The only player I wouldn't trade for Luka is Jokic.
I would take Luka easily over Giannis and Shai to be honest.
Which Players Would You NOT Trade for Luka?
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Re: Which Players Would You NOT Trade for Luka?
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Re: Which Players Would You NOT Trade for Luka?
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Re: Which Players Would You NOT Trade for Luka?
SGA, Jokic, Wemby, Giannis.
I might consider trading Giannis if he indicates he'll likely leave but as of right now he's on my list.
I'm also close to 50/50 on ANT and Tatum. Steph also gets a loyalty bias that would make me think twice. Mitchell might make me hesitate.
Mavs could have gotten almost anyone else. AD is nice but his age and injury history require more compensation than what Dallas is getting in the deal.
I might consider trading Giannis if he indicates he'll likely leave but as of right now he's on my list.
I'm also close to 50/50 on ANT and Tatum. Steph also gets a loyalty bias that would make me think twice. Mitchell might make me hesitate.
Mavs could have gotten almost anyone else. AD is nice but his age and injury history require more compensation than what Dallas is getting in the deal.
Re: Which Players Would You NOT Trade for Luka?
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Re: Which Players Would You NOT Trade for Luka?
UglyBugBall wrote:KG Leonard wrote:UglyBugBall wrote:
Like you said, Jokic is aiming for the top 10 all-time, but Luka’s chasing top 5. Year for year, Luka leads Jokic in career achievements, numbers, and talent at equivalent points of their career. Luka’s second all-time in playoff scoring average, made the Finals last season, and has won more playoff series in the past 3 years than Jokic. There’s every reason to believe Luka will end up ahead of Jokic when it’s all said and done.
You might as well say Harden is top 5 ever, Luka has just done brilliant scoring with heliocentric basketball that is historic usage rates. The regular season numbers will be forgotten easily if he don't win in the biggest stage, deep in playoffs.
He's won more playoff series than Jokic has. In fact at Lukas age, what has Jokic even done? There really isn't any reason to believe Luka won't surpass Jokic when age-for-age Luka has been ahead every step of the way. This isn't a diss on Jokic, but if you're going to diss Luka I have to point that out.
I think you have a problem with math but the truth is simple.
In the last 3 years Jokic won 5 playoff series
2022/23 1st rd, 2nd rd, WCF, finnals = 4
2023/24 1st rd = 1
all in all 5
Luka Doncic
2021/22 1st rd, 2nd rd = 2
2023/24 1st rd, 2nd rd, WCF = 3
all in all 5
In their carieer Jokic won 9 playoff series
Luka Doncic won 5
At the age of 26 Jokic won his 1st MVP. Doncic will be 26 in less than a month it is his time to win MVP.
"In fact at Lukas age, what has Jokic even done?"
led his team to WCF, thanks for asking.
So my response has nothing to do with Doncic, love him as a player, it has everything to do with your posting. If you want to prop Luka and down Jokic try with facts
Re: Which Players Would You NOT Trade for Luka?
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Re: Which Players Would You NOT Trade for Luka?
BelgradeNugget wrote:UglyBugBall wrote:KG Leonard wrote:
You might as well say Harden is top 5 ever, Luka has just done brilliant scoring with heliocentric basketball that is historic usage rates. The regular season numbers will be forgotten easily if he don't win in the biggest stage, deep in playoffs.
He's won more playoff series than Jokic has. In fact at Lukas age, what has Jokic even done? There really isn't any reason to believe Luka won't surpass Jokic when age-for-age Luka has been ahead every step of the way. This isn't a diss on Jokic, but if you're going to diss Luka I have to point that out.
"In fact at Lukas age, what has Jokic even done?"
led his team to WCF, thanks for asking.
I'm happy that Jokic made the wcf at this age, but Luka went to the FINALS and WCF TWICE.
Re: Which Players Would You NOT Trade for Luka?
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Re: Which Players Would You NOT Trade for Luka?
UglyBugBall wrote:BelgradeNugget wrote:UglyBugBall wrote:
He's won more playoff series than Jokic has. In fact at Lukas age, what has Jokic even done? There really isn't any reason to believe Luka won't surpass Jokic when age-for-age Luka has been ahead every step of the way. This isn't a diss on Jokic, but if you're going to diss Luka I have to point that out.
"In fact at Lukas age, what has Jokic even done?"
led his team to WCF, thanks for asking.
