REPORT: AD out indefinitely

[madmaxmedia]

Oh, what a great point. That's exactly why I fully believed OJ Simpson when he said he wasn't the murderer and I will spend the rest of my life in the effort to find the real killer. And why I knew Trump was right that he would lower the price of eggs. Also Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny are real.

I also have a massively expensive bridge for sale at an incredible deal if you're interested, you'd basically be stealing from me, DM me for details with your bank information

There's a lot in this post so let me just address the important part:

**** you, the Easter Bunny and Santa are real AF and I won't hear another slanderous word about them

There needs to be a spoiler alert for the kids in this thread.

[WolfAddict]

Oh, what a great point. That's exactly why I fully believed OJ Simpson when he said he wasn't the murderer and I will spend the rest of my life in the effort to find the real killer. And why I knew Trump was right that he would lower the price of eggs. Also Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny are real.

I also have a massively expensive bridge for sale at an incredible deal if you're interested, you'd basically be stealing from me, DM me for details with your bank information

There's a lot in this post so let me just address the important part:

**** you, the Easter Bunny and Santa are real AF and I won't hear another slanderous word about them

There needs to be a spoiler alert for the kids in this thread.

Damn sorry my friend! (You'd think I'd know better having 5 of my own... )

[Marvin Martian]

They went high risk high reward with the trade, and it might... MIGHT... be already falling apart for them. Its too early to know for sure.

Heres the logical way this played out. Dumont, being a new owner, idiot billionaire, saw a $350M impending price tag for a player he saw as undeserving... because hes an idiot who doesnt understand sports very well... because hes a child playing with toys instead of a serious person. He told Nico to get rid of Luka. Nico predicted that Mavs fans, and the basketball world at large were going to be insanely critical of the move so he decided there was literally only one way he could potentially not go down in history as the moron who sold Luka, and that was to get the best "win now" player in the deal and bet everything on the idea that you could win a title right away. the smartest way to do this, if youre going to do it all all (which you shouldnt) would be to blow it up and rebuild with a mountain of first round picks, but Nico understands that sending the Mavs back into the lottery for the next 4 or 5 years is going to make him a laughing stock, and assuming those assets pan out for them in the future, hes likely not going to be the GM of the team, and wont be able to take credit for it. Hell, he literally said that exact thing at his press conference with JKidd.

So yeah he figured, rip the band-aid quickly. Hope the team stays healthy and can win a title. breath a sigh of relief knowing that getting a ring in the immediate future puts you ahead of where Luka is right now and just pray he doesnt win multiple titles down the road.

Is that stupid? absolutely. But it also makes sense given everything we know about the way the mavs handled this.

With all due respect, please don't treat the rest of us as idiots. If the Mavs had asked for another pick, do you honestly believe that the Lakers would have walked away? Be honest. If I told you the trade was AD, 2 picks and Christie for Doncic, would you not have thought that you all still robbed the Mavs?

There doesn't need to be any grand conspiracy here. But we've seen friends help each other out in this league - see Ainge/McHale. I'm willing to believe everything you wrote. It still does not explain why 1) the Mavs did not bid Luka out and 2) ask for more from the Lakers who were never going to turn this opportunity down.

its not my job to convince you of anything. believe whatever you want. just dont think of yourself as smart because you concocted a story in your head that you think better explains a stupid trade. i work off of evidence. i dont just wildly speculate because it makes me feel better.

The exra pick not being included was already addressed by both teams. The Mavs asked for it. The Lakers countered that because they werent allowed to speak with Luka or his agent to get the deal done, meaning they had no way of gauging his interest to stay long term, one of the picks should be removed. Now, do I think Pelinka put his foot down on that? heeeeeell no. In other words, if Nico had countered that both picks were needed or the deal was off, 100% Pelinka wouldve caved, but in favor of getting the deal done quickly and remaining quiet, he decided he wouldnt push back. Remember Nico felt he had something to lose here if talks were in danger of stalling. Was that smart? once again.... heeeeeell no. but i also dont think it was smart to trade Luka from the get go so I really dont think we're dealing with a shrewd business man here.

You can believe all of that, which is backed up by basically every account of how this went down. or you can believe your own theories. thats really up to you. Im pretty sure I could literally show you a video recording of the trade talks with audio of the discussion, and the people who want to believe something isnt right here would just claim it was AI. Not much I can do

Whatever "evidence" you gathered is exactly what the owners wanted you to see and hear.

They are never going to admit that their trade was rigged. Why would they and risk tarnishing the integrity of the league?

