Luka to Lakers. AD to Mavs.

[jnrjr79]

Yes, Lakers were willing to trade for him in this neutral scenario. But if he caught wind of it (due to an open market situation) and explicitly stated he wouldn't re-sign in LA, it's entirely plausible and reasonable that LA may no longer offer AD. Lakers have a TERRIBLE roster at least at the moment for Luka to commit to. Maybe he won't.

That's what I gathered from all the reports a swell, Nico was fixated on AD. AD was his first choice in a Luka return, LA obliged, so he didn't expand his search. He did lose out on draft picks, but he's clearly one of those GMs that's focused on wins right now and the near future not what a 14 year old is going to be in 8 years. I don't agree with him, but certainly there are GMs that don't value future draft picks, we have one of them.

I do think AD is underrated for impact on both ends these days. Nico isn't getting Giannis, Joker, SGA.

He's not getting Joker or SGA, but those guys and Wemby are literally the only 3 players in the NBA that I am sure would not be traded for Doncic. I think the Bucks would trade Giannis for him due to age and the concern that he's going to leave when his contract is up.

League Circles contend that Boston wouldn't trade Tatum or Minny wouldn't trade Ant for him, and I just think that's wrong.

Doncic is 25, widely considered to be a top 3 player in the league, and has shown in the playoffs that he can drag a just pretty-good roster to a deep run. I think you're underrating his value.

[CROBulls]

He's not getting Joker or SGA, but those guys and Wemby are literally the only 3 players in the NBA that I am sure would not be traded for Doncic. I think the Bucks would trade Giannis for him due to age and the concern that he's going to leave when his contract is up.

League Circles contend that Boston wouldn't trade Tatum or Minny wouldn't trade Ant for him, and I just think that's wrong.

Doncic is 25, widely considered to be a top 3 player in the league, and has shown in the playoffs that he can drag a just pretty-good roster to a deep run. I think you're underrating his value.

Any GM taking Tatum or Ant over Doncic likely doesnt deserve to have a job in NBA. Doncic just went to Finals carrying Mavs. Celtics won title despite Tatum not because of him. That team was f stacked that playing Patrick Williams in a lineup instead would bring Celtics championship. I can understand somewhat hesitance because you drafted Tatum and you dont wanna say it publically, but Luka is by clear margin better player.

And Ant did do anything in a league at any accolade level where GM can go and say "I prefer Ant over Luka". Those kind of word immediatly will come question your ability to evaluate, revaluate players in a league and your mental capablities. This trade today now few days later still sounds absurd and not real.

Vlade Divac for a reason doesnt have a job anymore in this league, and Nico Williams is gonna be next one. Both gonna be torched by Luka's shadow into oblivion.

[nitetrain8603]

Yes, Lakers were willing to trade for him in this neutral scenario. But if he caught wind of it (due to an open market situation) and explicitly stated he wouldn't re-sign in LA, it's entirely plausible and reasonable that LA may no longer offer AD. Lakers have a TERRIBLE roster at least at the moment for Luka to commit to. Maybe he won't.

That's what I gathered from all the reports a swell, Nico was fixated on AD. AD was his first choice in a Luka return, LA obliged, so he didn't expand his search. He did lose out on draft picks, but he's clearly one of those GMs that's focused on wins right now and the near future not what a 14 year old is going to be in 8 years. I don't agree with him, but certainly there are GMs that don't value future draft picks, we have one of them.

I do think AD is underrated for impact on both ends these days. Nico isn't getting Giannis, Joker, SGA.

Nico isn't getting Jokic. No one would. SGA, ANT, Jokic, Wemby are probably the only untouchables. I do think that Nico could've got Giannis. I do think he could've got Trae, Evan Mobley, Paulo Banchero, Zion+McCollum (if he wanted), LaMelo Ball, Donovan Mitchell, KAT, and pretty much anyone else depending on the mix of picks. If he wanted to compete right away, he could've also gone after KD, Booker, Beal, probably Steph, etc.