I'm happy that Jokic made the wcf at this age, but Luka went to the FINALS and WCF TWICE.
So, you cut all my other answer prowing how wrong you point was, but now you are trying to change argument into - Luka at the age 26 went one round further in the playoffs than Jokic has at 26. Yes he did.
So to answer your question once again
"In fact at Lukas age, what has Jokic even done?"
led his team to WCF, thanks for asking.
Yes at the same age Luka went one round further it doesn't change the fact it was good achivement and you were wrong with everything else...
BTW Jokic won 3 MVP's, 1 championship, 1 WCF MVP, 1 NBA FMVP. Tall task for Luka, he can still achive that
Re: Which Players Would You NOT Trade for Luka?
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Re: Which Players Would You NOT Trade for Luka?
Some of you are either liars or nuts. The answer is Jokic, Wemby, SGA. Frankly (and I'm a Thunder fan), SGA is pretty even, so the reason to avoid the trade is that there's no reason to change the culture. The other two players are simply higher values. No one else should be on this list. For those of you saying that Luka is worthless and out of shape, you're crazy. Dude is a beast, and the Mavs won't make the Finals for the next 7 years because they'll never get past Luka. He's going to personally crush them.
Re: Which Players Would You NOT Trade for Luka?
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Re: Which Players Would You NOT Trade for Luka?
Mr_Mojo_Risin wrote:ryguy613 wrote:Mr_Mojo_Risin wrote:As a Celts fan I wouldn’t trade Tatum. Luka has more offensive talent, overall impact of both players is similar. Tatum is easier to build around, great team member and always plays.
its a fair take. its a tough choice. They both have their strengths and weaknesses. Theyre both relatively similar ages. Tatum is more dependable to play, but he sometimes disappears in big moments, which is why a clear number 2 guy on the roster won FMVP instead of him. Luka is like a nuclear bomb on the court. you just never feel safe going against him... but to your point he isnt always available. I dunno. I think in a vacuum, all things considered, Luka is just the better player between the two. Id probably pull the trigger, but I get that its not an easy decision if that call is made. Especially with the Celtics already having a championship roster.
This is the narrative but I don’t think it’s completely accurate. Luka has gone missing in big moments and Tatum has stood up in plenty. Maybe Luka has an edge here but it’s no way near what the narrative suggests on the two IMO.
This season for example he is equal with Trae for most tying or go ahead buzzer beater made buckets at three.
https://www.nba.com/celtics/news/sidebar-post-20250131-jayson-tatum-strengthens-clutch-player-of-the-year-case-with-another-game-winner
My top-5 players:
1. Jokic
2. Giannis
3. SGA
4. Luka
5. Tatum
A healthy Embiid might be slightly better than Tatum, but he's never healthy and he chokes in the playoffs. Wemby will almost certainly enter the top-5 next season, bumping Tatum down a spot, but he's still right there. The difference between the two is small. Luka is a better scorer. Tatum is a better defender.
Re: Which Players Would You NOT Trade for Luka?
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Re: Which Players Would You NOT Trade for Luka?
Raps in 4 wrote:Mr_Mojo_Risin wrote:ryguy613 wrote:
its a fair take. its a tough choice. They both have their strengths and weaknesses. Theyre both relatively similar ages. Tatum is more dependable to play, but he sometimes disappears in big moments, which is why a clear number 2 guy on the roster won FMVP instead of him. Luka is like a nuclear bomb on the court. you just never feel safe going against him... but to your point he isnt always available. I dunno. I think in a vacuum, all things considered, Luka is just the better player between the two. Id probably pull the trigger, but I get that its not an easy decision if that call is made. Especially with the Celtics already having a championship roster.
This is the narrative but I don’t think it’s completely accurate. Luka has gone missing in big moments and Tatum has stood up in plenty. Maybe Luka has an edge here but it’s no way near what the narrative suggests on the two IMO.
This season for example he is equal with Trae for most tying or go ahead buzzer beater made buckets at three.
https://www.nba.com/celtics/news/sidebar-post-20250131-jayson-tatum-strengthens-clutch-player-of-the-year-case-with-another-game-winner
My top-5 players:
1. Jokic
2. Giannis
3. SGA
4. Luka
5. Tatum
A healthy Embiid might be slightly better than Tatum, but he's never healthy and he chokes in the playoffs. Wemby will almost certainly enter the top-5 next season, bumping Tatum down a spot, but he's still right there. The difference between the two is small. Luka is a better scorer. Tatum is a better defender.