You are looking at planted evidence, instead of the incentives

The owners do not have an incentive to tell you the truth. So why blindly believe what they say?

[KingFox]

The owner and the GM are literally telling you... publicly... repeatedly... THEY WANTED TO TRADE LUKA. If you refuse to believe them thats on you. Just dont make it everyone elses problem.

For less than market value? And they only wanted to talk to the Lakers? That makes sense to you?

Nobody can defend this part of the trade. The reasons for trading…sure, whatever, I can believe it. But this is unexplainable.

Nico was close with Kobe and he's close with Pelinka. It's no different than Mchale giving Boston KG and Jerry West gifting Pau Gasol to LA let's all be serious in here

[Broadcaster]

They went high risk high reward with the trade, and it might... MIGHT... be already falling apart for them. Its too early to know for sure.

Heres the logical way this played out. Dumont, being a new owner, idiot billionaire, saw a $350M impending price tag for a player he saw as undeserving... because hes an idiot who doesnt understand sports very well... because hes a child playing with toys instead of a serious person. He told Nico to get rid of Luka. Nico predicted that Mavs fans, and the basketball world at large were going to be insanely critical of the move so he decided there was literally only one way he could potentially not go down in history as the moron who sold Luka, and that was to get the best "win now" player in the deal and bet everything on the idea that you could win a title right away. the smartest way to do this, if youre going to do it all all (which you shouldnt) would be to blow it up and rebuild with a mountain of first round picks, but Nico understands that sending the Mavs back into the lottery for the next 4 or 5 years is going to make him a laughing stock, and assuming those assets pan out for them in the future, hes likely not going to be the GM of the team, and wont be able to take credit for it. Hell, he literally said that exact thing at his press conference with JKidd.

So yeah he figured, rip the band-aid quickly. Hope the team stays healthy and can win a title. breath a sigh of relief knowing that getting a ring in the immediate future puts you ahead of where Luka is right now and just pray he doesnt win multiple titles down the road.

Is that stupid? absolutely. But it also makes sense given everything we know about the way the mavs handled this.

With all due respect, please don't treat the rest of us as idiots. If the Mavs had asked for another pick, do you honestly believe that the Lakers would have walked away? Be honest. If I told you the trade was AD, 2 picks and Christie for Doncic, would you not have thought that you all still robbed the Mavs?

There doesn't need to be any grand conspiracy here. But we've seen friends help each other out in this league - see Ainge/McHale. I'm willing to believe everything you wrote. It still does not explain why 1) the Mavs did not bid Luka out and 2) ask for more from the Lakers who were never going to turn this opportunity down.

its not my job to convince you of anything. believe whatever you want. just dont think of yourself as smart because you concocted a story in your head that you think better explains a stupid trade. i work off of evidence. i dont just wildly speculate because it makes me feel better.

The exra pick not being included was already addressed by both teams. The Mavs asked for it. The Lakers countered that because they werent allowed to speak with Luka or his agent to get the deal done, meaning they had no way of gauging his interest to stay long term, one of the picks should be removed. Now, do I think Pelinka put his foot down on that? heeeeeell no. In other words, if Nico had countered that both picks were needed or the deal was off, 100% Pelinka wouldve caved, but in favor of getting the deal done quickly and remaining quiet, he decided he wouldnt push back. Remember Nico felt he had something to lose here if talks were in danger of stalling. Was that smart? once again.... heeeeeell no. but i also dont think it was smart to trade Luka from the get go so I really dont think we're dealing with a shrewd business man here.

You can believe all of that, which is backed up by basically every account of how this went down. or you can believe your own theories. thats really up to you. Im pretty sure I could literally show you a video recording of the trade talks with audio of the discussion, and the people who want to believe something isnt right here would just claim it was AI. Not much I can do

Like someone else said, the only evidence you have is the people who made the deal saying, “believe me.” That’s not really evidence either. If it looks like a duck and sounds like a duck but says it’s not a duck, it’s still probably a **** duck.

[-Luke-]

For less than market value? And they only wanted to talk to the Lakers? That makes sense to you?

Nobody can defend this part of the trade. The reasons for trading…sure, whatever, I can believe it. But this is unexplainable.

Nico was close with Kobe and he's close with Pelinka. It's no different than Mchale giving Boston KG and Jerry West gifting Pau Gasol to LA let's all be serious in here

Wasn't West already out in Memphis when the Gasol trade happened?

