Luka Dealt to Lakers: Nico Harrison is a Basketball Terrorist

[Chicagojk]

I see a new narrative more and more how it was mostly Dumont and how Nico was the fall guy.

A few problems with that. Nico and Luka’s camp have apparently been going at  each other for a while with Nico removing a lot of insiders who he felt were Luka’s guys.  That is not on Dumont.  Even if Dumont said he didn’t want to pay the supermax how much of it was Nico constantly feeding into Dumont’s ears that it would hamstring the franchise going forward given Luka’s conditioning issues!?  Did Dumont force Nico to be almost gleeful in that only press conference he had following the trade?  Did Dumont force Nico to write a dumb letter where he was praising his own work ethic and comparing himself to a generational star as if that star got there without any work ethic?  Another thing lost in that presser was Nico dismissing the injury that AD was going through and saying he expects the medical reports to be ok. So he made the deal without even knowing the extent of the injury?  Especially for an older player who has never been the healthiest?  Did Nico do his due diligence even if his hands were forced?

I am not excusing Luka. Seeing that video reminded me how skinny he was. He is fat now. That is solely on him. However he is also an offensive savant and just like Harden is doing even now, he will put up huge numbers even 5 years from now because his game is based on balance and strength than raw speed.  Nico was correct about his reasons to be frustrated with Luka. Even many of us fans were. It’s just that unlike us fans he didn’t evaluate the flip side correctly. Luka is not AD. Luka is not even Harden.  This is a generational level offensive talent and the whole thing should have been dealt much better. In hoops, organizations don’t win titles. Generational talents do. Even Riley has struggled after taking a stance against Bron despite that one Finals run. GMs and owners should not bend over backwards to every whim of players but they shouldn’t be arrogant either and think of players as just movable parts. Especially not when you have a generational talent in the mix.

Ha.  I think we are all looking for the whys.  So far the reporting seems to suggest this was a Nico led move.   I think there may be more to the story.   Why does Nico care if Luka gets the super max or not.  I mean you can make the case, he has much more value after that.   Time will tell.

I floated the idea that the move was a directive from the ownership.   I had no proof.   Just someone in finance who was said to have a business relationship with a Clipper minority owner.   This guy was told that this came from Rick Welts who had no idea what he was walking into.  I said it at the time, it is probably fan fantasy.   It was just what someone told me though.