2024-25 Team Developments: Trades / Free Agents / News / Rumors / Ideas

I heard Lebron scouted Doncic in 6th grade....


man, the offseason is toooooo long when you suck

 

He fat. There is no way around it. And he will pay the price, either indirectly via opportunity cost, or directly via shorter career.

 

Who the hell is Rudy?

 

https://people.com/sports/what-to-know-about-rudy-ruettiger/

 

You’re such an exaggerator

—Shawn Kemp (Probably)

 

Gobert

 

How fat? Would Magic have had a melt down and let him walk for cap space?

 

It’s cool man- I ain’t mad.
I just felt like defending the guy for enjoying himself in the off-season since I would do the same.
I think sometimes us fans don’t see these guys as real people.
I for one, will never expect every “star” to be as disciplined as Kobe or LeBron- it’s just not realistic.
As for him becoming a Laker, as long as Cuban is the owner, there’s zero chance he will trade Luka to us. I agree with you also in that he won’t pass up that massive difference that Dallas can pay him when the time comes.

 

cuban's not the owner in dallas any more, technically.

 

I don't buy that "oh he will not turn down 350 million" talk. It's not like the alternative is 0. He's still getting 200+ million.
Brunson just turned down 100+ million to stay in NY. I think people forget how wealthy these guys are. They won't be poor again, nor their children or grandchildren. And money generates money, they do a lot in advertising, shoe deals and business ventures on their own.
Luka is playing for much more than 100 million more. There's almost nothing he can't buy with his current wealth already.

Sure, plenty of former superstars skrewed all their money, but most were 20y ago when the max was like 10M and they were knuckleheads. Nowadays, they receive 10 times that, they get financial literacy training and surround themselves with people that don't let that happen. And I'm pretty sure most if not all the max earners don't have their salary as the main income. If you know about business and the market, it makes all sense to have multiple investments to capitalize what they earn in the NBA.

Now, I don't believe he would leave for nothing. He seems like a straight up guy who values what the team does for him. So I think he would force a trade rather than leaving in FA

 

Well....

The wrinkle there is that Brunson has multiple family ties to the Knicks (I do note that I haven't seen many point out the nepotism of that situation despite making a big deal about Bronnie but that's another rant). He is very much an outlier.

I'd love Luka to join us just like anyone else, but I just don't see it. Too many questions there for me.

What's the draw to come here? Are we going to hire his dad for the coaching staff like the Knicks did for Brunson? Replace Rob with Luka's agent to lead the org?
Some are projecting the Mavs to better than us so are expecting them to fall off harder than we will once LeBron is gone? What major free agent signing has the front office brought in outside of LeBron? That organization has been very clear about their feelings for our franchise and its not just Cuban with that animosity. Are we thinking Luka would just want to come here and wouldn't have other orgs he was interested in? If so, again why? At this point, we've got a pretty solid list of guys passing on joining us going back a decade or so.

That's all before you even get to the difference in money which in and of itself can be enough for someone to stay put.

The front office pulls this off and I will be the first in here congratulating them on an unbelievable move. Maybe JJ is a great salesman and can convince some guys to sign here.

Right now though, again, I just can't see it.

 

i agree with pika's take and made a similar point earlier. that brunson would eschew that much money given he hasn't even made as much as luka or other supermax guys should highlight the point that the amounts of money we're discussing are almost not real at this point. he's not taking the minimum, but taking a slightly lesser maximum is just not at all a big deal. 320 million versus 350 million when you already have 200 million...it opens the door for other factors to determine outcomes.

the brand, period. it's what drew lebron, because it sure as hell wasn't all the young guys he immediately traded.

if he wants, yes.

if he wants, yes.

historically nobody has wanted to play in dallas except dirk. and nobody would join dirk in dallas all those years he was a perennial all nba guy and super unselfish and great off the court.

when kyrie ages out, dallas has lively and not much else. maybe they can be creative and pivot, maybe they can't. but as i said earlier, i think luka doesn't mind being a lone star. maybe i end up wrong about that, too--i just don't think he's wired like durant or even lebron in that regard.

besides the biggest FA move in the past several years that nobody expected? i think discounting the biggest reason for belief is not really a fair argument strategy.

we've had teams stonewall us, but we also traded for AD when literally everyone wanted him.

i couldn't see lebron, either--and i don't want people coming in and acting like that was obvious in advance. it most certainly was not.

your points are all valid, but things equally crazy have happened, for us, and not that far in the past. probably won't happen, but it's easy to bet on that proposition (big name guys don't move that much, and 29 teams want every one of them).

 

We don't really know what goes inside the players heads. Here and there there's some intentional leaks by their crew where we get some understanding but most of the times we don't. All the rumours and insiders are mostly click baiting and don't carry any true.

So, based on that, my OWN understanding of Luka and being a fan of him since he got drafted and listening to him multiple times, he sounds like he really wants to win. It's like the only thing that matters to him, win, win and win.
It's based on that I believe he will eventually say enough of Dallas because he gave them multiple chances and they failed to give him a ring. So that may make him look elsewhere which is a start.
Then, why us? I absolutely agree we have currently a less compelling team than the Mavs and a lot of other franchises. So it comes down to history. We are a winning franchise. We won a chip every decade apart of the 60s and 90s that coincided with Russell and MJ. It's a great record.
With Luka here, he knows it'll be easier than in other franchises to pry other good players to join, like we did with AD or role players who prefer to have such role in the Lakers rather than someplace else. We will already, and hopefully, have AD ending his prime which is the best fit to Luka and more could join after that.
Finally, we also have a history of catering to superstar wishes which Luka can value as he decides for a franchise to take care of him long term. In LA, he can stamp his place as the best Euro player in NBA history and that's not nothing.

Sure, he may go to other places that currently have a more promising baseline and may lure him. But I don't think it's far off that he could decide to come here. I mean, Bron came and we were a WAY worse franchise back then. We may even be saving the picks as a way to convince Luka, showing him we have assets to make a stronger team around him.

Oh and he also loves Bron so that can play a role too.

 

LeBron wants him here after 2025 and mansplains the plan to Luka .... Bron signs for vet min. Now they get to play together Bron's last season. Boom!!

 

Magic was a huge part of that and that's why I discount lightning striking twice there.

And I'm honestly not really trying to argue here. lol

 

Honestly, hope springs eternal and all that. I truly hope you guys are right and we can lure in someone like Luka to be the next Laker great so i won't just keep debating it.

I don't know if all those things about the franchise resonate as much with this generation though.