Luka Dealt to Lakers: Nico Harrison is a Basketball Terrorist

[Winter]

I think this is a valid point, too, which makes me wonder how they soured on Luka so thoroughly. 

I'm not saying Harrison is infallible - far from it - but I also don't think he's a moron. He mortgaged that 4+ year window you're referring to in an effort to build around Luka, specifically, so I don't buy for a second that he's been wanting to pull this rug for very long. I think he had an internal clock (or a literal clock, considering the impending extension eligibility) on a maturation process and finally just decided it was never going to happen. 

I think Smitty said it the best last week. We were discussing what type of event it would take for Luka to see how important proactive focus on his health and fitness was to his career, and Smitty said something like "reaching the Finals and losing badly certainly didn't do it." That, right there, is what happened, imo. I think Luka showed up for the season out of shape AGAIN, and this time worse than ever before, and any/all momentum that the team should have carried with it from last year dissipated. It might have been the wrong choice on the team's part not to fight through it again, but I bet a ton of people were super frustrated by that.

I think that's a good take on it. The average fan never knew the full context of "why" at the outset, but I have a hard time believing that Nico's reasoning was sudden. I think this has been percolating a whole lot longer than we imagine, and I suspect there were other people consulted about his behavior even if they weren't in on the trade details.

I suspect the Mavericks had been hitting a brick wall with his conditioning and giving him more money wasn't going to change that. His weight is not the kind of thing the Mavericks make public. You can't shame him. So what are the options? Is it a disservice to know this problem and still pay him the supermax? Is that what the owners want?

The trade itself is one thing. The return on the trade is another thing. I'm more in the dark there. But I'm at a place now where I can see the initial dilemma.