Transcript of Luka Gets Traded to the Lakers… What??? | With Ryen Russillo and Rob Mahoney

Coming up, the most shocking NBA Trade, at least since I've been alive. It's next. We're also brought to you by the Ringer Podcast Network. I have new rewatchables coming for you Monday night. I have new BS podcast coming for you Sunday night because Cousin Sal and I are still going to do our Super Bowl Props pod. This is a special Saturday Night Emergency podcast. I did not want to work on a Saturday night. I was hanging out with my wife. All of a sudden, Luca Donchik got traded to the Los Angeles Lakers. Holy shit. Rob Mahony me, Ryan Rassillo, myself, we just hopped on, we banged out an emergency podcast as fast as we possibly could. You can watch this as well on the Bill Smith's YouTube channel. Here's the pod. Let's bring in our friends who also can't believe Luca Donchik, this is the Los Angeles Laker from Pearl Jib.

The most shocking trade, I think, in the history of the NBA, at least from a shock value.

Oh, my God, is this real Has Shams been hacked? What is happening? Rob Mahoney is here. Ryan Rusillo is here. It took me about 10 minutes to figure out, was this real? And then Shams, obviously, he had to retweet, No, no, this is real. Mahoney, you followed Dallas pretty closely. Was there any sign whatsoever that Luca was on the block?

Not like this, at least that I heard. You hear burbling with players of his caliber all the time of like, Oh, if it ever got to the point, then maybe the Lakers or a team like that would be consulted if it ever reached a certain threshold. But I'm completely blindsided by this, as apparently as most of the league, including many of the players in it.

Rasella? I couldn't believe it. I mean, I was getting texts, and then I was checking with people, and then with Bobby Marks was like, Hey, this is real. Shams had to say, I'm not hacked above it. And then Bobby Marks above that had to be like, This is real. Because the headline of it is that it makes no fucking sense at all. We're going to go all over the place and try to figure it out. But you have traded at worst, the third best player in the NBA, and when he's right, probably the second best guy. You've traded him at this age, and you've completely reset the Lakers in a way that is basically impossible. It doesn't make any sense at all.

Here's my cycle as I went through it. Somebody forwarded me the tweet. I thought it was one of those NBA's, Sentell, Oh, no. Oh, somebody's messing around. Then you click on it.

They had Brawny in it.

Right. True. Then you click on it, it's Sean's his actual account. Then the next thing is, well, he had to have been hacked because if you're actually making a trade of luca Luka Doncha and Shane Anthony Davis, the Lakers would be giving up more stuff. It wouldn't just be the 2029 first, and that's it. I would have been a 2031 first. There would have been pick swaps. Then over the next 10 minutes, it just started to seem like it was real. That's when I think probably all of us were getting the text. You start going on Twitter, there's confirmation stuff on Twitter. It's like, I guess that's it. I guess the Lakers just basically hijacked Luka Doncha. It's, Rob, here's this team that over and over again has found ways to reinvent himself over the last 60 years, really. Going back to when they were able to get Wilt Chamberlain in the end of the late '60s, and then Kareem in the '70s, and they pull up Magic Johnson in the '80s. Shaq and Kobe show up in the '90s. It's just Pal Gasol in 2008. Lebron, miraculously out of nowhere in '18, and then this.

This is almost a totally different level than any of those things. I think just because of the pure shock value, because it is a superstar not even yet in his prime, and we're already starting to see the information filter out from Dallas about why this could have possibly happened. I am as stunned as anybody, and I don't think there is any justifiable explanation for trading a player as good as Luca right now unless he has come to the maps and said, I don't want to be here anymore.

All right. So he had a year and a half left in his deal. Yes. And maybe there were discussions behind the scene that I'm out of here after my contract's up at the end of '26. So if you can get something for me But that raises the biggest question in this whole thing. If you're going to trade Luca, why not shop him? What can you get for him? Why not actually try to really come through? Do you get that part, Rasila? Why wouldn't they have shopped him to at least three, four teams?

It doesn't make any sense. I'm texting with teams right now, and hopefully I'll get some responses here throughout the show on just, did you know that he was available? I'll never forget teams reaching out just to be pissed off. It's not like they wanted to talk to me that bad when Gasol traded there. I know people have debated about whether or not he was available and all this different stuff. But when the actual trade went through, there were other teams being like, we had no idea that it was coming to this point. It's not just because it's the Lakers thing. There was a lot of stuff going on at the time that you could read the tea leaves of how it all came together. But this is not enough of a haul. If you were shopping them, you would do better than this. Unless it was, like you guys said, like Luke We're going, Hey, look, that's the only place I want to go. But we didn't even go through the cycle. We didn't even go through all the stuff that we're used to. Like, Oh, this guy already wants it. Even if he wanted out, then it's like, So what was the hurry if this is the return, and on top of everything else, look, I don't think Dallas is a very good matchup against Boston.

