More than any other team sport, one player can lift a basketball team to a championship. Man, this GM is such a tool.
First the Dodgers basically sign anyone they want Now Lakers get gifted a generational player Sheesh what’s next - KC trading Mahomes to Rams for Kupp
Even so-you don't make that trade for AD when you could have gotten a killing in a bidding war. It's completely fishy and the NBA knows fans will just end up forgetting about it and move on as we all try and reason why this happened. Just as always happens when it comes to fishy situations the Lakers seem to always be involved in.
You know what's sad? Defense may win championships, but without Luka, they don't even sniff the second round of the playoffs, much less the NBA Finals. An AD-Kyrie pairing, as good as it is, along with Dallas' pretty good supporting cast, would have been a second-round exit.
I think this is the question not many people are thinking of, since they can't get past the shock of Luka being traded. If every other GM knew Luka was available, they would all be putting together packages for Dallas. Even if the Dallas GM coveted AD for his defense and length, there are many players that are similar. Adebayo, JJJ, Evan Mobley immediately come to mind. Adebayo / Herro / Butler + picks + pick swaps? JJJ / Morant / Bane + picks + picks swaps? Mobley / Garland / Allen + picks + pick swaps? Like, hello? Even call the Spurs and see if they want to trade Victor, for goodness' sake. Do your due diligence as a GM instead of only JUST calling the Lakers.
Luka could hang out and eat tacos at the foul line and I would still want him at his production. He has taken flawed teams to the WCF and NBA finals in his career already.
Apparently this dumba$$ of a gm didn't even tell Jason kidd the hc of the team. Must have suck that u are gonna lose your job as hc when this team of ad and kyrie is gonna blow up. From coaching a generational superstar to an injury prone 31 year old.
If the Mavericks had gotten Davis, Christie, Reaves and the Lakers 2029 and 3031 picks, the outrage over this trade would be a lot less. I will say, people saying Gobert and Mikal Bridges went for more because they netted four and five first-round picks, respectively, are crazy. 31-year-old Anthony Davis by himself would command a similar pick haul to what KD pulled from the Suns. The Mavericks should have shopped Luka around before doing this deal, but people are criminally underrating Anthony Davis in this return.
Contrary to popular opinion I don’t think this trade “reset the market” or whatever, I think it’ll be a similar reaction among team execs as Deshaun Watson’s contract with Cleveland, they’re gonna say “this was a fluke/incompetence/shady BS” and you’ll still see Jimmy or Booker get a haul imo.
The Mavericks sat their best players today. Kyrie, Washington and Gafford are all out and Lively is dealing with a long-term injury.