[Baz]

The biggest mainstream team the Lakers were 2 years away from being a lottery team when LeBron would eventually retire. Adam Silver's NBA ratings are plummeting. He has constantly been talking about gambling in the NBA and adding a team in Las Vegas. New Vegas casino owners of the Mavs trading their generational superstar in the midst of the Texas legislature session trying to amend gambling rules in the state, pissing off an entire fanbase. They treat their arena like it's North Korea in the weeks that follow, kicking out any fans with an anti-Nico or anti ownership sentiment. But no, we should take these owners at their word. They are just morons. That's it. Definitely not moving the team to Vegas. Definitely not convenient the only team that they negotiated with out of 29 others was the Los Angeles Lakers, getting back peanuts. Definitely nothing to see here.

Can I just ask you a quick question. If you actually believe that Adam Silver has the whole league rigged for the Lakers, including having other teams owners in line... and all of this is just a smoke screen for the Lakers to stay on top... why are you still watching, and why are you on a RealGM board talking basketball? I mean you figured it out Columbo. You see the Matrix for what it is. Go out and smell the roses and let all of us still plugged into the Matrix live in peace as the little sheep we are.

Here's the thing. If these guys are so devious and clever rigging the league for squeeze out maximum profit, they would for damn sure rig up a more realistic trade than the one that was made. One or two swaps, another 1st, whatever to get in the ballpark of typical superstar trades, it would still have been a slam dunk for the Lakers.

But in any case, the major pro sports have become dominant cultural and commercial forces and all the money and franchise value and naming rights that come along with that. TBH rigging everything with the involvement of refs, owners, etc. would be like killing the goose that lays the golden eggs, hoping to get more eggs out of it. I'm not saying shady stuff never happens, but I'm just not seeing this grand scale of manipulation as really practical and worth the risk.

I think conspiracy theories can be fun to talk about, just keep it light because everyone is gonna believe what they believe. When the NBA blocked Chris Paul to the Lakers, the absolute uproar you heard from some (not all) Laker fans was that the league was stacked the other way.

Huh? So the trade was so ridiculous that it had to be real? Gotcha. They got away with it. They didn't need to add anything else to the deal.

[maverick_41]

I don't care if Davis is out. It's fine.
Most importantly he is slim, sober and not a slav.

damn, we found the Maverick fan that approves of the trade.

The casino family probably owns a bot farm or two on the philipines

The Russian bot farm actually.
Luka and Nikola are the most popular here, of course. Their values are very similar to ours. CSKA Moscow always hire the best players and coaches from the former Yugoslavia, pleasure to watch them on and off the court.

Good luck to Luka wherever he plays, after 22 years I am done with the Mavs until Cuban is back.

[Astaluego]

My life experience tells me that things are usually what they seem... that guy with a stupid face?? he usually is... The new owners of the Mavs did not acquire the team for reasons related to basketball, so the reasons related to this trade are not related to basketball.

[Ruma85]

My life experience tells me that things are usually what they seem... that guy with a stupid face?? he usually is... The new owners of the Mavs did not acquire the team for reasons related to basketball, so the reasons related to this trade are not related to basketball.

I have feeling this will fire back on the owners especially if the bill passes for legislation of casino in 2027.

[dhsilv2]

So you're telling me the Mavs owner didn't know Luka was an international superstar who was just entering his prime and the guy they were trading him for was a aging 32yr injury prone AD?

You're insulting the worlds basketball knowledge and you're also insulting all owners when you don't think they know who their top money maker is. Luka was Dallas money maker. The owner knew this was a bad trade and he signed off on it because the NBA as a whole had to do something about the ratings. You better believe these billionaires talk behind the scenes. This is just a hobby for them they make shady moves if it helps the business overall.

There is no reason to justify the Mavs owner signing off on this unless it was something shady happening behind the scenes point blank.

I'm stating there won't be blow back on an owner like a GM. I also think the whole LA conspiracy you're pitching is tinfoil hat level but that's another story.

Dallas fans are going to despise the owners. What are you talking about?

Yeah...I don't really see local fans as being a huge issue for owners. As I stated elsewhere, do they even live in dallas?

[-HB-]

damn, we found the Maverick fan that approves of the trade.

The casino family probably owns a bot farm or two on the philipines

Good luck to Luka wherever he plays, after 22 years I am done with the Mavs until Cuban is back.

Cuban is responsible for this, why did he sell his majority stake, not like he needs the money.

[kobe_vs_jordan]

For less than market value? And they only wanted to talk to the Lakers? That makes sense to you?

They went high risk high reward with the trade, and it might... MIGHT... be already falling apart for them. Its too early to know for sure.

