druggas wrote:JustBuzzin wrote:Guys the NBA wanted Luka on the Lakers. This was a business move stop trying to convince yourself that Nico made this trade on his terms. He's just the scapegoat for the NBA.
Look at how the league has changed the schedule now that Luka is a Lakers. They putting them on Nat'l tv damn near every game. This was a marketing move for the future. Someone has to be the face and Luka had to be that guy and specifically had to be the Lakers.
No GM would put a top 3 player just entering his prime on the trade block. Notice I said trade block. Nobody knew Luka was even available. Red flags that this was behind the scenes and owners had to agree to it for the betterment of the league. This was a money move folks!
Wilt Chamberlain says "Hi".
Kareem does too.
Orlando let a prime Shaq walk without any compensation.
Orlando had no choice in the matter, there was no RFA back then to protect teams from their star walking after their rookie deal and no competitive advantage to re-signing with your original team for more money or longer term. The playing field was level in free agency for all teams.
As for the Luka for Ant trade, I mean, this really tells me one thing. The Mavs ownership did not want to pay Luka the supermax under any circumstance. Ant is locked up for 250 million, so that would have been a 100 million in savings for the Adelson's while still having a young star on the team.
Looks like the Adelsons gave Nico the MO, no supermax allowed, just do whatever you need to do.