Is Luka for AD the most shocking trade of all time

[tlance]

How many of the long list of Lakers superstars over the decades were drafted by the Los Angeles Lakers? I think that was always the point.

Magic and Worthy thanks to Stepien

 

[BigKen]

Luka is due a 5 year $345M contract for the 2025 season.

His play has fallen off a bit and the Mavs had a chance to unload a Diva and huge contract for Davis who has perked up and maintained.

Plus the Mavs get a 2029 1st when LeBron will be 45 and Doncic will still be trying to figure out five lanes of traffic.

 

[tlance]

Luka is due a 5 year $345M contract for the 2025 season.

His play has fallen off a bit and the Mavs had a chance to unload a Diva and huge contract for Davis who has perked up and maintained.

Plus the Mavs get a 2029 1st when LeBron will be 45 and Doncic will still be trying to figure out five lanes of traffic.

No.

You don’t get to do that with his contract.

The way max contracts work in the NBA, there are plenty of guys who get far more than they should.

But when we talk about the faces of the league?

They are underpaid compared to what an uncapped market would bring.

They aren’t off loading a contract. Any team in the league would line up to pay Luka that contract.

And rightly so.

Could look bad in a few years if he goes the way of Embiid. But in no way is it a bad contract now.

 

[tc1]

How many of the long list of Lakers superstars over the decades were drafted by the Los Angeles Lakers? I think that was always the point.

First of all, that's a different question. Does it make a difference if a team drafts a player, or drafts the players necessary to trade for that player? No, it does not.

Second, the Lakers drafted a ton of their stars:

Mikan
Mikkelson
Martin
Lovellette
Garmaker
Baylor (twice)
West
Goodrich
McMillian
LaRusso
Clark
Nixon
Cooper
Magic
Worthy
Green
Divac
van Exel
Jones
Fisher
Bynum


They also drafted some of the best players in other team's histories, like:
Sam Jones
KC Jones
Billy Knight
Brian Winters
Junior Bridgeman
James Edwards
Marc Gasol
Julius Randle

 

[tc1]

Luka is due a 5 year $345M contract for the 2025 season.

Not anymore. The trade makes him ineligible for that super max.

 

[DJ Fieri]

Luka is due a 5 year $345M contract for the 2025 season.

His play has fallen off a bit and the Mavs had a chance to unload a Diva and huge contract for Davis who has perked up and maintained.

Plus the Mavs get a 2029 1st when LeBron will be 45 and Doncic will still be trying to figure out five lanes of traffic.

Declined? Seriously?

Averaging 28, 8, and 8.

What is wrong with you?

And Bron could be retiring at the end of the season or he may ask Rob for a trade now. Or he may decide to try and see how it goes with Luka and ask for a trade in the summer.

 

[shopson67]

I don't see Kyrie going anywhere after this. I'm sure they're telling him 'you're the man' and 'we got AD for you' right now. At the end of the day Kyrie is still Kyrie and AD is still AD and having them together makes a lot of sense as far as running the offense vs two guys who are subtraction by addition. But the Lakers get what they always want which is a superstar to be the face of the franchise. I'd say it's stupid but you've guys won a vault full of trophies with that model. But this guy needs work. I think he's awesome but I don't think he's much better at 25 than he was at like 17. Too bad that there isn't a guy like Jerry West to set him straight for the Lakers to throw at him.

He's a top 4 player in the league (with Jokic, Giannis, Shai in that mix). He just took the Mavs to the finals last year. He needs work? At what, conditioning? He's accomplished all of that with poor conditioning, and will now have Lebron and his health regimen to learn from.

 

[shopson67]

View attachment 387512

There was no build up to this trade. Harrison called Rob, offered the trade, and Rob was aware enough to say yes. This came together VERY quickly.

 

[DJ Fieri]

Ironic Irving is the head case and Luka is the player they deal.

 

[DJ Fieri]

I wonder if this deal happens if Cuban was still the majority owner? He just a minority owner now.

@UK Cowboy thoughts?