It's awful when you hear that injuries were a concern and you trade for the most oft-injured superstar not named Joel Embiid and not get a bunch of picks back at least. In the end, Nico is like the manager in fantasy basketball who screws up everyone else's season by stupidity of his own move. Even Ainge tried to stop it once he found out it was Luka being traded.

[League Circles]

He's not getting Joker or SGA, but those guys and Wemby are literally the only 3 players in the NBA that I am sure would not be traded for Doncic. I think the Bucks would trade Giannis for him due to age and the concern that he's going to leave when his contract is up.

League Circles contend that Boston wouldn't trade Tatum or Minny wouldn't trade Ant for him, and I just think that's wrong.

Doncic is 25, widely considered to be a top 3 player in the league, and has shown in the playoffs that he can drag a just pretty-good roster to a deep run. I think you're underrating his value.

Any GM taking Tatum or Ant over Doncic likely doesnt deserve to have a job in NBA. Doncic just went to Finals carrying Mavs. Celtics won title despite Tatum not because of him. That team was f stacked that playing Patrick Williams in a lineup instead would bring Celtics championship. I can understand somewhat hesitance because you drafted Tatum and you dont wanna say it publically, but Luka is by clear margin better player.

And Ant did do anything in a league at any accolade level where GM can go and say "I prefer Ant over Luka". Those kind of word immediatly will come question your ability to evaluate, revaluate players in a league and your mental capablities. This trade today now few days later still sounds absurd and not real.

Vlade Divac for a reason doesnt have a job anymore in this league, and Nico Williams is gonna be next one. Both gonna be torched by Luka's shadow into oblivion.

It seems like you guys don't really value defense much and also don't understand the dynamics of trading and/or just discussing trades with elite players. It's so precious to have a guy like Giannis or Tatum that even if your heart would like nothing more than the massive defensive downgrade you'd get by swapping one of them for Luka, a smart GM would be hesitant to even discuss it privately cause it could mess up a very good thing.

The NBA is not 2k.

[League Circles]

Yes, Lakers were willing to trade for him in this neutral scenario. But if he caught wind of it (due to an open market situation) and explicitly stated he wouldn't re-sign in LA, it's entirely plausible and reasonable that LA may no longer offer AD. Lakers have a TERRIBLE roster at least at the moment for Luka to commit to. Maybe he won't.

That's what I gathered from all the reports a swell, Nico was fixated on AD. AD was his first choice in a Luka return, LA obliged, so he didn't expand his search. He did lose out on draft picks, but he's clearly one of those GMs that's focused on wins right now and the near future not what a 14 year old is going to be in 8 years. I don't agree with him, but certainly there are GMs that don't value future draft picks, we have one of them.

I do think AD is underrated for impact on both ends these days. Nico isn't getting Giannis, Joker, SGA.

Nico isn't getting Jokic. No one would. SGA, ANT, Jokic, Wemby are probably the only untouchables. I do think that Nico could've got Giannis. I do think he could've got Trae, Evan Mobley, Paulo Banchero, Zion+McCollum (if he wanted), LaMelo Ball, Donovan Mitchell, KAT, and pretty much anyone else depending on the mix of picks. If he wanted to compete right away, he could've also gone after KD, Booker, Beal, probably Steph, etc.

It's awful when you hear that injuries were a concern and you trade for the most oft-injured superstar not named Joel Embiid and not get a bunch of picks back at least. In the end, Nico is like the manager in fantasy basketball who screws up everyone else's season by stupidity of his own move. Even Ainge tried to stop it once he found out it was Luka being traded.

It's absolutely laughable that you suggest that guards like Steph, Beal etc would be similar "win-now" moves to AD. And then mentioning Trae Young's name in this convo at all just takes the cake lol.

The primary factor determining how strong a "win-now" move is for Dallas right now is how well that player complements, and is complemented by, Kyrie Irving. That's pretty obviously AD. Dallas isn't rebuilding or starting over and they don't want to. I respect it.

