Luka Dealt to Lakers: Nico Harrison is a Basketball Terrorist

[audiosway]

Ah okay, that makes more sense than what I thought you meant.

I still don't agree, but I appreciate you explaining it further!

I'm cool with that. I may be completely wrong but it just seems odd to me that a GM would get to the point of trading a player like Luka for AD.

On paper I do see why you could say "we have been having problems with his conditioning and don't want to pay him the supermax". Where that quickly dies is that you traded him for an older injury prone player. At first it made sense because Luka didn't look right at first playing with the Lakers. And AD is an incredible talent. I kept thinking maybe they know something we don't. Luka doesn't look right. I've been watching Lakers games and he looks fine now. Seems he was just favoring the calf at first.

Now granted, that doesn't take away from the fact that he struggles with his weight and that is not something a guard should have problems with. If he were a big man it wouldn't be so bad. But, if he keeps it up I'll be surprised if he plays much past 31-32. He's already lost a step and he's only 26.

But, with that being the worst case you would still have another 5-6 years with a prime generational player that is exciting to watch and just played in the Finals. They have a great team built around him. More importantly they have plenty of good playing pieces to make a trade for another bigger piece that will push them over the top.

So, let's just say Nico is right at saying we were frustrated and didn't want to pay him the supermax. Ok. AD is about to be 32 and injury prone. At best with him you'll have 2-3 seasons where he is in and out of the lineup. He will probably play 50+ games a year if you look at his history. You have Klay at 35 and Kyrie at 33 later this month.

A GM's job is to not only keep good players for the coach (the type of players the coach wants) but it's also to manage the salary situation and negotiations as well as put butts in seats. Luka puts more butts in seats than AD would. Unless you plan on bringing in KD to join AD, Kyrie, and Klay.

As I said, I could be completely wrong. Just my thinking.