Luka Dealt to Lakers: Nico Harrison is a Basketball Terrorist

[Mavs2021]

How good is Max Christie as a 3&D player?

Good enough to be the real prize of the trade like Powell and THJ in two years.

Kidd hates offense. That´s why Hardy never plays. These morons probably legitimately believe they can win the title with all their defensive players and no offense.

[SleepingHero]

How good is Max Christie as a 3&D player?

He’s barely an NBA player.

[SleepingHero]

@TheSteinLine
The first conversation between Nico Harrison and Rob Pelinka on the broad concept of a potential Luka Dončić/Anthony Davis trade was in person Jan. 7 when the Lakers were in Dallas to play the Mavericks, sources tell @TheSteinLine
.

[Luka77]

This trade make no sense.

How long have the Luka to Lakers rumors been out there? Where did those rumors stem from?

Pathetic move by Niko and the Mavs to get back so little for thier franchise star.

[hakeemfaan]

I doubt the Wolves would do that.

You ask though. That’s the point.  That’s the job of a GM. Everything I have read so far, this has caught most of the other teams and reporters who are embedded with those teams by surprise.  Nico seemed to have just focused on the short term and made the deal.  NBA is not about positions and fit. It is about having a generational alpha. Then you fit the other positions around that alpha’s strengths and weaknesses.  

The Mavs just gave up their generational alpha yesterday. They have Kyrie and AD now. Two betas.  Sigh.

[michaeltex]

I'm as sickened by this "trade" as anyone. Mostly because of the minimalist return and because I don't know how that really makes the team better. I have loved watching Luka and the amazing skills he shows on the basketball court. This is making me regret investing in NBATV and MAVSTV subscriptions.

Trying to understand these moves, there has to be something going on with Luka's rehab. Someone reported he's up to 260+ lbs. now? 6 weeks of not playing has got to be difficult to stay in shape, even if you are dedicated, but we all doubt Luka's dedication to his health/performance issues. Added is the fact that he has minimal team contact during the offseason, so relationship building is difficult. He's already talked about wanting to retire to his farm in Slovenia, so what is his real timeline in the NBA? I mean he's already essentially a 10 year pro player that has played competitively pretty much through the entirety of several years.

IF the team viewed him in this light, they likely weren't interested in ~$70M/year for a 5 year supermax extension. Anything less and he just opts out and finds another home. For DAL, such a deal would make it difficult to keep competent players around him and significantly raise the difficultly level of trying to move his contract in the future.

Looks like the salaries result in ~$4M in cap relief for DAL this season, although AD goes from $43M this season to $54M next season. (I haven't added any trade kickers) So any salary relief is fleeting. There has to be some more going on here, but I'm not anywhere savvy enough to figure it out.

[SleepingHero]

Is there any DA that can prosecute Nico Harrison for domestic terrorism?

[DallasMaverick]

Gotta hand it to Nico.

He knew how popular Luka is in Dallas.

He knew how unpopular this trade would be among most casual fans.

He knew the risk that he might “lose” the trade, I.e. Davis underperforms and Luka overperforms.

He knew the risk that it might eventually end his GM career.

But he did it anyway. Guts.

BTW, he must have discussed this for quite some time with Jason Kidd, and I’d assume Mark Cuban as well. So there had to be at least some degree of agreement between them.

But Nico is the one who will take the public arrows.

Guts.

[SleepingHero]

Gotta hand it to Nico.

He knew how popular Luka is in Dallas.

He knew how unpopular this trade would be among most casual fans.

He knew the risk that he might “lose” the trade, I.e. Davis underperforms and Luka overperforms.

He knew the risk that it might eventually end his GM career.

But he did it anyway. Guts.

BTW, he must have discussed this for quite some time with Jason Kidd, and I’d assume Mark Cuban as well. So there had to be at least some degree of agreement between them.

But Nico is the one who will take the public arrows.

Guts.

What Nico doesn’t realize is that everyone will be out of a job because of this trade. Kidd, Nico, everyone in the front office. This was the biggest trade in NBA history

[hakeemfaan]

@TheSteinLine
The first conversation between Nico Harrison and Rob Pelinka on the broad concept of a potential Luka Dončić/Anthony Davis trade was in person Jan. 7 when the Lakers were in Dallas to play the Mavericks, sources tell @TheSteinLine
.

Ny all accounts Nico approached Pelinka. 

Can imagine Pelinka holding back his laugh until the buffoon Nico was out of the room. Sickening. As I said AD is a player who LeBron constantly had to get on to play more aggressively. And people are trying to rationalize this deal. SMH.

[Deebo]

Better be another trade incoming where we get good player for nothing.

[hakeemfaan]

Gotta hand it to Nico.

He knew how popular Luka is in Dallas.

He knew how unpopular this trade would be among most casual fans.

He knew the risk that he might “lose” the trade, I.e. Davis underperforms and Luka overperforms.

He knew the risk that it might eventually end his GM career.

But he did it anyway. Guts.

BTW, he must have discussed this for quite some time with Jason Kidd, and I’d assume Mark Cuban as well. So there had to be at least some degree of agreement between them.

But Nico is the one who will take the public arrows.

Guts.

This is historically dumb for more ways than one. Yea it takes guts to make bold decisions. However it takes a shrewd GM to get the best long term haul for this team.  Miami, Boston, Lakers, Knicks, Utah hav e some of the best front offices currently. If any of their GMs were here, like all GMs nothing is off the table. However NOT ONE of those guys would have made the deal that the Mavs made yesterday. The haul is terrible. NOT ONE of those guys would have made a deal without evaluating all offers and playing multiple teams to see who blinks first.

