Luka Dealt to Lakers: Nico Harrison is a Basketball Terrorist

[DanSchwartzgan]

Thank you for this. It expresses my feelings so well.

I loved Luka's show, his flair, and his upside. 

But over time, for me his act had worn real thin. It was getting increasingly more difficult to enjoy his brilliance amid the non-stop whining, the ball dominance, way-too-many pull-up 3s (sometimes so very early in the shot clock), and the too-often "playing my way back into shape" during the regular season where results matter.

For me, seeing Luka ball was only a means to an end -  after the novelty of it wore off, I didn't find the lack of ball movement and the same high PNR being run repeatedly to be all that fun to watch. But if it was the best way to a win, so be it. So if they can win as much (or more) with more of a team concept, I'll like it more, frankly, and I won't miss hero ball. If they can't win without him, then it'll be a different story.

The negotiating will still suck, however, even if they came out better as a team. That process was horrendous, and it's 100% on Nico who chose to do it that bizarre way, thinking he had it figured out. Um no.

I'm in a similar place.  I don't love the deal itself, but can kind of see the desire to move on from Luka at some point.  I've gotten to where I don't watch full games any more.  I think part of the reason is that we play a boring brand of basketball.  I actually like the product better when Luka is out (and everyone else is healthy).  The ball really moves.  

Killer had a post several pages back talking about being "in the Luka Doncic business".  One of the first things I thought of when I heard the news was Boogie Cousins.  Part of it was the financial ramifications to Luka's Super Max (what a hose job).  But, part was that this was a similar decision.  As good as he was, Sacramento didn't want to be in "the Boogie Cousins business" any longer.  Several major injuries later, it turned out they weren't wrong.  We really have no idea how this will turn out.

I think one of two things are true.  Either:

1.  Nico is an idiot, or

2.  There is more to "the Luka Doncic business" than we may ever know.

I don't think Nico is an idiot.  Time after time his moves have been a positive surprise to me.  But, I am not in a position to judge whether Luka was a problem (or a big enough problem to justify this).  Maybe there was reason to believe Luka wasn't going to sign the extension this summer?  Maybe Dallas didn't want to give the extension for a variety of possible reasons?  Maybe they don't see Luka having a long or successful career from here?   

Let's be clear.  I'm not happy he's gone or thrilled with the package we received (let's talk more Thursday afternoon).  I'm just saying that I can kind of see it.  Do I wish AD was younger and less injury prone?  Absolutely.  But, there are lots of things about Luka I wish I could change as well.  

Of course, none of this really matters.  Its done.  So, where do we go from here?  Some thoughts:



Man, this puts Kyrie in a tough position from a PR standpoint.  I hope it doesn't negatively impact his extension this summer.  Oh, and he lost his best friend on the team in Morris in this deal.  Yeah, he and AD are close, but he's got to thread a needle on this in terms of his public statements when they come.

There is focus on this trade getting us under the tax.  Maybe that was a goal.  But, it also gives us a trade spread above our outgoing salary (up to the first apron).  So, we have more room with which to work on trade matches.

It does seem that Gafford, AD and Lively are too much when everyone is healthy.  It also seems that we have too many non-creating guards/wings.  I agree with Jason Timpf's mention of Sexton (a place my mind went also).  We need to add someone like that.  It could also be a wing who can create his own shot.

I suspect Luka will take this as an insult to the core of his very being and (like Steve Nash) win the next two MVP awards.

I'm not positive LA is better after this trade.  They have a path to getting better, but they aren't there today IMHO.

I like Max Christie.

AD makes $8mm more next season than Luka.  Christie makes $3.3mm less than Maxi.  So, this added nearly $5mm to 25/26 salary.  It probably also lessened the incentive for Irving to give us a discount (recall last time he took about $7mm less than he was eligible for IIRC).  So, adding talent through the full MLE this summer is even more challenging than it was before.

I'm not sure this team needs Grimes, Christie and Hardy.  Naji overlaps their PT a little as well.  If you keep Grimes, you are pushing the second apron just by standing pat.  It seems like they need to make a deal here while there is value to be had.  

I thought Utah did very well here.

I'm not positive we get a better deal by making this an open auction.  Luka loses a ton of money in this deal.  If this becomes public, he probably says he will only extend with this team or that.  Possibly just the Lakers and probably for a lesser package than what we got.  There is a world in which Nico actually gets less than this if he went a different route.  There isn't any single player who would have satisfied us (maybe Jokic or GA).  Without AD in the package, you probably need to move on from Kyrie and Klay also.  Doing this deal differently may have landed us more picks (been there done that) while costing us any chance to compete in the near term.  I'm not that interested in being a team with a dozen upcoming picks led by PJ Washington and Dereck Lively.