That. Is. The. Point.

James, not truly caring about "life after Lebron" would've GLADLY torpedoed this thing and forced the Lakers to retain Davis and use that capital (Christie and the 2 firsts they had to move) to add an immediate piece to this year's roster that would help him ring chase this season and next.

No, James didn't know.

If James knew, it wouldn't have happened.

Agreed, he would never have let it happen given his friendship with AD.

LeBron hasn't tweeted any sort of welcome to Luka either. Not that I think he is going to ultimately hate playing with a guy with a similar level of basketball genius to his own, but I think this is the first time in his career where he really isn't the primary focus of the organization he is on. He's not "the guy" for the Lakers anymore and that is a huge change.

This is starting to feel a little more like the Bulls breaking up in the late 90s.

Reinsdorf didn't have the stomach to pay guys. Krause thought he was smart enough to win without the stars and was itching to prove it.

If the new Mavs owners weren't super eager to give out that super max and Nico Harrison thinks he's the smartest man in the room and can win without Luka, he might have just looked to nudge ownership away from Luka by using their worst impulses against them.

It's strongly looking like he suggested to the new ownership that Luka wasn't the kind of player you should invest a super max on as a way to get the greenlight for moving a superstar that he didn't like.

While that's both insane and wrong (and will ultimately lead to him never having a GM job again), it seems to have happened.

Yeah - this is gonna be odd for him.

Because if the Lakers have a deal on the table to get better now at the expense of 2 years from now, they won't take it. They could probably grab some guys that could help them for next to nothing if they'd give up some expirings or something -- they won't do that.

They're going to have a really close eye on that 2026 FA class.

Which is why I really do think they'd be better served to trade LeBron at this point. The idea of getting a big and pairing LeBron and Luka is fascinating as hell. But A) I don't think it'll work and B) it's just so short-term and the Lakers really don't have to worry about that now.

It makes way more sense to move James to GSW and let him, Curry and Green make a run at something.

I don't think you'd manage to get Kuminga, Podz and Jackson-Davis (along with taking the bullet of Wiggins and his $$$ to make it work), but shit - make 'em tell you no.

I think you could probably get Kuminga and Podz OR Jackson-Davis. Along with a pick and Wiggins.

Then you shop Rui and see what else is out there.

Good teammate right there.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">.<a href="https://twitter.com/mcten?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@mcten</a>:<br><br>&quot;There&#39;s a chance that he will renegotiate a new deal and this Luka Doncic addition could extend LeBron James&#39; career. It&#39;s not a given that next year will be his last year in the NBA&quot; <a href="https://t.co/CPWGVhknsn">pic.twitter.com/CPWGVhknsn</a></p>&mdash; Oh No He Didn&#39;t (@ohnohedidnt24) <a href="https://twitter.com/ohnohedidnt24/status/1886518017258930327?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 3, 2025</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

More championships coming for LeBron?

Hahahhahah. Absolutely not.

Hopefully luka demands a trade. OKC would be nice.

Well there are maybe 4 guys in the league we couldn't get for him so...

OKC already has Luka 2.0 in Nikola Topić

I'm laughing at all the idiots who think draft picks were needed in the trade. Anthony Davis is the boat, you aren't getting better than that. Draft picks are so overvalued its hilarious. Most suck ass, its throw in money.
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Yeah.

I think the best answer I've heard to the whole thing is essentially this:

"The Mavericks don't think of this as the Luka Doncic trade. They think of it as the Anthony Davis trade..."

That's the ONLY way this made sense. I mean...not really, but if you try to put someone in Harrison's chair and wonder "what must he have been thinking to negotiate only with the Lakers and even get pushed OFF getting that 2nd rounder or Knecht or whatever..."?

That's the only thing I can come to. Harrison - right, wrong or otherwise - REALLY wanted Anthony Davis on the Mavericks and as part of the opening conversations he realized really fast that Kyrie wasn't gonna get that deal made and Doncic was the only way to get there.

People are REALLY shitting on Anthony Davis right now and man, that's just not fair to the guy. Davis is probably a top 10 player in this league. And he's one of 2 or 3 genuinely elite, both ends of the floor, bigs.

Yes, he's almost 32. But if you're Harrison...maybe you just don't give a shit? Maybe you figure "Hey, I have 3-4 years in this gig so I'd better do SOMETHING to try to win big and win now..."

Because let's be honest, just about everyone in this league has little more than a 3-4 year lifespan. The NBA fires dudes left, right and center. Maybe the disposable nature of executives and coaches in this league has a little something to do with a trade like this getting made.

Because man, Harrison sure looked like a DAMN good general manager when he made some critical trades that boosted their defense and took them to the finals last year. I don't believe he suddenly got stupid.

I think he - probably wrongheadedly - thought that the chances of his team being more championship ready over the next 2 seasons outweighed the long-term potential of Luka.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">LeBron really told Luka “that’s what we’re gonna do” after his give and go…<br><br>Scary hours �� (via <a href="https://twitter.com/WindhorstESPN?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@WindhorstESPN</a>)<a href="https://t.co/rUNwha9cxL">pic.twitter.com/rUNwha9cxL</a></p>&mdash; Legion Hoops (@LegionHoops) <a href="https://twitter.com/LegionHoops/status/1887216546801721731?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 5, 2025</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

The rest of the NBA is getting afraid. Motivated LeBron + Luka with something to prove? Look out.