Speaker 1: What is up, Fellasicko's I am Dan Valley, coming at
you as always with the one, the only, this certified, fantabulous,
the I would never trade him, no matter how high
his calor can take. God per day, mister trant Hues.
We're here to talk about the blockbuster Markeith Morris trade
between the Dallas Mavericks and the Los Angeles Lakers. We're
gonna get into the trade details right away. There's not
gonna be too much of a pause other than I
feel confident in saying Grant that this is the most
shocking trade in NBA history, and it's potentially killed two
birds one stone the dumbest one as well. But before
we really dig in here, how are you doing?
Speaker 2: I just I'm still.
Speaker 3: I'm reeling because PJ. Tucker isn't a Clipper anymore and
I don't know how to process.
Speaker 1: That and Steve Bombers not paying the tax, which really hard.
Speaker 2: Dan.
Speaker 3: I mean, you know, you think we kind of knew
that Tucker might get traded, but no, like I. So
the last time we did this, I think was the
Kyrie Irving trade to Dallas.
Speaker 1: Ironically, it is like the trade it's I guess going
to the Mavericks was a little surprising, but the trade
itself like that wasn't a shot.
Speaker 2: No, okay, let's lay out. Do you have the parameters
up top? We should just put the trade up.
Speaker 1: Let's throw those on screen. The full trade details that
I actually can't believe that I am reading at the moment.
The Dallas Mavericks received Anthony Davis and Max Christy as
well as the Lakers is twenty twenty nine first rounder.
Shame on Los Angeles for not getting any protections on
that right, I mean, they just will kind of negotiat
against this. They got fifty five thousand dollars in cash
from the Jazz. It's up Utah. The Los Angeles Lakers
get Luka Doncic, Maxi Kleiba, and Markith Morris as well
as fifty five thousand dollars in cash from Utah, and
the Utah Jazz get Jonhoochafino expiring contract and two second
round picks. They get the Clippers twenty twenty five second
from the Lakers as well as what will end up
being Dallas's twenty twenty five second. I believe as well.
I mean, this is I think the team to start
with on this is it just it has to be
the Mavericks, Like this is unlike anything we've ever seen. Grant, So,
I wanted to just get to a couple quotes on
this from Nico Harrison himself before we dig into our
questions and I throw it to you. So Nico Harrison
to ESPN's Tim McMahon said, I believe that defense wins championships.
I believe that getting an All defensive center and an
All NBA player with a defensive mindset gives us a
better chance. We're built to win now and in the future.
Very weird thing to say when you got older as
part of this trade, but you know whatever. The other
thing he recently said to the Dallas Morning News is
Brad Townsend was we really feel like we got ahead
of what was going to be a tumultuous summer. Teams
have been loading up to try to sign Luca once
he becomes available again. That was to the Dallas Morning
News and the no kind of on that final note
here is Dallas had quote major concerns about moving forward
with Luka Dancis due to his constant conditioning issues and
the looming commitment of another Supermax contract. Extension this summer.
That was from McMahon. Again, the Supermax would have been
worth five years and three hundred and forty five million dollars,
and Nico Harrison saying that they were trying to get
out in front of teams going after Luca and free agency.
He wasn't actually slated for free agency this summer. That
would have been a player option he had for the
summer of twenty and twenty six. Uh So, here we are,
and I think we need to tackle it from the
mass perspective. Grant just what are your and you don't
have to read the cards on screen, that's just prompts
for people like what Harry Fielm, what are you feel? Like?
What is going on here for you?
Speaker 3: So I think this is still real fresh and I
in a situation like this where it seems to me
and I think everyone kind of agrees what the what
the take should be on this, which is that what
is Dallas doing? Like incourage you right, like this is unthinkable.
I don't know what the list of the least likely
players to be traded in the NBA as of last
night would have been, but Doncic is in the top
five maybe like second, like Wemby might be the only
guy I would say at one is less likely to
be traded than Doncic.
Speaker 2: He's been traded.
Speaker 3: And so I'm trying really hard to accept or like
to find and then figure out ways to accept justifications
from the MAVs. That second one that you put up
there about concerns about getting out ahead of it or whatever,
I hadn't seen that, I'd seen the conditioning, I'd seen
Nico Harrison's quote about defense wins championships. The second one
is the only one where it's like, oh, okay, So
that suggests to me that Dallas had an inkling independent
of conditioning issues or its own internal concerns, that maybe
Luca was not only going to be pursued in free
agency although no one's going to be able to offer
him the three hundred and forty five million dollars deal
that Dallas could have, and he's interested in that, So like,
let's do something now because there's a possibility he just
gets signed away somehow, somehow, Right, don't believe that's a
sufficient justification. And then we get back to even if
that's true, why don't you try to win a championship
this year or next year before you do this. And secondly,
and this is really the kicker. I think that just
makes it almost impossible to defend this from Dallas's perspective.
I'll just say makes it impossible is why didn't you
open the bidding up? Like, what is the reason for
just shopping him? Right? Because that was the other report
is that Dallas initiated this. It wasn't the Lakers putting
in a call. It was Dallas going to the Lakers
and saying, hey want him, and the Lakers are.
Speaker 2: Like, who is this? How did you get Nico Harrison's phone?
Is he okay?
Speaker 3: I just like, what is the justification? This is an
impossible question to put to you. Is there a justification
I guess for not opening the bidding up and doing
better than what Dallas got? Because Anthony Davis is an
All NBA player, He's really good. You can make some
argument that him and Kyrie is like a more sensible
pairing I guess than Luca and Kyrie if you want
to just be Devil's advocate about it, But like, you
could have done better. There must be teams that would
have offered someone as good or better than Davis and
more picks, right, like, why not open this up?
Speaker 1: So so Amy said that they called at least one
other team, and if it's one team, I assume it
was the Bucks. About Gianni's just because I can't see
Oka see Shay would make sense, just like a similar
pairing between Kyrie and Luca with better defense. But why
would OKC do that with the top of the Western Conference.
It's like, you wouldn't trade Shay, but I would the
thing I would push and I'm gonna play and I
know you will tell I'm gonna try and play a
lot of Devil's advocate here. You got to try and
understand this from the mass perspective, because this is the
thing I think perhaps the most shocking thing here, Like
the quote to the Dallas Morning News at least makes
it seem like, all right, maybe they haven't said anything
about it, but Luca his eyes were kind of wandering
or he hadn't guaranteed something because the whole the weight
management stuff, the conditioning, the complaining the referees, Like I
get it. He still led you to the finals, has
been brilliant in the playoffs when he's healthy. And then
I've also thought like, is there just something sinister going
on with the calf strain here and or that calf
that he's had issues with in the past. And as
we'll talk about later, the Lakers want him to debut
before the All Star break, and so I'm like, well,
they have the medicals, I'm assuming, so that must not
mean that there's something wild here. So I don't like,
I don't understand even you saying, Okay, Kyrie and Anthony
Davis is a sensible pairing than Luca. Maybe not when
he's playing with another big And by the way, the
Lakers credit Anthony Davis wanted a center and they gave
him Derek Lively. That's honestly, that's tough about they did it.