Heres the logical way this played out. Dumont, being a new owner, idiot billionaire, saw a $350M impending price tag for a player he saw as undeserving... because hes an idiot who doesnt understand sports very well... because hes a child playing with toys instead of a serious person. He told Nico to get rid of Luka. Nico predicted that Mavs fans, and the basketball world at large were going to be insanely critical of the move so he decided there was literally only one way he could potentially not go down in history as the moron who sold Luka, and that was to get the best "win now" player in the deal and bet everything on the idea that you could win a title right away. the smartest way to do this, if youre going to do it all all (which you shouldnt) would be to blow it up and rebuild with a mountain of first round picks, but Nico understands that sending the Mavs back into the lottery for the next 4 or 5 years is going to make him a laughing stock, and assuming those assets pan out for them in the future, hes likely not going to be the GM of the team, and wont be able to take credit for it. Hell, he literally said that exact thing at his press conference with JKidd.

So yeah he figured, rip the band-aid quickly. Hope the team stays healthy and can win a title. breath a sigh of relief knowing that getting a ring in the immediate future puts you ahead of where Luka is right now and just pray he doesnt win multiple titles down the road.

Is that stupid? absolutely. But it also makes sense given everything we know about the way the mavs handled this.

I just don’t find that believable.

Reports they say that Mavs contacted the bucks and wolves first.

[Ruma85]

They went high risk high reward with the trade, and it might... MIGHT... be already falling apart for them. Its too early to know for sure.

Heres the logical way this played out. Dumont, being a new owner, idiot billionaire, saw a $350M impending price tag for a player he saw as undeserving... because hes an idiot who doesnt understand sports very well... because hes a child playing with toys instead of a serious person. He told Nico to get rid of Luka. Nico predicted that Mavs fans, and the basketball world at large were going to be insanely critical of the move so he decided there was literally only one way he could potentially not go down in history as the moron who sold Luka, and that was to get the best "win now" player in the deal and bet everything on the idea that you could win a title right away. the smartest way to do this, if youre going to do it all all (which you shouldnt) would be to blow it up and rebuild with a mountain of first round picks, but Nico understands that sending the Mavs back into the lottery for the next 4 or 5 years is going to make him a laughing stock, and assuming those assets pan out for them in the future, hes likely not going to be the GM of the team, and wont be able to take credit for it. Hell, he literally said that exact thing at his press conference with JKidd.

So yeah he figured, rip the band-aid quickly. Hope the team stays healthy and can win a title. breath a sigh of relief knowing that getting a ring in the immediate future puts you ahead of where Luka is right now and just pray he doesnt win multiple titles down the road.

Is that stupid? absolutely. But it also makes sense given everything we know about the way the mavs handled this.

I just don’t find that believable.

Reports they say that Mavs contacted the bucks and wolves first.

It's possible, though it will be quite Hard to imagine Luka in there uniforms.

[madmaxmedia]

Can I just ask you a quick question. If you actually believe that Adam Silver has the whole league rigged for the Lakers, including having other teams owners in line... and all of this is just a smoke screen for the Lakers to stay on top... why are you still watching, and why are you on a RealGM board talking basketball? I mean you figured it out Columbo. You see the Matrix for what it is. Go out and smell the roses and let all of us still plugged into the Matrix live in peace as the little sheep we are.

Here's the thing. If these guys are so devious and clever rigging the league for squeeze out maximum profit, they would for damn sure rig up a more realistic trade than the one that was made. One or two swaps, another 1st, whatever to get in the ballpark of typical superstar trades, it would still have been a slam dunk for the Lakers.

But in any case, the major pro sports have become dominant cultural and commercial forces and all the money and franchise value and naming rights that come along with that. TBH rigging everything with the involvement of refs, owners, etc. would be like killing the goose that lays the golden eggs, hoping to get more eggs out of it. I'm not saying shady stuff never happens, but I'm just not seeing this grand scale of manipulation as really practical and worth the risk.

I think conspiracy theories can be fun to talk about, just keep it light because everyone is gonna believe what they believe. When the NBA blocked Chris Paul to the Lakers, the absolute uproar you heard from some (not all) Laker fans was that the league was stacked the other way.

Huh? So the trade was so ridiculous that it had to be real? Gotcha. They got away with it. They didn't need to add anything else to the deal.

More that I don't really buy the scenario of it all being fixed in the first place. So yes we are simply both seeing things from different lenses.