[WesPeace]

I wouldn't trade Tatum for Luka,to be honest... Luka is offensive generational talent,but also defensive blackhole! Until he gets into shape and plays some D, he will never win anything, unless he is surrounded with almost perfect team for him, few elite two way players..

[nitetrain8603]

That's what I gathered from all the reports a swell, Nico was fixated on AD. AD was his first choice in a Luka return, LA obliged, so he didn't expand his search. He did lose out on draft picks, but he's clearly one of those GMs that's focused on wins right now and the near future not what a 14 year old is going to be in 8 years. I don't agree with him, but certainly there are GMs that don't value future draft picks, we have one of them.

I do think AD is underrated for impact on both ends these days. Nico isn't getting Giannis, Joker, SGA.

Nico isn't getting Jokic. No one would. SGA, ANT, Jokic, Wemby are probably the only untouchables. I do think that Nico could've got Giannis. I do think he could've got Trae, Evan Mobley, Paulo Banchero, Zion+McCollum (if he wanted), LaMelo Ball, Donovan Mitchell, KAT, and pretty much anyone else depending on the mix of picks. If he wanted to compete right away, he could've also gone after KD, Booker, Beal, probably Steph, etc.

It's awful when you hear that injuries were a concern and you trade for the most oft-injured superstar not named Joel Embiid and not get a bunch of picks back at least. In the end, Nico is like the manager in fantasy basketball who screws up everyone else's season by stupidity of his own move. Even Ainge tried to stop it once he found out it was Luka being traded.

It's absolutely laughable that you suggest that guards like Steph, Beal etc would be similar "win-now" moves to AD. And then mentioning Trae Young's name in this convo at all just takes the cake lol.

The primary factor determining how strong a "win-now" move is for Dallas right now is how well that player complements, and is complemented by, Kyrie Irving. That's pretty obviously AD. Dallas isn't rebuilding or starting over and they don't want to. I respect it.

I'm simply spit balling players to demonstrate that Luka is a top 5 trade piece in the NBA and you don't simply zone in on a player on the wrong side of 30 who is often injured without at least maximizing your return from that team.

It's the equivalent of the Bulls trading prime Derrick Rose when they found out he had a candy addiction. Then being so short sighted because they had a win now team with Noah, Deng, Thibs that they trade him for Amare Stoudemire or KG and a 1st when you had guys like Chris Bosh, Kevin Love, Russell Westbrook, Harden, etc.

[rosenthall]

Seems to be a lot of wild misunderstanding and presumptuousness about what execs have to actually do in the reality of their jobs. I'm not saying I agree with what the Mavs did here, cause I don't, but it does make sense and isn't inexplicable at all. People are just freaked out cause we don't usually see this. Though worth noting, the Mavs may be the first team to see that a great player may be worth more to a different team than his own, due to no supermax.

These comments don't register with me, for the following reasons:

- The reason people are in disbelief over the trade is because there's absolutely a precedent for what players like Luka get in a trade, and this completely falls short of that.

- If the Mavs didn't think he was worth the Supermax, they could have just paid him less.

[eierluke]

Why should any team fear the situation that the contract of a star player is up?
Those teams with enough cap space are usually that bad that a superstar would not sign there as a free agent and good teams (= attractive destinations for a superstar) usually are good because of their big payroll and don't have capspace. They usually have to work out a sign and trade = return for the team that loses its star player.
So there is no logic in the "loosing for nothing" argument.

[jc23]

Not only do the Lakers get Luka, but they get him at a cheaper price then if they had drafted him by not having to pay him the supermax. that is some bs.

[Michael Jackson]

Not only do the Lakers get Luka, but they get him at a cheaper price then if they had drafted him by not having to pay him the supermax. that is some bs.

True if he stays. He may not as the Lakers aren’t all that attractive and all things being equal now with no supermax he can force his way into a situation. It woukd have to be a sign and trade and the lakers still get something back but that is still possible. He might stay, but once again they are handcuffed with his and Lebrons salary for the immediate future.