Also fascinating about that too. Ad waving this and this
is what I'm getting at the fact that none of
these players and ing Lebron had any idea and I
don't want to get too much into the Lakers. This
never happens. I cannot stress this enough. The amount of
people that I know who actually know things like not
that I have sources, but the people that I know
that have sources, they were floored. Everyone was flored about this.
The reporting around Lebron not knowing seems to be accurate.
Reporting around ad not knowing seems to be accurate. The
fact that Stein said that about Luca, you know it's accurate,
and so what I I don't know what the impetus
actually could like, what is the And if you're the Mavericks,
you have every incentive to let it out that immediately
the framing was, well, we didn't know if he was
going to stick around, but instead you made it seem
like you were trying to do this at the peak
of his value. And I would say to you, the
only danger the thing I would disagree with. I know
you were playing Devil's advocate. Who is the better player
if they because they could have gotten more draft equity
from a bunch of teams. It's clear they didn't want that.
And I when I was thinking about it, who is
the player that would be better than Anthony Davis that
they could have gotten back in a Luca trade. And
let's assume that the Bucks said no to Jannis, because
I think that might have been the only because one
Anthony Davis is one of what this season the ten
to fifteen best players in the league or whatever. So
I just don't know what other team was gonna send
you that player, and so maybe that's why you don't
open up the bidding because there's no there's only value
add there to me if you're actually looking for that
draft pick and prospect return special which yeah, who what
Nico said were built to win now and later. I
don't like even the now part. You could justify it
as like, well, if he's not gonna if Luca's not
gonna play again this season, yeah, you have a better
chance of winning the title this year with Davis, But
that doesn't even seem like it's the case.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I the mind reels, like so just thinking of
teams because I think if you're I don't.
Speaker 2: Know, just let's can't let's go through it.
Speaker 3: If you go to Houston, can you get Aman Thompson,
you know, who knows, pick somebody else and a bunch
of like five six first something? He you know, Like,
do you think that's an impossible question to answer because
because the Mavericks did not engage in this kind of well,
let's go see, like let's let's start a bidding war.
Speaker 2: But I it's and.
Speaker 3: It is okay, So let's say they go around and
the and just because it's like right before the deadline,
and everybody in the league is like, where did this
come from? Uh, you can't do better than this. I
think you just still don't. Then then the answer is
don't trade Lukadantrich. Then then the answer is wait until
this summer. The answer is do everything you can to
get to the point of if he wants out, you
can still say, how about three hundred and forty five
million dollars versus whatever you're gonna what is? It's in
the twos. I can't remember the numbers, but he's not
He's not going to get anything close to this.
Speaker 1: He can sign for four years and two hundred and
twenty nine this summer basically with the Lakers.
Speaker 3: And or do like a two plus one or whatever
to get to ten years of service and then sign
the thirty five percent match. So like, yeah, you you know,
maybe maybe he's gonna he knows he's gonna make so
much money over his career that that's like not a.
Speaker 2: Crazy option for him.
Speaker 3: I just so, here's what I keep circling back to.
And I wonder if you feel this way or if
this is just the thing that I always do in
situations like this. There must be something we don't know, right,
doesn't isn't that? I just like I might be wrong,
and like it's totally possible that Dallas just made a
massive mistake, right, Like that's that is the simplest explanation
is Dallas just did did a dumb thing, and that's
what everybody is saying, I think, And so I'm resistant
to just hopping on that train of thought and being like, yeah.
Speaker 2: That's what it is, because it does.
Speaker 3: I just assume that people in the positions that the
MAVs decision makers are must know at least as much
as we do, and should know more because they're just
around Luca. They have all this you know, first boots
on the ground, like first person intel. They just know more.
And I don't know what that is. I don't know
what would be a satisfactory explanation to me that would
justify this from Dallas and take us out of the
realm of this was just stupid and short sighted and hasty.
But then we're just guessing, right, it's like, oh, he
it's you know, total wild speculation. But it's like the
conditioning is tied to like some other bigger problem that
he has that he can't overcome or like he's terrible
in the locker room, or he like he just is
awful to be around as a teammate, or like so
I'm just I don't want this stuff to come out
like because that's just bad if this person is going
through having a hard time or whatever. But it's like
the pieces just don't fit, and I'm just unsatisfied with
any of the most charitable explanations you could make for Dallas.
Maybe we'll talk through it, maybe we'll get there. But
do you come back to that or are you just
are you more ready to get on the you know,
to move over to where conventional wisdom is, which is
just that Dallas is insane.
Speaker 1: I mean, that's what it seemed. Dallas has lost their mind,
is what it seems like to me. But I have
the same inclination as you, because you want to understand
and these look we we were wrong about the maps
trade deadline last year, and like this the body of
work that Nico Harrison has now put together. For the
most part, I think you respect we're.
Speaker 2: Wrong about Kyrie. I was. I thought it was a catastrophe.
Speaker 1: When we hated all the trades that they've made in
real time, and then they've panned out. Maybe this is
one of them, but we either need more information or
something like is he just not gonna stay healthy in LA?
And I also the two things that stand out though,
so the whole if you want to focus on the
conditioning and the stamina, and you didn't want to pay him.
If you don't want to pay Luka Doncic, who are
you willing to pay? And so I've seen some people
say is this a new function of like these aprons
and the punitive tasks like are we gonna see teams
now shop guys earlier? And I guess it's maybe. I
think it's more likely that you know, Patrick Dumont found
out that Luka Doncich is a Democrat and they were like, no,
get this guy out of here, because there's it doesn't
even in the most putative salary cap era. If that's
what you think this is. Luka Doncic is the exact
player that you keep at whatever price point it And
the two things that I actually wanted to get to
on this, Yes, his conditioning is an issue. Is complaining
is an issue to some extent the MAVs have enabled that.
Then there was Tim McMahon and said that Luca has,
like his own nutritionists and training staff. I want to
know if those guys are training anybody else, because I
have questions. Then if those people are training anybody else,
they do not belong in this line of work then.
But also it's like, you know, that's I shouldn't even
say that, because am I just the aesthetics of Luca
don't Like he was apparently at two hundred and seventy
pounds this year at some point at corny to McMahon,
he should be in two forty to two fifty when
he's in shape. Like Jokic doesn't have that traditional aesthetic,
and yet he's durable as as hell, and like Luca's
played heavy minutes, he succeeded in the playoffs. And so
if you had an actual problem with what he was
doing in terms of coming in prepared to camp or
staying with it in condition, or his nutrition, as an organization,
you need to figure out a way to make that work.