That's a good basketball team. If everybody's healthy and what they've done and drafting lively, the Gafford-Washin stuff, Kyrie, which, by the way, does the Kyrie alarm start going off here? Are we back on the clock for what he's thinking about next? Because he was finally basketball happy again here for a year and a half. My point would be, okay, so say Luca, because we'll find out more about this stuff. I wonder if there's a Dallas hit piece coming, like the old Boston stuff that used to happen with a guy in the Red Sox that goes somewhere else and then-Oh, the old two days later Red Sox hit piece? Yeah, the Brian Curtis, now you tell us deal. I don't know if that's coming. But my overall I'm sorry, I'm going long here. It's just that, okay, fine. If Luca was forcing your hand, why not just play it out this season if you're healthy? The West is not as deep, as good as OKC is, all the depth behind it is not what we thought it would be this summer. You just made the NBA Finals. He's 25 years old. He's 26 in February. You have him under contract the year after that.

There's a player option. You would have done better. This deal was not so like, oh, we have to do this right now. We're talking about AD, the 29th What is it?

They got rid of, I guess, some Cleber, Markeef Morris money. Sure. I actually thought Max Christie was just having him thrown in there. I'm like, Max Christie's not like nothing.

No, he was awesome tonight, by the way, too.

He was playing pretty good, by the way, too. But still, give me a break. I did my trade value rankings, and I put up the thing on Thursday, and I had Luca. A big thing for me was trying to decide whether I should move SGA ahead of Luca, and I didn't feel great about it. But Luca has been hurt. Luca had the year and a half left in his deal, and I was just like, I just think SGA seems slightly more intradable to me. But I had Luca fourth. At Davis 11th. Davis is 31, so he's six years older. Davis already just got hurt a week ago. He's been up and down the all time. I just think these are two different classes of players, as great as Davis is. There's Luca, SGA, Jokaj, Yannis Tateum. Now we're starting to drop a little to some other next level of person. You can win the finals with Luka as your best guy if you can put the right people around him. I guess the questions that we're going to have, Rob, coming out of this are, was the Luka Dallas situation worse than leaked out? Did Luka tell them, I'm going to the Lakers in a year and a half, so just trade me there now.

If you trade me anywhere else, I'm still going to go to the Lakers, and we'll tell the team that's about to trade. Was there more gamesmanship behind the scenes, or was this Dallas and the Lakers was just stealth going, Hey, what about we did this trade? And neither side had any idea.

I'm already scared of the galaxy-braining effect of what is going to happen as a result of this because it does make you want to believe in a conspiracy theory. The fact that this has been buttoned up clearly to the point that it shocked the entire league, shocked the basketball landscape. I am stunned that it got to this point. Even if you consider the trade value that you just laid out, Bill, none of those other guys are going to be available. None of those other guys are going to be on the market. So if you are going to trade Luka, it's going to be for someone in that next class, the Anthony Davis class of player. But you would think there would be more to it than this. You would think that there would be more supplementary pieces involved. And That's where all of this seems to have come together so fast. And I'm with you, Russell. The acceleration from whatever instigating event, whether it was Luca coming to the Mavs or otherwise, from there to here, I don't understand why that period of time was fast-tracked to the degree that it was. We still have days left before the deadline.

Our friend Mark Stein is reporting Luca Donchik did not request a trade. What are we doing? The Mavericks did this on their own accord. Do you think Luca was just home? He was watching Night Agent Season 2, and it was the phone rang. It was Nico Harrison. I have some bad news. We've traded to the Lakers. I wonder if he was blindsided by this. I just refuse to believe in this league that is so beholden the players and relationships that a superstar would be blindsided. He had to have had some idea, right, Rasilla?

I'm so confused by this. No, you would think there had to have been something. What would have motivated them to want to get rid? Even if we play out, well, he does get hurt, he doesn't take care of his body, he comes in out of shape, there's all this stuff with him. It's like, dude, okay, fine. He still might be the second best player in the world. I actually I have a bit of a line of Jokić, which I don't think is really obtainable at this point for any other player. Then it goes back and forth between Janis and Luka. Then I do have SGA fourth. Even with the numbers, I just think that there's a slightly different ceiling with some of those guys. Maybe just because I've seen Luka do it in the playoffs where it's like, there's really nothing to do with that guy. Once he just decides he's going to drive and go slow and get you on his hip. Seriously, I've called it the best look that you'll get in basketball. If you just sort it all out and go, I need the best look that I feel just the best about.

As soon as the guy has the ball in his hands, it's that with his passing and his size. Because somebody will do it. Somebody will do the Well, they were worried about how he was going to be later on his career. Okay, worry about that when he's 30 and you have to worry about the extension.

He's not even in his prime yet by NBA standards, which is just 27, 28.

