Of course they wanted it but they didn’t make it happen lol. Tearing down the Mavs to make the Lakers who are already a powerhouse isn’t the smartest thing.
The NBA brass had to be involved in engineering this trade bc nobody is raising any red flags. They wanted this to happen. They are thrilled to het Luca to LA. It wouldn't surprise me at all if they paid off Nico to sell it to the new owner who obviously knows nothing about basketball. The NBA rating are in the toilet and nobody was talking NBA basketball until this trade. The trade also accomplishes the chore of putting a young superstar in the prized market of LA. It all starts to make sense when you look at through that lens.
If the Dodgers have been willing to commit over a billion dollars in contracts for players...how much would the Laker ownership and league offer the Mavs (indirect money of course, not publicly) to ensure that the Mavs would trade Luka...and not even entertain any other offers from other teams!
I'm not a fan of Luka. Don't like how he belly aches, doesn't play defense and brings the game to a crawl with his isolation style of play.
Luka's agent should be making a lot more noise bc he's not eligible for a super max contract now which cost his client 116M. This deal smells on so many different levels.
Luka got them to the NBA finals last year....... he literally strapped the team to his back. His defense is not the reason they aren't wearing rings. You build the team around a player of his caliber.
The popular conspiracy theory right now on the internet highways is that the owners are purposefully tanking the team so they can move to their home base of Vegas.
I disagree. He wasn’t the sole reason, as a matter of fact this team changed thanks to the Lively draft pick and the Pj and Gafford trades. Defense is why they took a step forward.
One of the best big men of all time. I hate how fans and the media are making him out to be a bum. Hes a top 10 player in this league.
The new ownership have extensive casino and gambling investments worldwide, and have been very active in trying to get gambling legalized in Texas. The speculation is that they really have no interest in basketball and it was merely a vehicle to tap into what would be a very lucrative gambling market if legalized, destination casino resort etc. They spent a ton of money on PACs and lobbyists in attempts to get gambling bills pushed through the Texas legislature.
Doesn't make sense. If they are tanking, they would have traded him for picks, which also saves salary. It's been reported that they have divested their Vegas holdings. They want to be the first casino in north Texas. They want to make a new Vegas.
Again, this doesn't make sense. If its not about basketball, why would they want to move the team to Vegas? I agree with you that they want be the first to create a new Vegas in north Texas. I don't see how an NBA team in Vegas adds much value to them as very wealthy casino owners. The NBA needs Vegas way more than Vegas needs the NBA.
Thats one part. It is part of a bigger game being played by the Adelman partnership who bought the Mavs and want to build a new arena/casino complex in Dallas. The worse the team gets, the more leverage they have to make demands of local politicians who are obstructing them. Why else trade your best player for peanuts? As the team gets worse and worse and the fan base erodes, they can say to the politicians "let us build this here or we are moving the team to Vegas".
