Replace Shai with Luka on the Thunder. What happens?

[zero rings]

The poll results are absolutely nuts. What does SGA have to do to convince you people?

[Mavrelous]

This is really becoming the Lebron-Kobe discussion from the early 2010's, with Shai as Lebron and Luka as Kobe. Shai outpaces Luka in all advanced metrics and impact stats for, now, 1 and a quarter seasons while Luka has the aesthetic appeal that Kobe did (oddly tho, considering he's just as much of a FT merchant). Kobe at least had titles for his fans to fall back on. The argument for Luka at this point is just non existent.

Yes, 1 and quarter season SGA has been better, no idea where you see this being refuted, equally, Luka was better in 24, both EPM and BPM, knocked him out of the PO, and we have clown takes how SGA was better.
Also, remind me when LeBron (or Kobe) went to a team with max cap space, stash of picks, and just chilled for 2 years to get high lottery picks, only to come after 4 years with stacked roster and declare "see, this guy is a winner".
I think Luka deserves the grace of a year or 2 to build a contender, before raising the banners.

[mademan]

This is really becoming the Lebron-Kobe discussion from the early 2010's, with Shai as Lebron and Luka as Kobe. Shai outpaces Luka in all advanced metrics and impact stats for, now, 1 and a quarter seasons while Luka has the aesthetic appeal that Kobe did (oddly tho, considering he's just as much of a FT merchant). Kobe at least had titles for his fans to fall back on. The argument for Luka at this point is just non existent.

Yes, 1 and quarter season SGA has been better, no idea where you see this being refuted, equally, Luka was better in 24, both EPM and BPM, knocked him out of the PO, and we have clown takes how SGA was better.
Also, remind me when LeBron (or Kobe) went to a team with max cap space, stash of picks, and just chilled for 2 years to get high lottery picks, only to come after 4 years with stacked roster and declare "see, this guy is a winner".
I think Luka deserves the grace of a year or 2 to build a contender, before raising the banners.

What happens in the future, happens in the future. I have a lot of respect for Luka, and he's been historically more consistent, but more than a season is very significant, especially when that season was better than anything Luka ever did.

Up to last year, Luka had never approached Shai's 2024-2025 level. And now Shai has seemingly taken another step and increased that gap further. Does it last? Maybe, maybe not, but it should be acknowledged. Shai is clearly better than Luka until Luka can demonstrate otherwise

[Mavrelous]

This is really becoming the Lebron-Kobe discussion from the early 2010's, with Shai as Lebron and Luka as Kobe. Shai outpaces Luka in all advanced metrics and impact stats for, now, 1 and a quarter seasons while Luka has the aesthetic appeal that Kobe did (oddly tho, considering he's just as much of a FT merchant). Kobe at least had titles for his fans to fall back on. The argument for Luka at this point is just non existent.

Yes, 1 and quarter season SGA has been better, no idea where you see this being refuted, equally, Luka was better in 24, both EPM and BPM, knocked him out of the PO, and we have clown takes how SGA was better.
Also, remind me when LeBron (or Kobe) went to a team with max cap space, stash of picks, and just chilled for 2 years to get high lottery picks, only to come after 4 years with stacked roster and declare "see, this guy is a winner".
I think Luka deserves the grace of a year or 2 to build a contender, before raising the banners.

What happens in the future, happens in the future. I have a lot of respect for Luka, and he's been historically more consistent, but more than a season is very significant, especially when that season was better than anything Luka ever did.

Up to last year, Luka had never approached Shai's 2024-2025 level. And now Shai has seemingly taken another step and increased that gap further. Does it last? Maybe, maybe not, but it should be acknowledged. Shai is clearly better than Luka until Luka can demonstrate otherwise

No, I'm talking about the past, we have 7 seasons sample, Luka was better in 6 of them and to you, this is LeBron Vs Kobe?

[mademan]

Yes, 1 and quarter season SGA has been better, no idea where you see this being refuted, equally, Luka was better in 24, both EPM and BPM, knocked him out of the PO, and we have clown takes how SGA was better.
Also, remind me when LeBron (or Kobe) went to a team with max cap space, stash of picks, and just chilled for 2 years to get high lottery picks, only to come after 4 years with stacked roster and declare "see, this guy is a winner".
I think Luka deserves the grace of a year or 2 to build a contender, before raising the banners.

What happens in the future, happens in the future. I have a lot of respect for Luka, and he's been historically more consistent, but more than a season is very significant, especially when that season was better than anything Luka ever did.