I don't have much of an issue with this...I have Tatum above Luka because of defense, availability, attitude and ease to build around pushing him past Luka, even though Luka's offensive impact is larger. There is no doubt in my mind Luka's talent is greater and everyone is seduced by that and offense. The mental fortitude to do the things you don't want to do and sacrifice for team is also a kind of talent Luka doesn't consistently show. If Luka ever takes his conditioning and defense seriously though I have no doubt he'd rise to at least #2 on that list.
Re: Which Players Would You NOT Trade for Luka?
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Re: Which Players Would You NOT Trade for Luka?
ryguy613 wrote:Because of how bizarre this trade is, it has me wondering which GM's would hang up the phone if Dallas called proposing to trade their best player for Luka. I can only think of 3 that are locks.
Shai, Jokic, Wemby.
After that, I would say these guys are closer to 50/50's... if i had a gun to my head, Id probably bet on the trade going through for all three of them:
Giannis, Edwards, Tatum
Anyone disagree? Literally cant even think of another player Id consider adding to this list. Am I way off base here?
I think the calculus teams use when looking at this is a lot more complicated than this, and we have to consider what Dallas actually wanted back in the trade.
Most teams don't have any player on their team that qualifies as a 2-way big, so that team would essentially be saying "We'll trade you any of the trash that makes up our team for Luka!", and the Mavs would turn their nose up at it.
Who does that leave? Well, AD, Wemby, Giannis, and maybe JJJ, Mobley, or Chet.
You mentioned Wemby & Giannis so I'll leave them out, so really we're talking probably about JJJ, Mobley, or Chet.
JJJ is on Memphis, who has a core based around guards & JJJ, so it doesn't make sense to trade JJJ.
Mobley is on Cleveland, who has a core based around guards & Mobley, so it doesn't make sense to trade Mobley.
Chet is on OKC, who has a core based around guards & Chet, so it doesn't make sense to trade Chet.
Of course if you think Luka is so, so good that it doesn't even matter if acquiring him completely wrecks the structure of your team, that's different, but this is no small thing to ask of a GM for whom life is going pretty dang good right now even before you remember that the last GM who acquired Luka actually lost job security with the acquisition despite it being considered a success.
So then we're back to the Lakers, who had already recognized that what they had with LeBron/AD was past its shelf-life and the only reason they were sticking with it was because they didn't have any realistic way to move on short of just blowing it all up.
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Re: Which Players Would You NOT Trade for Luka?
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Re: Which Players Would You NOT Trade for Luka?
FarBeyondDriven wrote:ryguy613 wrote:bisme37 wrote:Guys maybe we should adjust our idea of Luka's value considering his team just went out of their way to get rid of him?
The only NBA team he's played for deemed him a poorly conditioned, non-competetive, unprofessional defensive liability and approached another team about taking him so they wouldn't have to pay him a big contract. I can't really see this happening with other current top 10 players.
Just thinking out loud here.
...he literally led an incredibly mediocre team to the finals LAST SEASON. He led an even worse team than that to a conference finals 2 years before that. The idea that someone who is "non-competitive" and "unprofessional" could or would do that is laughable. I dont know why so many people are trying so hard to convince themselves of a self fulfilling prophecy... this idea that "the mere fact that Dallas didnt get a better return for Luka is evidence that Luka was not worth a better return" is just nonsensical circular logic. Its like saying "well I guess the fact that Minnesota traded 4 first round draft picks for Rudy Gobert must mean he's like the best player in league".
Thats not how things work. We literally have several years worth of data to determine whether or not Luka has immense value... i assure you... your eyes arent lying. Dont make it everyone elses problem that the Mavs didnt make the smartest trade here.
there have been a lot of very weak teams that made it to the Finals due to injuries and luck. It's not some huge accomplishment. Supposedly he had no help then yet everyone had them as favorites this year with the same talent level? Make it make sense.
Lmao "making the finals isn't an accomplishment." This is your brain on muh ringz discourse.
eyeatoma wrote:You guys still dont' get it. Playoff accomplishment don't matter when you're up for your 1st MVP. When you're up for your 3rd in a row, damn straight it matters, as the only ones who done it are top 15 players of all time who have won rings.