Luka Dealt to Lakers: Nico Harrison is a Basketball Terrorist

[ThunderMav]

I haven’t posted here since Dec 2020.  Wanted to chime in on this topic, with some random thoughts.

First, I feel bad for the fans.  This was a travesty trade and no matter what is one of the worst trades ever.  Luka had fans all over world not just in USA.  And when healthy he had so many great plays and was fun to watch (his theatrics aside).  I imagine the fans hearing this news and assuming it was a prank or hacked account.

Not similar, but to give perspective when KD left OKC you can now understand why fans were so upset.  He shocked the fanbase it felt devastating to them, regardless the reason so I can sympathize even though its not the same thing.  Luckily for the OKC fans Presti stayed on and has rebuilt the team with same savvy trades.  But KD was the franchise player and how he left just destroyed the fans.  Its also why fans embraced Russ, as he could have left too and decided to stay.  The fans needed something positive and Russ gave that.  For that reason Russ will always be a folk hero here.    

I still can’t comprehend they traded Luka.  So here is a wild thought.  The owners are rich Vegas folks and are likely disconnected from basketball and fandom.  They want to build a casino in Fort Worth or wherever it is.  The new Mavs arena will be right next to it.

So my theory is they were looking down the road to 4-5 years when casino is built along with new arena - and likely were told Luka has health issues.  And didn’t want to be saddled with his super max and possibly not working out.  And they likely want the arena to be a gateway to get customers into their not as yet built casino.  So hearing about health and not understanding basketball one iota, maybe they told the front office to trade Luka now to avoid the super max.  And then try to rebuild for a point 5 years from now, assuming they can get another top draw by then. 

I know that makes no sense but I think there is something to it.  Owners really have no idea the impact and pushback of this trade because they likely have no clue about basketball in general.  They bought this to get access to build casino and the Mavs are just a blip on their radar with how they look at making money.  There only focus is casino and how they can get some bleed over from home basketball games. 

I can think of no other reason to make this trade. 

Anyways, just wanted to offer some wild theory as nothing else makes sense.