Luka Dealt to Lakers: Nico Harrison is a Basketball Terrorist

[Dahlsim]

One of the underreported aspects of this from LA's perspective is they don't really have a financial advantage over anyone now that the Super Max is off the table.  Luka won't sign a five year extension.  He'll sign for long enough to get to 10 years of service with a PO after that.  So, the PO year plus two gets him to 10 and he'll take another year after that for protection purposes only.

So, LA's ability to go five years with larger raises is meaningless.  I'm not saying Luka isn't likely to stay with LA.  But, it isn't guaranteed and they have almost no advantage over other teams.  That is why they were able to remove the 2031 pick from the deal.

So the master plan is for Dallas to bring back Luka in free agency after a brief break and an AD championship.  
It all makes sense now, thanks!