HALLELUKA: Luka Clinches All-NBA 1st team. 4th in 5 years

[cow]

There's every reason to think Luka will stay here AT LEAST long enough to sign his 3rd contract here - the financial incentives are too massive to think he would do otherwise. As that one winds down, however ...

But while he's here, that doesn't mean he's going to be patient with an inept front office that gets outperformed by all the competition, when it comes to roster-building to put talent around him. As we see with how he reacts to the refs, once he think he's not getting a fair shake, he's not likely to be quiet and suffer in silence.

I think if Cuban doesn't hire TOP front office talent and get out of the way, Luka will eventually make him look really bad. The sooner the better, as far as the impact on Cuban's reputation and the possibility of keeping Luka to the end of his career.

One other thing that should be a factor (although I don't trust Cuban to recognize it until it's too late) -- Luka talks like he won't play 20 years. So even if he never leaves, there's another clock that's ticking down, and faster than we would prefer.

Not getting to that 3rd contract will leave money on the table, but Luka is never going to hurt for money and he is used to winning.  The problem the Mavs have is that they really haven't gotten better and have seemingly taken a step back this year and don't have a lot of ways to get to contention in the near term.  I'm just not sure Luka is going to have the patience to get to a supermax especially when he can bridge that gap in bigger markets which would only be bolstered by winning championships.  

I think the theory of getting to the 3rd contract is sound, but if this team building exercise keeps going in the same direction, all bets are off.

Luka might not want to play for 20 years as he said and you pointed out, but we also have to consider how far ahead of the curve he is.  He might already be in his prime and he is struggling to keep this team at .500.