[MavsDirk41]

They went high risk high reward with the trade, and it might... MIGHT... be already falling apart for them. Its too early to know for sure.

Heres the logical way this played out. Dumont, being a new owner, idiot billionaire, saw a $350M impending price tag for a player he saw as undeserving... because hes an idiot who doesnt understand sports very well... because hes a child playing with toys instead of a serious person. He told Nico to get rid of Luka. Nico predicted that Mavs fans, and the basketball world at large were going to be insanely critical of the move so he decided there was literally only one way he could potentially not go down in history as the moron who sold Luka, and that was to get the best "win now" player in the deal and bet everything on the idea that you could win a title right away. the smartest way to do this, if youre going to do it all all (which you shouldnt) would be to blow it up and rebuild with a mountain of first round picks, but Nico understands that sending the Mavs back into the lottery for the next 4 or 5 years is going to make him a laughing stock, and assuming those assets pan out for them in the future, hes likely not going to be the GM of the team, and wont be able to take credit for it. Hell, he literally said that exact thing at his press conference with JKidd.

So yeah he figured, rip the band-aid quickly. Hope the team stays healthy and can win a title. breath a sigh of relief knowing that getting a ring in the immediate future puts you ahead of where Luka is right now and just pray he doesnt win multiple titles down the road.

Is that stupid? absolutely. But it also makes sense given everything we know about the way the mavs handled this.

I just don’t find that believable.

Reports they say that Mavs contacted the bucks and wolves first.

They could have also contacted Orlando about Banchero and Toronto about Barnes if Nico knew what he was doing or wasnt trying to hook the Lakers up.

[ryguy613]

With all due respect, please don't treat the rest of us as idiots. If the Mavs had asked for another pick, do you honestly believe that the Lakers would have walked away? Be honest. If I told you the trade was AD, 2 picks and Christie for Doncic, would you not have thought that you all still robbed the Mavs?

There doesn't need to be any grand conspiracy here. But we've seen friends help each other out in this league - see Ainge/McHale. I'm willing to believe everything you wrote. It still does not explain why 1) the Mavs did not bid Luka out and 2) ask for more from the Lakers who were never going to turn this opportunity down.

its not my job to convince you of anything. believe whatever you want. just dont think of yourself as smart because you concocted a story in your head that you think better explains a stupid trade. i work off of evidence. i dont just wildly speculate because it makes me feel better.

The exra pick not being included was already addressed by both teams. The Mavs asked for it. The Lakers countered that because they werent allowed to speak with Luka or his agent to get the deal done, meaning they had no way of gauging his interest to stay long term, one of the picks should be removed. Now, do I think Pelinka put his foot down on that? heeeeeell no. In other words, if Nico had countered that both picks were needed or the deal was off, 100% Pelinka wouldve caved, but in favor of getting the deal done quickly and remaining quiet, he decided he wouldnt push back. Remember Nico felt he had something to lose here if talks were in danger of stalling. Was that smart? once again.... heeeeeell no. but i also dont think it was smart to trade Luka from the get go so I really dont think we're dealing with a shrewd business man here.

You can believe all of that, which is backed up by basically every account of how this went down. or you can believe your own theories. thats really up to you. Im pretty sure I could literally show you a video recording of the trade talks with audio of the discussion, and the people who want to believe something isnt right here would just claim it was AI. Not much I can do

Whatever "evidence" you gathered is exactly what the owners wanted you to see and hear.

They are never going to admit that their trade was rigged. Why would they and risk tarnishing the integrity of the league?

You are looking at planted evidence, instead of the incentives

The owners do not have an incentive to tell you the truth. So why blindly believe what they say?

you understand this is how confirmation bias operates right? youve created a feedback loop that always circles back to the same pre-conceived destination. If all parties tell you there is nothing to see here, its proof there is something to see here. if all parties tell you there is something to see here, its proof there is something to see here. lol. you see what you want to see. thats why its not on my to convince you otherwise. just like its not on me to convince you that vaccines dont cause autism or that Bill Gates isnt secretly planting chips in your brain.

[granger05]

AD is on my fantasy basketball roster so I'm only monitoring this thread for injury news. I get my conspiracies the old-fashioned way from chemtrails and fluoride. There were wiretap headlines that AD was getting info on whether he needed surgery on Monday. Has there been any update on that?

[ryguy613]

With all due respect, please don't treat the rest of us as idiots. If the Mavs had asked for another pick, do you honestly believe that the Lakers would have walked away? Be honest. If I told you the trade was AD, 2 picks and Christie for Doncic, would you not have thought that you all still robbed the Mavs?

