakers - traded for Luka. 1st round exit.
Dallas Mavericks - traded for AD. Didn't make the playoffs.

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

Westside Gunn · Post #1089 » by **Westside Gunn** » Fri May 2, 2025 11:18 pm

What's going to happen to Hookah Doncic if he's in Toronto. Post game osmows on the rocks and hookahs will give us a oliver miller with 30 ppg.

mihaic · Post #1090 » by **mihaic** » Fri May 2, 2025 11:45 pm

Westside Gunn wrote:What's going to happen to Hookah Doncic if he's in Toronto. Post game osmows on the rocks and hookahs will give us a oliver miller with 30 ppg.

With a smirk on his face :]

Los_29 · Post #1091 » by **Los_29** » Sat May 3, 2025 2:34 am

Raps in 4 wrote:
DreamTeam09 wrote:
Rapsalot wrote:So both team worse because they build team around “star”. Now they will have to rebuild around new players.

One team is worse because their star player got injured, the team built around the Mavs is good.
The other team isn't constructed well around their star players

Kyrie and AD are completely broken down and a few years away from retirement. That team is not constructed well at all.

Prior to Kyrie’s injury they were. They had a well balanced team with some nice supporting pieces. Problem was a short window to compete.

Luka trade was still awful though.

KL78192020 · Post #1092 » by **KL78192020** » Sat May 3, 2025 4:05 pm

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.

Shakril · Post #1093 » by **Shakril** » Mon May 5, 2025 10:53 am

Pointgod wrote:
dohboy_24 wrote:Can anyone else think of another mid-season trade of star players that amounted to such little in return for both teams?

LA Lakers - traded for Luka. 1st round exit.
Dallas Mavericks - traded for AD. Didn't make the playoffs.

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.

Shakril · Post #1094 » by **Shakril** » Mon May 5, 2025 10:54 am

KL78192020 wrote: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.

TheGeneral99 · Post #1095 » by **TheGeneral99** » Mon May 5, 2025 1:44 pm

Shakril wrote:
KL78192020 wrote: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.

JB7 · Post #1096 » by **JB7** » Mon May 5, 2025 4:09 pm

Shakril wrote:
Pointgod wrote:
dohboy_24 wrote:Can anyone else think of another mid-season trade of star players that amounted to such little in return for both teams?

LA Lakers - traded for Luka. 1st round exit.
Dallas Mavericks - traded for AD. Didn't make the playoffs.

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.

How do the Lakers look if they get a C, this offseason. Say Jarrett Allen? Cavs might be forced to make a decision on Allen, with Mobley emerging. And Cavs are also running into salary issues. Could the Lakers offer Rui (1 year left on deal), Kleber (1 year left on deal), Knecht and the 2026 or 2028 FRP, for Allen and Strus (whose deals both go beyond next season)?

mademan · Post #1097 » by **mademan** » Mon May 5, 2025 4:14 pm

JB7 wrote:
Shakril wrote:
Pointgod wrote:
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.

How do the Lakers look if they get a C, this offseason. Say Jarrett Allen? Cavs might be forced to make a decision on Allen, with Mobley emerging. And Cavs are also running into salary issues. Could the Lakers offer Rui (1 year left on deal), Kleber (1 year left on deal), Knecht and the 2026 or 2028 FRP, for Allen and Strus (whose deals both go beyond next season)?

Lakers dont have enough assets to get a C like that. Their sights are gonna be set lower on guys like Claxton.

Tho i think the Lakers are pretty far from fielding a real championship team, and it starts with their best players. I know Dallas made the finals last year, but Luka was not great in that run, and he wasnt great again in this series. That's b2b playoffs that a top 5 guy is not playing like a top 5 guy. Add in Reaves, who cant handle playoff physicality, and Lebron, who, at 40, is completely dying in the 4th quarters, and this is a team that has a problem both at the top of the roster and at the bottom.

They gotta get Luka on ozempic and try and talk Lebron into finding a new home and get some real assets to build around Doncic

mademan · Post #1098 » by **mademan** » Mon May 5, 2025 4:16 pm

Shakril wrote:
Pointgod wrote:
dohboy_24 wrote:Can anyone else think of another mid-season trade of star players that amounted to such little in return for both teams?

LA Lakers - traded for Luka. 1st round exit.
Dallas Mavericks - traded for AD. Didn't make the playoffs.

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

YogurtProducer · Post #1099 » by **YogurtProducer** » Mon May 5, 2025 4:22 pm

Brinbe wrote: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

DreamTeam09 · Post #1100 » by **DreamTeam09** » Mon May 5, 2025 4:50 pm

Shakril wrote:
Pointgod wrote:
dohboy_24 wrote:Can anyone else think of another mid-season trade of star players that amounted to such little in return for both teams?

LA Lakers - traded for Luka. 1st round exit.
Dallas Mavericks - traded for AD. Didn't make the playoffs.

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.

Kyrie doesn't get injured and the Mavs are still playing, the lake show gets the benefit of the doubt because "this was a future trade" yet everyone picked them in the finals, the Mavs