And that's why I find what they've peddled so far insufficient,
And it's I don't feel bad about criticizing them now
because now Nico Harrison has released enough statements that if
there is more information you've had a few opportunities to
convey it out there. And the other thing that I
can't wrap my head around, though, by the justification specifically
with they don't want to pay him, or the conditioning.
Luka Doncic has never played off the ball more than
he did this season. The MAVs have never been faster
than these past two seasons with Luka Doncic. He has
shifted or they have shifted the way that they play
with him there. And you could say about the defense,
their defense after the trade deadline last year was elite.
They were top ten defense with him this season too.
So I like and I think because none of this
makes sense to me, that's where I land with you.
Whereas well, there has to be something else here, and
I'm not necessarily wishing it. I don't want Luca to
be going through a hard time. I don't want to
find out that he's like a terrible human being, and
I don't I don't even want to think that Nico
Harrison and crew just idiots Like I am more inclined
to believe like the conspiracy theories that like you know,
like Patrick Dumont did want like a European headlining his team, Like,
I'm more inclined to just believe that ye than I
am that the MAVs really just didn't believe like truly
that Luca was the guy to build around because what
is the like, So that's why I want to believe
there's more information here, and by the way, there probably is.
But at the same time, even if you don't want
all this stuff to get out, haven't the MAVs kind
of done a really poor job of like justifying this.
Speaker 2: Still I don't.
Speaker 3: Well, that's the thing is, it's like we just get
deeper down the whole of Well, they're not gonna come out.
It'll be through leaks or whatever if this other shoe drops.
You know that the explanations worse were like grasping for
I think I don't know that we're going to get anywhere.
I know I raised that side of it just because
I can't stop thinking about it. But let's let's try
to let's assume or maybe it was just table that
side of it, because we're just gonna go in circles
and like make up increasingly wild stuff just in hopes
of getting some sense out of this. Let's talk about this, like, Okay,
so it's done. So you're Dallas now. You have Anthony Davis,
you have Kyrie Irving, you got a bunch of like
you know, three and D type players in between them,
you have how many more years of Anthony Davis colon
All NBA Superstar two.
Speaker 1: I mean, well, by the way, that's the other thing.
Not to circle back that, but then deciding we're worried
about Luca's conditioning and then trading for a billboard of durability,
like Anthony Davis. Really I understand he's been durable the
past two seasons. Typically as you get older, you're not
gonna become more durable. I don't. And so I guess
what were you getting at?
Speaker 3: Like, well, I'm just getting it, Like I'm just I
wanted to move past the like trying to justify it
and just look at like, so where is Dallas now?
Just as a way, because we knew, is that last
year's version of the Dallas Mavericks basically unchanged unless you
really care about Klay Thompson versus Derek Jones Junior was
in the finals.
Speaker 2: And this is a.
Speaker 3: Team that two years prior to that, again led by
Luca in a very different supporting cast, was in the
conference finals, like you have Anthony Davis. Now there's a change,
like again charitably, like maybe this fit works, Like maybe
Kyrie and ad are like just an awesome pairing Davis will.
By the way, discussions about Davis this year involved talk
of like a little bit of defensive slippage, like not
the total game wrecking, like maybe best postseason defender on
the planet type of thing. Maybe that'll change in Dallas
or as they get in the playoffs. But like you're
now you've swapped a mid twenties MVP candidate who led
you to the finals for a guy who's about to
turn thirty two. Kyrie's about turn thirty three, and you
don't have control of your first I'm referring to the
graphic now in twenty seven, twenty eight, twenty nine, or thirty.
So really right when you should expect Davis and Kyrie
to fall off or whatever, you don't. You're not in
charge of your firsts. So when, if, and when you
hit the tank, the payoff may not be there, won't
be there unless you do something. Now, you can trade Davis,
you can trade Kyrie. Maybe you're gonna get somebody else's first.
But we talk about all the time, Like that's just
the second best option is having someone else's when you
don't have yours, because it doesn't incentiviz tanking.
Speaker 1: And so like a team that has like all of theirs,
where they could be like, well let's trade Anthony Davis here,
they're kind of spreading yeah.
Speaker 3: Well, and so like if if we take Dallas at
its word on one of those quotes and say, like
we were worried about this eventuality with Luca where we
lose him for nothing, like that was one further off
and two just easier to manage, sign and trade, do
whatever you gotta do. They Dallas just moved itself closer
to the cliff, Like it deliberately moved closer to the
cliff by trading mid twenties superstar for early thirties superstar
who just is objectively not as good and did get
the kind of draft package that might make like hopping
didn't give you the parachute to hop off that cliff with.
So just from a like, I don't it's so rare
to see a team, I mean this is rare across
the board. But you gave up a player that you
were concerned about losing, You shortened your you made your
championship equity less, you shortened your championship window, and you
made the landing way harder than it would have otherwise been.
So like, I'm just really struggling to see how Dallas
comes out of this as a winner in any way,
unless you really care that they're now under the tax
because ad Waved is no trade as trade kicker.
Speaker 1: I I mean, well, the other thing here is like
you didn't even get the Lakers twenty thirty one first rounder.
This comes back to a little bit. Remember one of
our biggest criticisms when the Suns were negotiating for Kevin
Durant was this was a you were the team of
one that he wanted and you gave up too much.
It's this is a different situation. Like, I guess you
could have canvas the league for better, but you didn't
want to, so did you. I still think if you
said to Lakers, we're not giving you Luca unless you
give us the twenty thirty one first is that really
gonna break the deal. So that's the other thing end,
because the Lakers pick in twenty twenty nine is inherently
less valuable because lukadanc is gonna be on the team.
And even if you like, how when has it ever
happened where someone who is like Lukadac has made five
all NBA teams before his twenty sixth birthday? When does
it ever happen that a perennial MVP candidate before they
reach their mid twenties their prime just falls off, like
there's health issues or something like? When does that happen?
I can't nothing to me springs to mind. So I
don't know how you pedal it as a win. And
I also don't like when we're actually getting into the
nuts and bolts of Okay, well, what does this look
like to your point about waiting? Now, I guess you're
certain that you're gonna max out Kyrie when he opts out,
because he has all the leverage that would be the
other argument for waiting is, hey, make sure that Kyrie
sticks around. Otherwise, what is the point of getting someone
like Davis? And So I want to start here when
kind of looking at the roster, Now, do we just
assume that before even getting into what we think they need?
Do we just assume now that like it's gonna be
Anthony Davis and when he's healthy then Derek Lively and like,
that's the front court now, because that's counterintuitive to us saying,
you know, Luca and Kyrie, Luca and Ad, excuse me,
Kyrie and a d might be a better fit than
Luca and Kyrie, not if you have a non floor
spacing big on the court with them. So I just like,
but it seems like that's the plan because one Ad
doesn't want to play center, like he's made that very
clear with the Lakers, and the reporting is that they
were erked by this. By the way, that doesn't matter
because the Lakers were not the ones to initiate these talks,
so they might have been irked by it, but they
didn't go shopping Anthony Davis after that. And I'm assuming
that like the fact that Ad waived his trade bonus here,
like to help them duck the taxes, like so he
want him and Kyrie have wanted to play together. I think,
so I get that, But there's probably also some promises
made like hey, we're bringing you here to not play center,
and so they'll be minds derobably.
