Luka Dealt to Lakers: Nico Harrison is a Basketball Terrorist

[KillerLeft]

This argument would have more weight if he didn't trade Luka for 2 1/2 years of supermax on a much older player with injury history.  It will have even less weight if he trades most of the team for a 37 year old on another supermax.

You're focused on comparison: the Luka path vs. The AD path. And to be fair, looking at that comparison is probably a valid thing to do. 

But, I think it's more of an if/then progression. 

I think they had decided that no matter what, they didn't want to be in the business of giving Luka 5 years at $345 million. Then, they decided (rightfully so, I'm sure) that he wouldn't accept anything less without creating a huge mess here and probably demanding a trade. THEN, I think they looked around and identified AD as the way to move forward. 

If they were out on Luka, then they thought it best to get "out in front of things" to use Harrison's own words. If they were going to trade him, then AD was a guy they thought they could get (partly because LA is a team they thought would believe it could keep Luka). 

I continue to believe that if Luka has the career we hoped, there WAS no trade that would've satiated our blood lust. If they're right about Luka not being worth the Supermax, this trade won't look so bad, in hindsight. It's really that simple for me in the end. I have no prediction, but I'm comfortable with the logic of it and I'm trying to keep an open mind.