 

[shopson67]

Weirdest thing about this trade is that the Lakers are 8-2 out of their last 10. Basically a no confidence vote for Bron as far as the Lakers FO goes. But the big loser in this one is Bronny because I don't see a future with the Lakers for him anymore.

You don't ask player's opinions (even Lebron's} when a gm calls you and offers a top 4 player for maybe 50% of his trade value. You say yes, then deal with any upset egos afterwards. This trade gives the Lakers their franchise player for the next decade.

Bronny's future was always in question. Lebron is here at most what, 2 more years? No guarantee Bronny is a viable rotation player before Lebron retires.

Lebron may be upset and ask out. Lebron has wanted to play with Luka for a long time, any ego bruising about not being in the loop on the trade would have to outweigh that for him to leave LA. If he asks out, then the Lakers will get younger and multiple pieces for him and move forward.

 

[tc1]

There was no build up to this trade. Harrison called Rob, offered the trade, and Rob was aware enough to say yes. This came together VERY quickly.

Other reports say it was discussed for weeks.

We may never know the truth.

 

[shopson67]

How many of the long list of Lakers superstars over the decades were drafted by the Los Angeles Lakers? I think that was always the point.

Difficult to be in position to do so when you're in roughly half the finals ever. Even Magic and Kobe were traded draft picks.

 

[shopson67]

Other reports say it was discussed for weeks.

We may never know the truth.

Maybe internally by the Mavericks. I doubt the whole league was unaware (as they have admitted overnight) he was available if trade talks were underway for that long.

 

[DJ Fieri]

No way this would have been kept silent if it were being discussed for weeks.....LOL.

 

[tc1]

Bronny's future was always in question.

Who cares about a G-leaguer's future? He's 6'2" with zero NBA-caliber skills. That is as-replaceable a player as possible.

Lebron is here at most what, 2 more years?

Most have been saying that for at least 6 years now.

No guarantee Bronny is a viable rotation player before Lebron retires.

There's very little chance that he ever becomes an NBA caliber player, at all. Most late second-round picks do not, especially ones who leave school too early, and damage their development. And the only reason that James Jr was drafted at all was because of his name. The odds of him becoming a useful NBA player are 10,000:1 against.

 

[shopson67]

Not anymore. The trade makes him ineligible for that super max.

But puts him in line for an extension that can line up for him to be a potential FA for his year 10 season, which I would assume would be the plan for his agent.

 

[shopson67]

Who cares about a G-leaguer's future? He's 6'2" with zero NBA-caliber skills. That is as-replaceable a player as possible.


Most have been saying that for at least 6 years now.


There's very little chance that he ever becomes an NBA caliber player, at all. Most late second-round picks do not, especially ones who leave school too early, and damage their development. And the only reason that James Jr was drafted at all was because of his name. The odds of him becoming a useful NBA player are 10,000:1 against.

So far, he's been a AAAA player to use a baseball reference. He has been showing out at the G-league level of late, but is not a good pro at this juncture. He's also a 19 year old kid that missed a sizable portion of his only collegiate year. Does he ever become something? Tough to lock that in. Fully worth it from a Lakers perspective with a late 2nd pick. Enormous jersey sales and the fanbase has embraced him (and keeping Lebron happy is not a bad thing).

 

[tc1]

Maybe internally by the Mavericks. I doubt the whole league was unaware (as they have admitted overnight) he was available if trade talks were underway for that long.

The whole league would not necessarily be involved. If you believe the Mavericks today, they are very excited about defense, which is why they acquired Davis. There are exceedingly few defenders of Davis' caliber, or even close, really, so there would be very short list of teams that Dallas might've spoken to. In fact, the list might only be the Lakers, unless you think Antetokounmpo was gettable, and I seriously doubt that.

 

[Sir Robin Of Camelot]

Yes.

Bigger than Kareem.

By the way - the Mavs may have received the Lakers 2029 #1… but they still don’t have a #1 in 27, 28 or 30.

I‘m gonna go jump into a boiling vat of urine and take a swim now.