Up to last year, Luka had never approached Shai's 2024-2025 level. And now Shai has seemingly taken another step and increased that gap further. Does it last? Maybe, maybe not, but it should be acknowledged. Shai is clearly better than Luka until Luka can demonstrate otherwise

No, I'm talking about the past, we have 7 seasons sample, Luka was better in 6 of them and to you, this is LeBron Vs Kobe?

uhh, ya. When 1 guy has a better season than the other guy ever had, plays better than he ever did, wins MVP, FMVP and then comes back the next year (so far) increasing that gap even further, and then people still question "who's the better player"...yes, it is shades of Lebron-Kobe. Luka's argument right now is aesthetic. Shai has reached levels Luka has not but people still argue it...what would you call it?

[Mavrelous]

What happens in the future, happens in the future. I have a lot of respect for Luka, and he's been historically more consistent, but more than a season is very significant, especially when that season was better than anything Luka ever did.

Up to last year, Luka had never approached Shai's 2024-2025 level. And now Shai has seemingly taken another step and increased that gap further. Does it last? Maybe, maybe not, but it should be acknowledged. Shai is clearly better than Luka until Luka can demonstrate otherwise

No, I'm talking about the past, we have 7 seasons sample, Luka was better in 6 of them and to you, this is LeBron Vs Kobe?

uhh, ya. When 1 guy has a better season than the other guy ever had, plays better than he ever did, wins MVP, FMVP and then comes back the next year (so far) increasing that gap even further, and then people still question "who's the better player"...yes, it is shades of Lebron-Kobe. Luka's argument right now is aesthetic. Shai has reached levels Luka has not but people still argue it...what would you call it?

I wouldn't call LeBron Vs Kobe, there was 0 (in choronlogocal order, not same year) seasons, that Kobe was better than LeBron, LeBron was better at every stage of his career than Kobe was, this is not the case here.
SGA has the best team in the league around him, we know how this team was built, riaing tide lifts all boats, he is the best right now, but it's asinine to use your reference of comparison, and I wouldn't expect Luka to close the gap until he has a proper team around him.

[ball_takes23]

This is really becoming the Lebron-Kobe discussion from the early 2010's, with Shai as Lebron and Luka as Kobe. Shai outpaces Luka in all advanced metrics and impact stats for, now, 1 and a quarter seasons while Luka has the aesthetic appeal that Kobe did (oddly tho, considering he's just as much of a FT merchant). Kobe at least had titles for his fans to fall back on. The argument for Luka at this point is just non existent.

its weird to choose kobe for luka and lebron for sga when luka plays much more like lebron and sga plays much more like kobe, including shooting 8/27 in game 7 and having a team stacked enough to still win despite this.

[Mephariel]

This is really becoming the Lebron-Kobe discussion from the early 2010's, with Shai as Lebron and Luka as Kobe. Shai outpaces Luka in all advanced metrics and impact stats for, now, 1 and a quarter seasons while Luka has the aesthetic appeal that Kobe did (oddly tho, considering he's just as much of a FT merchant). Kobe at least had titles for his fans to fall back on. The argument for Luka at this point is just non existent.

its weird to choose kobe for luka and lebron for sga when luka plays much more like lebron and sga plays much more like kobe, including shooting 8/27 in game 7 and having a team stacked enough to still win despite this.

Nah this is a dumb argument. Jordan shot 5-19 in Game 6 of the 1996 Finals against the Sonics, prompting Payton to say his defense "took a toll on Mike."

Even the best players have bad playoffs games. Also, SGA had 29 points and 12 assists in Game 7. He didn't shoot great, but he played well.

[MoneyTalks41890]

This is really becoming the Lebron-Kobe discussion from the early 2010's, with Shai as Lebron and Luka as Kobe. Shai outpaces Luka in all advanced metrics and impact stats for, now, 1 and a quarter seasons while Luka has the aesthetic appeal that Kobe did (oddly tho, considering he's just as much of a FT merchant). Kobe at least had titles for his fans to fall back on. The argument for Luka at this point is just non existent.

its weird to choose kobe for luka and lebron for sga when luka plays much more like lebron and sga plays much more like kobe, including shooting 8/27 in game 7 and having a team stacked enough to still win despite this.

Nah this is a dumb argument. Jordan shot 5-19 in Game 6 of the 1996 Finals against the Sonics, prompting Payton to say his defense "took a toll on Mike."

Even the best players have bad playoffs games. Also, SGA had 29 points and 12 assists in Game 7. He didn't shoot great, but he played well.

Luka a 59% career TS player, SGA 61%.

Shai was 64% last year, and 65% this year. Luka 59% last year and 62% this year.