Speaker 2: Huge'll be really big.
Speaker 1: Here's the trickle down effect, like they were huge because
Luka Doncic was a point guard. But like now PJ.
Washington is just a three in your corner lineups, and
so what does what does that look like? But is
that your expectation? Like this is that's the direction they're
headed in because you're not the I think the alternative
is if you've if you even think that Ad is
going to be closing at the five, you should just
trade Derek Lively at that point.
Speaker 2: To me, well, so I think.
Speaker 3: I do we should assume that, yes, a d will
play a lot more for just I mean partly because
Dallas went healthy. Has three centers that need to play
a lot, and I guess Davis is the best equipped
of those to play power forward.
Speaker 1: Was a power forward.
Speaker 3: I think, so you presumably, I think you're here, right PJ.
Washington goes to the three, Klay Thompson slides down to
the two Kyrie one, So you have some shooting just
because like Clay is going.
Speaker 2: To be guarded. Kyrie is a great shooter. PJ.
Speaker 3: Washington in the right playoff series has been a great shooter.
Speaker 2: He's still not one.
Speaker 3: I think defenses freak out about your point of attack defense.
I think with Clay and Kyrie is gonna suck. So
the fix for that is just your enormous across the
board and maybe that works, right, like maybe you dominate
the defensive glass. Maybe teams like the Thunder now or
just like what do we We're getting one shot every
time down, Like you can make the case again charitably
that Dallas has like done a couple things or has
made itself into a different team that with size and length,
could pose problems for the teams that's theoretically gonna play
in the postseason, I guess, And you have so much
else to do this And.
Speaker 1: I was gonna say, like I didn't mean to interrupt
you there, but like Max Christie's done a lot of that,
like he's turned into three and D for the Lakers,
and so you have him and Grime. So if you
think that you can get enough shooting and maybe one
of those two is playing instead of Clay, but it's
when you the problem here is this Mavericks team's like
independent of the Luca thing. If we were ranking them
in the Western Conference everybody's healthy, you'd pick them to
be top six, right the current version.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, probably.
Speaker 1: So it's like they're not a bad team, but they're
even if you believe in the interm they can be
as good. They short circuited what feels like so much
of their window, right because it's just like Anthony Davis
and Kyrie assuming both of them are still there by
the time Dallas's picks are done conveying, they're gonna be
thirty seven. Like that's that's so old and I just
so now, but let's just they're over selling the win
later thing. Okay, fine, looking at the win now element,
do you think that this team has enough shot creation here?
I don't like Anthy Davis kind of a beast on
drives this year, and he's done a little bit more
stuff with that. I just you have Spencer Dinwiddie, Jayden Hardy,
I guess, and Kyrie Irving. Kyrie Irving is like your
primary outside in shot creators, and so is that their
biggest need in the aftermath of this or are you
looking at because you said three and D guys, but
like what we're saying when we say three and D,
like Clay kind of sacrifices the defense still there, Naji Marshall,
you lose the three I guess. PJ. Washington does kind
of typify that, like Quentin Grimes is smaller. Max Christy
has done that lately, but he doesn't have like this
career long track record of doing so. So you can
make a case that do you need more like dependable
two way wings on this team? So like, what do
you kind of view as the biggest You just lost
Luka Daci, So maybe that's the question, But it's like,
what do you do with this roster's biggest need? And
do you think that they're done for the rest of
this trade deadline period specifically?
Speaker 3: I mean, I don't know what else they I guess
they could flip that Lakers pick. I don't know what
they can do that's like consequential, I do I think
if the target is a win now thing, Yeah, you
just need because because Kyrie has had his own injury
issues and if you lose him, your playmaking is just zero,
Like you just don't you don't have any at all.
And I think maybe that's just thinking about it now.
That's part of the reason Harrison is spinning this as
like we're going to be a defensive team, which is like, yeah,
that's what you say when you're really big and can't shoot,
and like you're going to struggle to make plays because
you just traded basically best singular generator of offense we've seen,
I don't know, like in other than the Yokich in
a really long time, Peek Harden, I guess maybe would
be the comp So yeah, it's got to be playmaking.
It's got to be someone who does both three and
D like maybe as good or better than PJ. Washington
is something like that. But that's what everybody wants. So
I don't know, I don't know that you're gonna be
the market leader chasing that stuff down. I think I
don't know how much else you have this? Do you
have more to go on Dallas? Because we really do
need to talk about the Lakers side of this, even
though that may be simpler.
Speaker 1: Well, I found the timing interesting for the last thing
on Dallas is wouldn't you So I guess you don't
expect them to do anything else. But I'm wondering, like
the fact that they made this move now with like
a few days before the deadline, not of me believe like, no,
they are trying to line up at least another move
because otherwise what would be the value proposition of doing
it now? Right?
Speaker 3: Because the Lakers are gonna walk away from the table
if you say we got hold on you know, I agree,
it's it's it's very hard to understand.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think they're gonna do something else.
Speaker 3: Uh, you're asking me to predict what the Dallas Mavericks
who just traded Luka Doncic dead of night are gonna do.
Speaker 2: I guess probably they should. They should go get.
Speaker 3: Something else because you're beyond all in now on the
short term.
Speaker 1: Yuh. By the way, the fact that you just because
you said that that, like Sho, I didn't think it
was real. I thought Shams was hacked. Same, But then
especially when Shams followed up by saying, yes, this is real.
There's no way Shams is tweeting that, and then you
saw all the other news reporters confirm it. I was like,
there's no way they were like mass hacked, right, But
it was still in the back of my mind because
that's how insane this trade still seems to me. But yeah,
if you don't have any other thoughts on the Mavericks,
I'm sure they'll come up. Tangentially, we can move on
to the Lakers, which is just I so Luca's future
really quickly did mention this, he can sign for four
years two hundred and twenty eight point six million this
summer and extension, but he will probably sign what we
guessed to be three years, one hundred and sixty five
point four million with a player option that gets him
back into free agency again thirty five percent Max. I
think in the summer of twenty twenty eight, which will
be ahead of his age twenty nine season. That's my guess.
I'm sure the Lakers will be fine with that. This
is more interesting to me from the perspective of but
we could get to the other way. Every team in
the league if they had, like if this was their team,
like they make the Anthony Davis first round pick Max
Christy for Luca trade, right, every single team says yes
to that.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Now, And we're assuming they want Luca to debut before
the All Star break, and we're assuming they have access
to medicals that we don't, that there's not something sinister
around the corner when it comes to Luca's body type
or his health. My question to you, before even getting
into what this means for the future, not to make
this all about Lebron, but do you make anything of
we know Lebron has wanted to play with Luca. Wendy
had just mentioned that that Lebron said that years ago.
