[DJ's left nut]

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.