The Mavs-Lakers, Luka-AD trade: My short take

First, here's the trade basics, from Red Satan.

At that site, not too long after the trade, Windy was wondering why the Mavs didn't get either a second first-round draft choice, or another player, like Hillbilly Heroine Austin Reeves? Good question on the former. On the latter? Windy's own employer reported that the Jazz had to be looped in as a third team precisely because of salary cap issues.

Then there's the Dum Fuq casuals on Shitter who blamed Mark Cuban when he sold majority ownership of the Mavs nine months ago.

I don't think it's all bad on the Mavs side, despite The Ringer's caveats that the Mavs were A. Built around Luka and B. Actually better on team defense, memes aside, when he was on the floor.

And, we'll get to the B. in a minute.

First, this may indeed have been a steal for the Lakers. Given Luka's age vs AD's, it's a crime that Nico Harrison didn't get more draft capital. Yeah, even if you were that soured on Luka (and was Jason Kidd also that soured?), you still should have gotten more.

Update, Feb. 7: That draft capital went to Charlotte, which got Dalton Knecht (AND Cam Reddish as a bag of chips) AND that 2031 first-rounder that Nico couldn't, for middling center Mark Williams. No, really, that's the trade, even as Shams oversold the hell out of Williams on Shitter. Williams can't be a rising star yet when he's missed about half his eligible games in his 2.5 years due to injury.)

Update, Feb. 10: Related to the above? Pelinka specifically targeted Williams to please Doncic. Hey, Rob, Nico told you how that went in Dallas. Have fun!

That said, from the point of view of Harrison — and from the son-in-law of new owner Miriam Adelson, who is now the team's governor, The Ringer also notes this puts the Mavs below the salary cap first tier. Bobby Marks confirms. Mavs fans, keep that in mind.

Now, the B. side? Another Ringer piece notes Luke hasn't played 70-plus games since his rookie year. And, the ESPN top link notes he was in his 260s! earlier this year. At the same time, Michael Pina notes that AD has his own injury history.

If there's anybody in the NBA who can talk Luka into a better conditioning mindset, it's LeBron. Maybe he'll use any anger Luka has over the trade. OTOH, Luka's anger is often of a pouting sort. We've seen him not play D after arguing with refs.

If he won't show up in better conditioning next year? The Lakers may have traded for a more creatively passing but ground-bound version of Zion Williamson.

Meanwhile, Harrison has made the Mavs hostage to Kyrie Irving. As everybody and their uncle has noted, the current team is built around Luka. You can sort of get Kyrie to do much of the same, though he's not a Luka-type rebounder or other things, by making him into the first banana. That said, we know what's happened at other teams when Kyrie is the first banana. Maybe he's truly — and completely — turned over another leaf.

But, Mavs fans, would you bet your life on that? 

That said, Rob Pelinka is betting on something, too. That's that LeBron opts in on his contract next year. What if he doesn't, and not just to extract more from the Lakers? What if he wants to leave? Back to the Cavs, if they don't get the ring this year, to try to help them over the top and retire there? Who knows? Gnarls Barkley offered up the Warriors as his first option, which I doubt, and the Spurs as No. 2. THAT would be interesting.

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In a follow-up, Harrison mentioned "Mavs culture" as a reason for the move. Stephen A and Shannon discuss this. He also mentioned a mix of salary cap and questions about re-signing Doncic, which indicates he thought some wells were already poisoned. He said the team had its heart set on AD, so not looking elsewhere. And, despite the look on Jason's Kidd's face at the initial presser that had some mix of shock and disgust, he said Kidd supported it. Well, if nothing else, Nico, given that you sign Kidd's paychecks, did he have a choice of saying much else?

Re the supermax, for which he's not eligible now? Doncic is not worth $70M a year.

Red Satan has a new piece on how this all went down. It follows up on "Mavs culture" by saying Harrison, who once was basically an assistant agent for Kobe Bryant, didn't see Kobe's work ethic, or close to it, in Luka. And, it explains that Harrison wanted radio silence to keep Luka's agent from meddling. THAT I can't blame. And, in a short video, Jay Williams said that NBA owners want more of this — eyeing NFL owners and GMs.