I will preface this by saying no, probably not, but I cannot say definitely not. After all, I lived in Sacramento in the 90s and saw the league steal a playoff series from the Kings for the Lakers. What I will say, is that 1. The NBA is a private enterprise and they can make whatever rules they want and we don't get to know what they are, and 2. The Luka trade does not pass the smell test. The league has a vested interest in a star being in L.A., but that said, one would think that the same would be true for NY and no one thinks the Knicks get any sort of preferential treatment. What say you? I say, I don't have a friggin' clue!
It will be interesting to see how Luka and Bron play together, both need to the ball. I wonder if Luka will whine as much as a Laker.
I don't think there is anything secret about what they did, I don't know if there was anything illegal because if I was Nico, Rob would have had to blackmail me into this trade. Overall I think it's one of the worst trades I've seen but if the Mavs were high on AD and if they had soured on Luka's conditioning or lack thereof, then I guess it could just be really really bad deal but if the Lakers win a championship or two off of this it will be the second time in my lifetime that a thing like this has happened. Pau all over again accept at a higher level (not saying it was a bigger robbery just that both AD and Luka are higher profile than Pau and any of the other pieces of that fucking deal).
This guy claims five teams could have given more for Doncic. Key word is "could": I don't think any of these teams would have given near as much as the writer thinks. https://www.cbssports.com/nba/news/...rs-than-lakers-if-mavs-had-shopped-superstar/
It was a different situation. The league was in charge of the Pelicans at that point and they didn’t want it to appear as though it was rigged.
I always saw it as: the league was essentially acting as the team owner, and the league saw the return as negotiated by their GM as not good enough, so they vetoed the trade just like any team's owner could. Except the Mavs' current owners, apparently.
So the theory is the league has a vested interest in LA having a star player, so an ownership group that just shelled out 3+ billion dollars to buy a team is going to do that for... reasons?
To save hundreds of millions, be rid of an immature superstar (and, according to the crazy conspiracy, draft Flagg with the help of the league).
From the video: The conditioning / health concerns are legitimate, by the Dallas GM. Which answers the "Why?" Dallas doesn't want to be the next team being held hostage like New Orleans or the Clippers. Here the GM is prying a beer away from Luka after the Mavs clinched their trip to the Finals. Luka as a rookie, and Luka now. Then there is the defensive Hole and complaining to the referees. "His defensive performance is unacceptable. The fact that he came out after the game and blamed the officials showed me he is nowhere close yet." As for why the Mavs didn't wait to get a haul, they want to Win Now, and the guy at the top of their list was Anthony Davis. In the end it is a gamble that the Mavs can win a championship now, or it very likely could be an all-time stupid move.
If anything Luka being out of shape makes him MORE valuable. If the dude is routinely out of shape in his mid 20s and still made the NBA finals as well as the WCF a few years prior - just think how dominant he could be one of these seasons being in shape.
Luka has been selected to an all NBA first team every year since his rookie season - thats 5 consecutive All-NBA first teams. The only other NBA player to do so in that span is Giannis. Over all his years in LA Davis has been All-NBA first team once - his first year with the Lakers back in 2019-20. Davis has one season making the second team (last year) and three years he didn't make any of the first, second, or third All-NBA teams.