There doesn't need to be any grand conspiracy here. But we've seen friends help each other out in this league - see Ainge/McHale. I'm willing to believe everything you wrote. It still does not explain why 1) the Mavs did not bid Luka out and 2) ask for more from the Lakers who were never going to turn this opportunity down.

its not my job to convince you of anything. believe whatever you want. just dont think of yourself as smart because you concocted a story in your head that you think better explains a stupid trade. i work off of evidence. i dont just wildly speculate because it makes me feel better.

The exra pick not being included was already addressed by both teams. The Mavs asked for it. The Lakers countered that because they werent allowed to speak with Luka or his agent to get the deal done, meaning they had no way of gauging his interest to stay long term, one of the picks should be removed. Now, do I think Pelinka put his foot down on that? heeeeeell no. In other words, if Nico had countered that both picks were needed or the deal was off, 100% Pelinka wouldve caved, but in favor of getting the deal done quickly and remaining quiet, he decided he wouldnt push back. Remember Nico felt he had something to lose here if talks were in danger of stalling. Was that smart? once again.... heeeeeell no. but i also dont think it was smart to trade Luka from the get go so I really dont think we're dealing with a shrewd business man here.

You can believe all of that, which is backed up by basically every account of how this went down. or you can believe your own theories. thats really up to you. Im pretty sure I could literally show you a video recording of the trade talks with audio of the discussion, and the people who want to believe something isnt right here would just claim it was AI. Not much I can do

Like someone else said, the only evidence you have is the people who made the deal saying, “believe me.” That’s not really evidence either. If it looks like a duck and sounds like a duck but says it’s not a duck, it’s still probably a **** duck.

I dont think you fully understand what goes into arguing a case. YOU are the one making an accusation. its up to YOU to supply evidence of the accusation, not on me to provide evidence of a negative. If you dont have evidence that this was rigged other than "i dont like this trade. its dumb" when literally everyone else... not just the owners and gm's but the reporters who cover this are telling you exactly what happened you arent really working on anything but personal bias, as ive said already. But again, believe what youd like to believe... just dont think youve opened your third eye or something. youre just making yourself feel better.

[Broadcaster]

its not my job to convince you of anything. believe whatever you want. just dont think of yourself as smart because you concocted a story in your head that you think better explains a stupid trade. i work off of evidence. i dont just wildly speculate because it makes me feel better.

The exra pick not being included was already addressed by both teams. The Mavs asked for it. The Lakers countered that because they werent allowed to speak with Luka or his agent to get the deal done, meaning they had no way of gauging his interest to stay long term, one of the picks should be removed. Now, do I think Pelinka put his foot down on that? heeeeeell no. In other words, if Nico had countered that both picks were needed or the deal was off, 100% Pelinka wouldve caved, but in favor of getting the deal done quickly and remaining quiet, he decided he wouldnt push back. Remember Nico felt he had something to lose here if talks were in danger of stalling. Was that smart? once again.... heeeeeell no. but i also dont think it was smart to trade Luka from the get go so I really dont think we're dealing with a shrewd business man here.

You can believe all of that, which is backed up by basically every account of how this went down. or you can believe your own theories. thats really up to you. Im pretty sure I could literally show you a video recording of the trade talks with audio of the discussion, and the people who want to believe something isnt right here would just claim it was AI. Not much I can do

Like someone else said, the only evidence you have is the people who made the deal saying, “believe me.” That’s not really evidence either. If it looks like a duck and sounds like a duck but says it’s not a duck, it’s still probably a **** duck.

I dont think you fully understand what goes into arguing a case. YOU are the one making an accusation. its up to YOU to supply evidence of the accusation, not on me to provide evidence of a negative. If you dont have evidence that this was rigged other than "i dont like this trade. its dumb" when literally everyone else... not just the owners and gm's but the reporters who cover this are telling you exactly what happened you arent really working on anything but personal bias, as ive said already. But again, believe what youd like to believe... just dont think youve opened your third eye or something. youre just making yourself feel better.

I’m not making an argument. I could care less what you think. I’m not here to convince you. Money is how the world works. I believe that it’s naive to think that this anything to do with basketball and nothing to do with money. There isn’t even proof I could have. I’m definitely not saying “this trade is stupid I don’t like it,” or trying to make myself feel better; I have no horse in this race. In my mind I am just calling the kettle black. If you can’t see that I could care less. You really think the media talking is going to convince me of anything? That’s your proof? You think the world is that transparent that what you see is what you get?