But the fact that Lebron didn't know do you read
anything into that to where does this to you? I
guess does this make it less likely or more likely
that Lebron is still on the Lakers one past the
trade deadline, but two entering next season.
Speaker 3: I think I think you have to view it as
it's less likely he's still there because in getting Luca,
you've just you're, like, you know what your team is
built around for as long as he's going to continue
to be there.
Speaker 2: So you have the bridge. The bridge, it's not even
a bridge.
Speaker 3: It's just like you have the the best player you've
had since I mean, like, would you It's you could
argue that Luca right now is better than Lebron was
like in his first years with the Lakers, Like you could.
I mean, it's close, right, Like, you just have the
guy now so you can swap Lebron for younger pieces
or whatever and you're fine. So it just I don't
know that that's like I kind of don't think the
Lakers had because of how quickly this came together and
the fact that they didn't tell or consult anybody before,
like Lebron before this happened. It kind of seems like
this just came to them and they're like, yeah, we
have to we have to say yes, we can't. Like,
I don't think they did this with any like second
move in mind. It's just like when someone comes to
you and says we'll give you Luca for Anthony Davis,
and a first you just do it and then okay,
maybe we keep Lebron, maybe we don't, you know what
I mean. I don't think there was a You wouldn't
have had to.
Speaker 2: Think, well, what does this mean for Lebron.
Speaker 3: Let's pause for a second before we say yes, Like,
I think you just do it and worry about anything
else later.
Speaker 1: Well, the thing that peaked And maybe I'm reading too
much into the framing of this, but when it was
reported that they the Lakers saw this as we have
someone who can be the face of our franchise for
the next decade, and we're giving Anthony Davis a win
now move. And so I was like, so did they
make this trade? Like not to because I think you
could reasonably say that unless they go we assume they're
going to go out and trade for a big But
if they're really thinking long term, and that phrasing it
prompted me to consider it, Well, are they like not
making it for this season and it's what they might get,
like trade Lebron, right, he has a no trade clause,
of course, but they might trade Lebron to Golden State
or something like. They're not they're not rebuilding because Luca's
good enough, but they're doing sort of this like soft recalibration.
Because am I just reading too much into the way
that that was phrased.
Speaker 3: I mean, we're looking for answers no matter what, So
it's impossible to read too much into anything right now.
I do think like if we've talked, I keep, you know,
talking about how Dallas doesn't seem like a rational actor,
the Lakers could be ultra rational and they're like, yeah,
let's we're rebuilding the whole thing now, so we can
trade Lebron for a bunch of pieces that make sense
around Luca because they kind of do similar things, Lebron
and Luca. Like, I still would be fascinated to see
what this looks like with them together.
Speaker 1: Just like hope we get some games with them on
the same team, which means that Lebron can't be basically
be traded, is what I'm hoping for at least this season.
Speaker 3: Yeah, so I just I think if it's so, your
original question was like less likely Lebron's on the team
through the deadline and this offseason, it just has to
be yes, because now you can just reorient your whole
team around a twenty five year old. So so like
I think, yeah, I just and now the question is
just timing and then like what's Lebron's actual value in
a trade and which teams are interested Golden Like you
hate to just jump to conclusion, but Golden State is
a team, Like there were some rumblings and they're like,
like he makes more sense than Jimmy Butler or whatever
else like that that that does seem possible, and is.
Speaker 1: What would be that if you had to just before
we move on from Lebron. Golden State obviously, and like
they could they have some instury salary matching and like
the Lakers, the Lakers could view it as well if
you get let's say Wiggins, and then there's maybe they
like Comingo or Pods, but it might be more about
what if the wars are gonna give us picks and
then that stuff we have in our coffers to continue
rebuilding the roster around Luca. But are there any other
teams that you could envision Lebron like realistically waiving his
no trade clause?
Speaker 3: For oh man, it's so it's so tough, Like it
just has to be a team that is a massive
title threat, right, that's the only he's not going unless
you think, like, uh, Cleveland Miami, and we go through
the usual suspects like would he go.
Speaker 1: To and by the way, you just named in Cleveland.
Even if Lebron wanted to go back there, I don't
think you can make that trade right now because you're
giving up You'd have to like at least one of
your core four players, if not too to make that work.
Speaker 2: And it's like, well do the Lakers want?
Speaker 3: From Cleveland's perspective, It's like you can have Jared Allen
and whatever other salary.
Speaker 1: It's size on our twenty thirty one first round pick,
and if it's you're the Lakers, I mean I guess
that's like all right, but.
Speaker 2: Yeah, no, I don't think you do that.
Speaker 1: Like would be a pretty good pairing.
Speaker 3: Sure, Yeah, Thunder is there is just could like we're
just going through teams where because if you're Lebron, you're like,
I'm not going to any team that's that's not like
at least as good a title threat as we were
before with adn R. Now with Luca, it's just he's
in charge of this.
Speaker 1: Would Lebron be like the basketball sicco who says like,
I'll go to Denver and then Denver has to build
something around probably MPJ and Gordon and then their twenty
thirty one pick.
Speaker 3: I mean, and like that at least satisfies the championship thing.
And if you're not gonna play with Luca, you get
to play with JOK.
Speaker 1: This is a it might be a dumb I was
just curious. It's like to me, it feels like Golden
State or Bust if they were gonna move him, I
was just good, Like what other teams would like I
guess from him. Cleveland would be interesting if because because
you could probably get to Lebron's money without trading Garland,
Mitchell or Mobley. I don't know what, like your death,
this just could be obliterated at that point.
Speaker 2: But how good are the Lakers right now?
Speaker 1: They need a big man who's starting Jackson Hayes. Yeah,
I mean when he's healthy.
Speaker 2: Yeah, so they have to make a trade.
Speaker 3: But like I guess, yeah, they they've unbalanced the roster,
I guess to some extent, but obviously made a talent
upgrade overall, assuming health and everything might be about his
tee and upgrade over Jackson Hayes. I mean considering salary.
Probably not no like that. Maybe that's part of it too.
Is like if Luca now that you said they want
him to come back sooner than later. If you're Lebron,
you might look at this team now without Davis and
with Luca and say, like, we're actually there's a case
it's possible we are. We're worse if Luca's not healthier,
and and the lack of the big man's a real issue.
Speaker 2: I think that gets you more likely to move.
Speaker 1: Sorry, I keep it round. They defended their ass off
without a d against the Knicks the other but you
know Max Max Christy was a part of that and
he no longer is so I.
