I’ve never in my entire life seen a trade so shocking that everyone just assumed the person who broke the news was hacked. This trade was so insane that it threw off my entire night, and I had to leave a party to process this. I might have been there in body, but in mind, I was just trying to understand this trade on the Maverick’s end. There is no reason to EVER trade a 25-year-old capable of dropping a 60-point triple-double and also just led your franchise to a title birth. Even if Luka was demanding a trade Id get on my hands and knees to beg him to stay before I attempted to trade him. But this dude Luka didn’t want to be traded at all and is reportedly completely blindsided by this. And then in the process of blindsiding their 25 year old star player they find a way to make a trade that both makes them worse right now and for the future. There is just no possible way this was the best offer on the table. All they got was a 31 year old Anthony Davis who’s entire career is defined by his inability to stay healthy, Max Christie (who cares), and ONE FIRST ROUND PICK IN 2029?! Anthony Davis is an all NBA and an all defensive 1st team guy when hes healthy. The problem is he’s 31 and cannot stay healthy and is significantly worse than luka right now and surely will be worse than him 3 years from now. The Mavericks roster is simply not good enough to win a title in the time AD realistically has left playing at an all NBA level. Its obvious this is an “all in trade” because they got absolutely no assets for the future in return, but in what world does an all in trade involve trading your best player?? If im a mavs fan and this trade was made because the front office was too cheap to give him a supermax extension id consider switching my fandom.

As for the Lakers, this trade just saved their future and is an A+ trade. If not for this trade, Lebron was just gonna get worse and worse until he retired, and then you’d be left with an old-ass AD with practically no value and have to restart with a massive rebuild. Adding Luka gives your team a real identity for the next 10+ years, which you could not have said 3 hours ago. As it stands now the Lakers don’t have a serious big man on their roster and will have to make a move if they want to contend this year. If the Lakers can pull off a title in the time frame where they have both Lebron and Luka it will give so many old heads ammo in the arguments that Lebron cant win without superstars with him. Im also intrigued to see the celling Luka will have in terms of all time lakers. Hes only 25 and his game doesn’t revolve around his athleticism at all so he could play at this same level for 10-15 years. Its not crazy to think he can win a ring in that time frame and maybe an MVP or two which would put him up there with Kobe, Magic, Kareem, Shaq and Lebron if he gets another ring in LA.