[BigDirk41]

I'm as sickened by this "trade" as anyone. Mostly because of the minimalist return and because I don't know how that really makes the team better. I have loved watching Luka and the amazing skills he shows on the basketball court. This is making me regret investing in NBATV and MAVSTV subscriptions.

Trying to understand these moves, there has to be something going on with Luka's rehab. Someone reported he's up to 260+ lbs. now? 6 weeks of not playing has got to be difficult to stay in shape, even if you are dedicated, but we all doubt Luka's dedication to his health/performance issues. Added is the fact that he has minimal team contact during the offseason, so relationship building is difficult. He's already talked about wanting to retire to his farm in Slovenia, so what is his real timeline in the NBA? I mean he's already essentially a 10 year pro player that has played competitively pretty much through the entirety of several years.

IF the team viewed him in this light, they likely weren't interested in ~$70M/year for a 5 year supermax extension. Anything less and he just opts out and finds another home. For DAL, such a deal would make it difficult to keep competent players around him and significantly raise the difficultly level of trying to move his contract in the future.

Looks like the salaries result in ~$4M in cap relief for DAL this season, although AD goes from $43M this season to $54M next season. (I haven't added any trade kickers) So any salary relief is fleeting. There has to be some more going on here, but I'm not anywhere savvy enough to figure it out.

Tim McMahon said Luka was playing in the high 260s this year. That being said, the trade still sucks. I can understand wanting to trade him, but I have zero respect for how it was done and even less respect for the return they got.

[loki]

Gotta hand it to Nico.

He knew how popular Luka is in Dallas.

He knew how unpopular this trade would be among most casual fans.

He knew the risk that he might “lose” the trade, I.e. Davis underperforms and Luka overperforms.

He knew the risk that it might eventually end his GM career.

But he did it anyway. Guts.

BTW, he must have discussed this for quite some time with Jason Kidd, and I’d assume Mark Cuban as well. So there had to be at least some degree of agreement between them.

But Nico is the one who will take the public arrows.

Guts.

Not sure I can credit him with that much awareness. I had always hoped the reason he couldn't do an interview without fumbling every other word was due to nerves. But it looks like he may actually have a room temperature IQ (celsius).

[Chicagojk]

Gotta hand it to Nico.

He knew how popular Luka is in Dallas.

He knew how unpopular this trade would be among most casual fans.

He knew the risk that he might “lose” the trade, I.e. Davis underperforms and Luka overperforms.

He knew the risk that it might eventually end his GM career.

But he did it anyway. Guts.

BTW, he must have discussed this for quite some time with Jason Kidd, and I’d assume Mark Cuban as well. So there had to be at least some degree of agreement between them.

But Nico is the one who will take the public arrows.

Guts.

It does take balls I give you that.  This just very rarely works out for the team who trades a superstar.

It does show the frustration Dallas must have had.  Luke shape must have been a huge concern to initiate this soon after he got hurt.  It was not a spur of the moment thing

[SleepingHero]

Even if by somehow the Mavs hypothetically won a ring this year or even next, it’d be so hollow. It’s hard to imagine me even being happy.

I think the last time a superstar of this caliber was traded was Kareem in 70s. It just doesn’t happen.

[RoyTarpleysGhost]

https://www.dallasnews.com/sports/maveri...-christie/

“I understand why they would be shocked, initially,” Mavericks general manager Nico Harrison told The News. “But I do believe that we positioned ourselves to win now and also win in the future.

“And that’s ultimately the goal and why we’re here. It’s one of those things where it’s my job to make the tough decisions that put our goals first and foremost.”

“We really feel like we got ahead of what was going to be a tumultuous summer, him being eligible for the supermax and also a year away from him being able to opt out of any contract,” Harrison said. “And so we really felt like we got out in front of that. We know teams, they’ve had it out there, teams have been loading up to try to sign him once that comes available.”

[BigDirk41]

https://www.dallasnews.com/sports/maveri...-christie/

“I understand why they would be shocked, initially,” Mavericks general manager Nico Harrison told The News. “But I do believe that we positioned ourselves to win now and also win in the future.

“And that’s ultimately the goal and why we’re here. It’s one of those things where it’s my job to make the tough decisions that put our goals first and foremost.”

“We really feel like we got ahead of what was going to be a tumultuous summer, him being eligible for the supermax and also a year away from him being able to opt out of any contract,” Harrison said. “And so we really felt like we got out in front of that. We know teams, they’ve had it out there, teams have been loading up to try to sign him once that comes available.”

Nico you are one dumb son of a bitch. Enjoy being the most hated person in Dallas.

[SleepingHero]

https://www.dallasnews.com/sports/maveri...-christie/

“I understand why they would be shocked, initially,” Mavericks general manager Nico Harrison told The News. “But I do believe that we positioned ourselves to win now and also win in the future.

“And that’s ultimately the goal and why we’re here. It’s one of those things where it’s my job to make the tough decisions that put our goals first and foremost.”

“We really feel like we got ahead of what was going to be a tumultuous summer, him being eligible for the supermax and also a year away from him being able to opt out of any contract,” Harrison said. “And so we really felt like we got out in front of that. We know teams, they’ve had it out there, teams have been loading up to try to sign him once that comes available.”

He literally contradicts himself. He was worried about Luka’s extension being too high, yet also worried about other teams signing him. 


Makes no sense and sounds just like cope. I cannot believe he nuked the entire franchise in a single night.

[RoyTarpleysGhost]

[Amick] League sources say there was at least one team besides the Lakers that was approached by Dallas nearly two weeks ago about the prospect of swapping Dončić for another star. That bid was turned down.

probably just an attempt at damage control