Speaker 3: Just uh, I mean again, I I think the take
on it is the Lakers really weren't in a position
to consider the other like fallout aspects of this trade
and this they just like it's not you just say yes, right,
and you just worry about what this means for Lebron
and the rest of this year and the years after it.
Like secondarily like just you, Luca's on the table for
this packet. Yeah, we yes, we do it and then
figure everything out else as you did.
Speaker 1: Ask answer your question about how good they are right now,
because I think that informs the Lebron part, of course
is huge, but it informs well, what level of move
do they make from here? Because now I think you
could argue if Lebron and Luka Nachic are both on
the roster and that's the plan, Austin Reeves becomes a
little redundant unless you're looking for him to like kind
of run stuff like but you would stagger Lebron and
Luca a ton. But let's say you want to move Reeves,
Like are you if you're the Lakers? I guess is
my point. And let's assume that you're not moving Lebron.
How aggressive are you being entering the trade deadline? Is it? Well,
we're considering they have their twenty thirty one pick, they
have Austin Reeves. It's just like their best assets, Like,
are you considered doing something with that now or is
it no, We're gonna try and pick up a big
on the cheap and then we'll figure out what we're
gonna do over the offseason. When Lebron he has a
player option as well, and the reporting on that is
by the way, that he wanted another extension. So I like,
because I do think, I don't know if they're worse,
but I wouldn't have said I would have said last
the version of the Lakers with Anthony Davis topped out
at winning a playoff series. I think just because Luca
is Luca, you could make they can put Like not
having another center on this roster right now, I would
say that they probably have a similar ceiling. If not,
maybe it's they could be more competitive in the second
round or something.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean the center thing.
Speaker 3: You know, all we've talked about leading up to the
deadline is how many different center options there kind of are,
and we just didn't like the prices for a lot
of them in certain cases. But like they still got
one of those firsts. They've got all this, they've got
some I mean, you don't have a ton of expiring
or salary, But you've got a lot of salaries that
are like right in the right range that extend one
year beyond this one. Talking about like Gabe Vincent or Ruy,
I guess you can be the team that comes potentially
with the best offer for Vouch or Robert Williams or
I mean whoever else Valentoun is. Like, now, all these
centers that were like, a, we don't like it because
Ad plays the four, Now it's just like, well, this
guy's just the center and Lebron's are for it seems
like the options make more sense and the Lakers are
still positioned to have potentially the best offer for a
lot of guys that might have only commanded second or whatever.
Now whether they should trade this first is another question,
but like I think in a weird way, it's just
easier now for them to go get a center. And
I do think like I kind of like the fit
of Reeves here, just because if there were questions about him,
I like him as a point guard. I think it's
interesting it was about like can he be a primary playmaker? Well,
now he's like third on that list if you have
Luke and Lebron. I think he's totally fine as like
a tertiary playmaker that can be an awesome stand still shooter.
Like that's also like been part of his you know,
he's had to do different things, but like that really was,
Like his ability to make open threes is never a question, right,
Like that's something he can totally do. He's almost overqualified
for it. So I like his fit. I'm moving that
pick and some salary to try to get a big
and then like I don't know, the team gets pretty
interesting if you do just get a capable center in
there and they can do that, they can like you can.
Speaker 1: Get come home.
Speaker 3: Right like that that's the need, just go get a
center and you can do that now. And the question
of how good are the Lakers today, I think not
good enough is the answer probably to really chase the title.
But what they're like because you have Luca, you just
know that the supporting pieces around him don't actually need
to be that great because he'll just the way he
plays is like everybody else can just do the one
or two things they're great at because he's doing all
the lifting with everything else, like you just can you
make open threes? Great, Luca's going to create more than
you've ever seen, or you a decent rollman. Great, He's
gonna set you up better than you ever imagined. So
like the level of player the Lakers need to significantly
improve is just lower now, I guess, is my take
on it.
Speaker 1: And so I agree that I saw I like Reeves's
fit still too, and I think he's He's still important
until you decide, okay, like we're moving forward with Lebron
as well, because he only really diminishes in importance if
you know that Lebron is going to be on this team,
let's say this time next year. So I wouldn't get
rid of him. I also, by the way, I'm not
giving up the twenty thirty one first round pick either, because,
like it's the middle of the season, you're making this
huge seismic shift to the foundation of your team. We
don't even know what Luca's health is, so if you're
firing that bullet, I'm waiting on it. And so I
would very much be looking and like some of the
centers you named, I'm just like, what would the defense
look like if you put Voucher Jonas Valencunis here. All
of a sudden, I'm like, is there a way to
Finago getting Robert Williams the third without giving up that
first round pick. And even then it's okay, well, now
you've solved let's say fifteen to twenty minutes per games,
like you still need Jackson Hayes. Or maybe it's like,
are you just playing with Jared Vanderbilt and Lebron? Is
your your front quarter? Is there another cheaper center that
you can go out and get? They might, Honestly, when
you look at their center, they were in the market
for a center before, and we agreed that they needed
a reserve center before they traded ad we didn't want
him to play next to said center necessarily, they might
need to go out and get two bigs like for this,
And so I'd be looking at those types of moves
because I'm just, yes, you can, it's Lebron. There should
be urgency if you want to keep them. I agree
with what you said though that the upgrades can now
be marginal enough to where they make a meaningful difference still,
and I just you need to have more information on
what this looks like and just the state of like
the Lebron Luca dynamic moving forward before you would move
either one of your I would say two of your three,
like I would move Dalton Connect That's fine with me,
That's okay, But I'm not moving to twenty thirty one
first or Reeves right now.
Speaker 3: I can ask you two unrelated questions. The first answer
is probably short. One is if Dallas says we need
both of those first and all in connect and like
literally anything else we could possibly ask for if you
want Luca, don't the Lakers still do it?
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's okay.
Speaker 1: You would have roped in if they wanted Reeves, and
like his salary was more so, the structure could have
been weird. They're looking to a duct attacks. You could
have roped in other teams. They would have done it.
I think borderline if you insisted on the two thousand
and thirty one first round pick. I do not care
what the reporting is coming out of LA. They absolutely
would have given Dallas that first round thing, just.
Speaker 2: So I agree.
Speaker 3: Another baffling element of like how do you not just
ask for everything if you're Dallas. The second question is
like ripple effect wise, and you can take it from
the the the new version of Dallas and the new
version of the Lakers. Does this do anything to change
plans of any other teams at the deadline, specifically in
the West.
Speaker 1: Well, I mean, at this point, let's say, so, who's like,
who do you think is the most urgent Western Conference buyer?
Speaker 2: Every like you?
Speaker 3: So let's go through the ones that would care. Okay,
see Memphis, Houston, Minnesota, Denver.
Speaker 1: I think it changes behavior in the sense that they
should Inbolden you to call and see about Wemby's availability.
