Luka Doncic when asked if anyone in his inner circle indicated that he would possibly not re-sign with Dallas: "Absolutely not."
Exactly, the whole stated rationale of Nico "we have to do this quickly & quietly in order to keep from lowering his value" - makes no sense given the insanely low price the Lakers paid. like, worst case scenario, news gets out, you are inundated with Brinks Truck type offers of 5-6 FRP's players swaps etc - so the Lakers, what, lower their offer even more? I mean, probably the opposite happens! this is just a self-own of epic proportions, I have to believe ownership got involved.
Maybe the theory this is an inside job from Adam Silver has some credence. In exchange for sending Luka to the Lakers, Silver promised to use the power of the NBA to first help push to legalize sports gambling in Texas. After sports gambling is legalized then it would be easier to also push for legalized casinos as well. If the Adelson family only bought the Mavs in order to try to use the power of the NBA to help legalize gambling in Texas then whether or not the Mavs are successful or who is on the roster is not really of any concern to them. The amount they stand to make from legalized gambling in Texas will dwarf any loss of franchise value from losing Luka.