OFFICIAL AROUND THE NBA: FEBRUARY 2025

I wonder if we're looking at the Lakers wrong. Maybe they don't think they can win with LeBron and Luka. Their lineup has no defense now.

 

Oh I meant th down over the Suns…..what did you think I was talking about?

 

I doubt they're done but the Luka/LeBron pick and roll is going to be fucking impossible to stop. The kind of two man actions guys with that many skills and that high of bbiq will run is going to be insane. They might get Rob from us. They could probably put a package together to get Walker Kessler from the Jazz. Either guy would be a good defensive anchor. I think Luka's defense is crafty and you can stick him on a lot of different less potent offensive players because of his size. LeBron's D is still phenomenal. They definitely lack the paint/rim protection that should be needed to win a title.

I don't know what's going to happen but one thing is for damn sure... shit just got a lot more interesting.

 

Wow, I’m actually shocked. Sucks for Mavs fans…

 

in 2019.

 

How do the Mavs not even get the Lakers 2031 pick?

The Lakers got Pau Gasol for peanuts and won two titles. Luka is way better than Gasol ever was. How many more titles will this gift them?

This makes zero sense at all.

Even if the Mavs were set on trading Luka they should've shopped for a better deal. Half the teams in the league would've offered more.

 

I never really believed the league was rigged until now.

 

The only way this makes sense is if Trump is a closet Lakers fan and he threatened Cuban with tariffs.

 

https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/43659380/sources-mavericks-trading-doncic-lakers-anthony-davis

"Harrison and Rob Pelinka, the Lakers' vice president of basketball operations and general manager, have a long-standing relationship dating to when Harrison was Kobe Bryant's marketing manager at Nike and Pelinka was Bryant's agent."

How long until Dallas fires Harrison? Do they give him until the end of the season to see if they can squeeze one championship out of Kyrie/AD?

Most of the expressed shock is that Dallas got only one FRP, but equally surprising to me is that they settled for one that likely won't be very good with LA now being significantly strengthened 5 years into the future.

 

Huh Lebron plays defense maybe every 10th possession. Don’t be fooled by his occasional good play on defense. He and Luka put out zero effort on defense. Offensively it will be interesting to see how they fit

 

With how privileged the Lakers are they will end up with Kessler for a 2nd round pick.

 

I wonder if they valued Max Cristie more than Knecht. I haven't watched the Lakers this year so I don't know who is better. But I would have asked for Knecht and a filler instead

 

It’s super common for a team that went to last year’s finals to blow it up. Makes *perfect* sense.

 

It's so crazy illogical that the simplest explanation is that something stinks. If you want to Occam's Razor it.

Looking at Dallas and who their ownership is, and their GM's ties to LA, and you don't have to take a very big leap to start tying those threads.

 

I'm still in shock. I expected a separate thread.
Dallas secretly targeted 1 player. Didn't ask for offers from teams. In a month, they turn 32 and 26.

Donshits negatives: misses a fourth of the games per season because he's a tub o'lard
positives: unstoppable, young, is at his career peak

Davis negatives: 6 years older, was never quite great, on the downslope due to age
positives: top-10 stats for a couple more years

 

I’d argue Dallas has better shot with AD to win championship over next two years than Lakers with Luka.

Dallas has Kyrie, AD, Gafford, Klay and are all of a sudden a really good defensive team.