Speaker 3: Yeah, right, so yeah you should call Boston and be like,
are you guys looking to get off Tatum. It's just like, yeah,
but I think so. I'm to answer my own question,
I'm not sure. I don't think so, because I think
Dallas was viewed as the bigger threat with Luca, and
now we agree they're probably a little they're probably worse,
and the Lakers weren't taken real seriously as a threat.
I don't think negative point differential injury concerns with ad
and Lebron, you know, like, I don't think I don't
think either of these teams now profiles as it's such
a different this year threat that if you're the thunder,
you're like, well, now we got a counter, we gotta
do something. I think you're still operating with whatever level
of urgency you had before this trade.
Speaker 1: I think honestly it'll change. Matt Ishbia can't not be
the primary subject, so they will. Phoenix is absolutely trading
all those picks now and doing something they can't They
can't lose the headline story to the Lakers. But no,
you bring up an entering point, because this trade is
it's not even I call it seismic. This is the
most shocking trade in NBA history, and I don't think
it's changed like anything about this year.
Speaker 2: Isn't that weird.
Speaker 1: It's so bizarre and like that's why. Maybe that's also
why I was latching onto the framing of the Lakers.
Gave Anthony Davis a win now move, like, oh, the
Lakers not trying to win. This is so long term
focused by the Lakers and the MAVs I think at
best are like as likely to win the title. I
would argue that they're just worse off in terms of
the championship discussion. So I don't think it changes any
like real urgency in the West for for I mean,
I think it makes the if you're had a pick
between these two teams, what should you prefer to face
let's assume the Lakers get a big of some close
to starter level quality, which team would you be more
worried about facing? It matchups? Matter of course, Like okay,
so he might just prefer the Lakers over the Mavericks,
But just in a vacuum, which team if the Lakers
get a big would you be more worried about facing
in a seven game series?
Speaker 3: I think it's the Lakers, just because we've seen Luca
just if he can, he'll be the best player in
any series he plays, And like I know, I always
revert to that, and you there's just like you can
imagine Solutions as an opponent of Dallas of like they
don't space it well, like Kyrie is overburdened as the
only creator on the team. The Lakers just have Luca,
and Luca can just win playoff series by himself. So
I'm more worried about playing the Lakers, I guess, even
though I mean, right, I think that's the answer.
Speaker 1: I know, I agree with you. It's just a Luca
fa I mean, Luca and Lebron. It was always the
we don't want to face Lebron and Ad and now
it's like Lebron and Luca so the rosters doesn't quite
make sense. And by the way, circling back to your
other thing about would this change anything in the West,
I do wonder like the team that it would. I'm
not being facetious. I was being an asshole about the Suns.
If there's any team's behavior this is going to change,
it would be Golden States, right yeah, because now do
you make the.
Speaker 2: Call you say? You say like the Lakers.
Speaker 3: Now at least the Lakers have two timelines, Dan, so
the Warriors are like, we get it, let's we'd like
Lebron or do.
Speaker 1: You flip it? I don't know necessarily that Golden State
would do this when only the twenty thirty one pick
is available, But Luca don just was just trade Like
are you calling Golden State to see about Draymond Green
and him being your starting center next to Luca and Lebron?
Speaker 3: I mean, I'm every team should be calling the Warriors,
Steph if like this right like.
Speaker 1: This is If there's one takeaway from this podcast, I
just want all the kids, all the dreamers to I
just want to let you know you keep trade machining
your heart out. Don't let anyone tell you that you
can't do it because shit like this happens all the time.
If you didn't have anything more localized to the Lakers,
I did have a macro question about the league.
Speaker 3: I have one other thought that I keep wanting to
get out there. It's kind of more Dallas centric. I
know I should have brought this up earlier. I think
that it's possible that Dallas, given its circumstances and what
it knows and believes about Luca, kind of made like
the right decision, which is to say, but it will
turn out to be wrong, which is to say, maybe
his conditioning issues were never going to get better, Maybe
there's other stuff we don't know about, and like that,
Dallas maybe hypothetically correctly concluded, we can't go forward with
this guy as our main player, considering what we're gonna
have to pay him, and just trend line of whatever
trends we're concerned about with him now that he's changed teams,
now that he's had like a little wake up call
of being traded, when after thinking like it could be
that his habits or whatever the issues are changed now
that he's on the Lakers, where they would never have
continuing to be in Dallas, Like sometimes this happens where
it's like a it's a dressed up version of the
change of scenery argument where it's like all these problems
might have persisted in Dallas and made it untenable. Now
that he's on a new team after being traded, he
cleans everything up, Like so Dallas could have been right
to say this isn't gonna work, and then it'll still
look terrible and be wrong because Luca changing teams solves
all the problems that led to him being traded.
Speaker 2: So it's just like such a lose lose for Dallas
from a like an optic standpoint.
Speaker 1: Well, and but to that point, isn't there also an
element we see don't we hear this from pro athletes
all the time, where it's they don't start taking their
when they're super young, like their conditioning and their nutrition
gets on better point as they get older. And so
that's a little count like there are some guys that
come in and they're like psychos, but like Lebron was
always in great shape, but like was he always on
top of his nutrition, Like probably not until like the
middle of his late twenties, and Lucas you have to
be Yeah, so that would be the one hang up there.
But yeah, this is just even if the Mavericks were
justified in thinking this way, now there's just a greater
chance that Luca goes on to prove them wrong, or
that he's able to be a better version of the
player that we already saw.
Speaker 2: Like how mad is he?
Speaker 3: I mean, probably not mad because he gets to go
to LA and play with Lebron and is gonna be
an a bigger icon than ever because of the market
he's in. But like he could this could be the
Luca revenge Tour for like five years, like you know,
or longer. It really could just be him saying I'll
show you, which is like he was good enough already.
He doesn't need this, like I got to prove myself
now angle it could get real scary how good he
might get.
Speaker 1: The more back of a question I wanted to touch
on and we did talk about it a little bit
at the start, is that some people have positive that
this is the Luka Doncic situation as a ripple effect
of the new CBA or how expensive these contracts are
getting the penalties when it comes to spending as a team,
and we've already seen so it was the Mavericks and
the Clippers. We had four team teams in the luxury tax,
two of them already have already ducked it. And so
some people are positing that this is the start of
a trend, and I can't. Look, you can't discredit someone
from thinking that way because Luga Dats are one of
the five best players in basketball and was just traded
before that contract. But we're talking. The trend that I'm
referencing is trading these guys if they didn't, as reports say,
he didn't ask for out and before their third contract
because you're either worried about paying them a regular max
or a supermax. Do you think that the I guess
I'll frame it this way. Do you think that there's
a chance the bar for giving out these third contracts
is now higher in this new CBA. Does this trade
say anything about that to you? Or do you view
this as just a completely anomalous, if not inane situation.
Speaker 3: I think you have to. I think that's yes. I
think it does mean that teams are gonna be at
least at the moment, because this is another thing too,
like we're still like rosters for the most part, are
still they were built under the old rules, right, like it,
so the rosters that exist around the league are mostly
products of the previous CBA, and so like this as
opposed to like a new trend, this might be more
of an adjustment period where like, once rosters are built
with the new rules in mind, you know, give it
like a three year timeline or whatever, then teams are
better positioned to give out those third contracts and those
thirty five percents and whatever. But I do think you
look at the Fox situation too, that's kind of another
one where there's at least an element of he might
have come up, it may still unlikely, but be eligible
for the for the thirty the supermax, and some part
of the King's willingness to move him might be tied
to not wanting to pay that whatever the bar is.
Luca was over it though, right, So, I don't know
if you can view this like as an independent like
data point that justifies like the what you're saying.
Speaker 2: So it's you can still be right, and I think, like, yeah.
Speaker 3: It's just the penalties are more restrictive and teams should
be more careful about giving out these contracts. That's kind
of always been true. But I think the combination of
like you know, teams have had to endure a rule
change and are kind of like trying to figure out
what the best way to build a roster is with
with just like the general fear of like looking at
Phoenix's future and how bleak it is, and just like this,
the general reluctance to spend big, Like I think there's
some of that. Hopefully it does make that extra big
super Max like something you only give to a select
few players, as opposed to like, well, we've got a
very good rookie. He's the best player on our team.
He's just finished his rookie scale deal. We just give
it to him, Like, I think that is the sensible
way to build teams where the super really is for
like true superstars.
Speaker 2: But the it's so.
Speaker 3: Hard for me to look at this trade and say
anything about it is like indicative of broader trends just
because it is so strange and whatever threshold you would
you would say a player needs to get over to
earn a Supermax, Luca has been over it since like
his second year, you know what I mean.
Speaker 2: Like, I I don't know if Luke you.
Speaker 1: Would assume, but like if Luka Doncic is not above
that threshold, then I guess no, like nobody is there.
Nobody is and then so it's I am just curious
and I would have never predicted this, and I will
destroy these franchise if it comes to But it's just
like this would be like the anti like Anthony Edwards
might be a good analog for this. He's not on
the same level as Luka Doncic right now, but it's
look at Minnesota's track record or spending, and if they
decide that he's not like he might, he's the nice
in between between Fox and Doncic where it's Anthony Davis
is clearly like an all NBA player or preenty All
NBA candidate. Now, at least that's the track he's on.
Are we gonna see these? If we have to wait?
I guess we need a larger sample size.
Speaker 3: I one, we'll see, right, that'll be a good But
I can't.
Speaker 1: I'm like you, I can't view this like independent instance
as the start of a broader trend because what would
be the point of having a supermax if a top
five player in the NBA isn't worth it?
Speaker 3: Right, And unless all those like spooky. We don't know,
like off court stuff unless that's part of it. But
even then, it's just like, that's so speculative. We can't
like rely on that reason.
Speaker 1: The lengths that teams go and still win to accommodate superstars.
Like it's just like, how what would you need to
find out to believe that it was so far gone?
It would have to be like Luka Doncic actually did
want out and was withholding services this whole time, basically,
And even then you have to question the Mavericks directly,
because even if the MAVs made the right decision, they
still went in the wrong direction.
Speaker 2: Mm hm, I agree.
Speaker 1: We said this about the Kings too with dearon Fox.
We I know what they're gonna do something on a
lower scale of this. They're gonna prioritize players who can
help them win. Now, that's not the right decision because
there's just no there's no way, No matter all your
concerns about his conditioning, his stamina is complaining, you're not
like you can't be a better basketball team sustainably over
the medium or long term if you're trading away Luka Dancic.
I just won't. I just won't buy it, and so
I'm fascinated to like, we're gonna be talking about this
trade for years or like if not decades, and people
we've been cautioned that the trade deadline was gonna be boring,
and maybe all the action is getting out beforehand, but
the fireworks just like might not be done because these
two teams, specifically, what if the Lakers decide we're gonna
move Lebron or moving over with Luca and Lebron and
now we're gonna go out and get somebody else, or
if the mass really believe they can win, now, are
they gonna put the Lakers pick on the table or
they're gonna put their twenty thirty one pick on the
table and do something. We still have the darn Fox situation.
No one's off limitsed parent, where is Steph gonna be
playing this time next week? Grant, I have no clue,
I have no idea.
Speaker 3: It's a great reminder that like whatever the wildest scenario
you can come up with is just not wild enough,
because I never how many fake trades do we make
up and or look at, never once did I see,
never once did I come across anything like this, Even
as like a joke.
Speaker 1: And we would have been destroyed by certainly Dallas fans
if we proposed to this trade like it was. That's
you know, be kinder to people who come up with
fake trades unless like, unless it's clearly a joke or something,
because we first of all, I never even would have no.
Speaker 2: No, this doesn't get off the ground.
Speaker 3: This is one where your editor comes back and says, like,
I don't think this is gonna fly.
Speaker 1: It's like we want traffic, but we like, we can't know.
Speaker 3: We want serious trades, please or like semi serious.
Speaker 1: Do you have any I mean, here's my final thing
is that we could talk like Luca's like for partially
hydrogenated oils maybe spurred them out to move him or
do they really just want to duck the tax. It's
the only way they saw how to do it. They
were they had to move.
Speaker 2: This is the only way they saw how to do it.
They should have looked harder. This is what I would say.
Speaker 1: That look at it. They used Luka Dancis to get
off of Markkeith Morris and Maxi kleeb a.
Speaker 3: Great great asset management. So you know, sometimes you gotta
break a few eggs. Yeah, wild, the craziest trade. It
still doesn't feel real, unbelievable.
Speaker 1: Uh do you want to do? You want to take
us out of here before Well, I'll let our listeners
know before you go into your spiel. We will not
be back, most likely before the trade deadline, in case
something happens. We had plans to record on Monday, but
we assume something was going to be blown up. I
assume we will be back again before Thursday. But now
that we're still assuming that, who I I just have
no clue about what's going to happen.
Speaker 2: I issue this as a challenge to the NBA.
Speaker 3: We probably won't do an emergency pod unless something is
at least as consequential as the trade that just happened.
Speaker 2: Oh so prove us wrong, make us pod. NBA.
Speaker 1: Just like Luca did not cross the threshold for the Supermax,
we are now holding all emergency podcasts. Luca to the
Lakers bar.
Speaker 2: Yeah, beat this trade. We'll pot again. Let's see it.
Speaker 3: Thanks everybody for listening, for watching. I hope this helped
you process a truly unprocessable seismic. That's the word we
keep using. The NBA move completely bonkers. Rate review, subscribe, leave,
us some comments here. Let's make this a support group
for people that can't believe the NBA could be this nuts.
Speaker 2: Tell your friends, Tell your enemy. Shouts franklo Kine apologies,
Dared Allen