Bobby Marks points out astutely that he was in line for a massive extension this summer for five years, 345 million. As I started to think, okay, but as the cap goes up, That looks like Jalen Brown's deal was the deal where you're like, that's insane. It's also Jalen Brown and not Luca. But every year we go through the cycle of deals where you're thinking, you're paying 200 million for that guy? And it's like, dude, in two years, these guys are be getting three, three $350 million. Now, Bobby says he's not going to be eligible for that now, so that changes up some things. The only thing I was thinking was, I always thought the Cuban ownership thing was really weird, that this is somebody that has enjoyed being an owner in sports more than any person maybe in any sport. This is somebody who nine years ago said, what is it? Pigs get fed and hogs get slaughtered when he talked about the NFL. Granted, he was basically pumping up his own product, like going on TV, talking a position you have in a company when you own all their stock. But he was basically dogging the NFL's future while he was propping up the NBA's future.

That was nine years ago where he was like, it's going to happen. It hasn't happened. Okay, that's fine. But is there anything to this that it was still very... Remember, two? Like, Oh, yeah, we don't own the team anymore, but we're still going to run it. Like, Oh, yeah, right. Because that's what billionaires love to do is buy things and let other people make all these decisions.

But I think people run. You think it was the new owners potentially not wanting to pay the three I don't know.

I don't know. I'm so shocked by this, guys, that it crossed my mind, could it be any new owner thing? But apparently, people really think that this group, they're not going to screw around with it. So I don't think you can even buy one of these teams anymore. Yeah, but hold on. Hold on, though.

So 350, I didn't think he was in the greatest shape this year. Would you agree, Rob? I agree. Wouldn't say he was- Guys, who cares? No, I know. I'm just trying to figure out from their perspective. They're He's worried about, Hey, what's going on with this dude? He doesn't seem like the light bulb is going off. We're hearing rumors maybe he wants to leave unless we give him the 350 million. Should we do it? With all that said, I'm raising my hand for the people listening. I just would never trade him.

Never.

I just wouldn't. I would trade him for Wemby. I would trade him for Jokage. I would trade him for SGA, and that's it. There's no other player unless I'm also getting five, six first-round pics. When you think this is a league where Mikael Bridges went for five first rounders, or a couple of years ago, KD went for, what was that? Four first rounders, two swaps, Mikael Bridges, and Cam Johnson. This just isn't enough for Luka. I think that's why David Aldrich tweeted, he's been covering the NBA 37 years. Nothing that happens deals, free agent signings, coach hiring fires, rises to the level of as the great Ben Bradley used to call them a holy shit stories. This is a holy shit trade. I think it's bigger than that. The only thing I can think of- What would that be I think it's a holy fucking shit trade. The only thing I can think of is that night when all hell broke loose and Paul George and Kawhi ended up on the Clippers. But at least then we were on call that week. We knew something was happening. We were waiting to see where Kawhi was going to go.

It was a week long.

We were trying to figure out where Kawhi's kids were registered for school. There was stuff happening.

We were on call. We were on call like doctors. This is a Saturday night. The Lakers just played. Lebron looked fantastic against the Knicks. Davis was supposed to come back in a couple of days. There was no sign whatsoever, and we all thought Shams got hacked. Since we've all been working together, it's the most shocking NBA trade, but I'd have to go through history. I can't imagine a bigger one.

Well, and in that case with Paul, George, and Kawhi, Kawhi was on the market. So there were the precursors. There's no market for Luka Donchik. I was under the impression, frankly, with the way the NBA has been operating over the last 5 or 10 years, that a player of this caliber would just never be traded again without a demand or request of some kind on their part. And if that really is what happened, that this is entirely preemptive by the maps. Granted, maybe they are reading the tea leaves about the extension. Maybe they are forecasting and saying, a year and a half from now, we're going to have to deal with this in a way that doesn't look good for us. Every other team in these instances holds on too long and ends up driving down some of the value in a potential trade. The fact that the Mavs jumped the line on that market and still came away with what feels to be such low value for a player of Luka's caliber. Why are you pre-empting it? Why are you getting ahead of yourself and doing something that no other team is willing to do?

In part because no other team pretty much has a player as good as Luka.

Well, and you're also now you have this team that's built around Kyrie, who was 2010 draft, 2011 draft. So he's in his early 30s. Davis was 2012 draft. He's 31. So you have this older team that's built to win right now, but it doesn't have the long term ceiling. I don't think of what they had before. Bobby Marks said Luka was in line for five for 345 this summer. He was super max eligible of being on the same team. That's out the window now because he got traded. So this actually cost him money. I'm still wrapping my head around this. Can we talk about the Dallas piece of this? Does Dallas think this made their team better?

I don't understand it. I We're still reading stuff. Shams has another post here that says, The Mavericks approach the Lakers recently and offered Luca Donchik. Sources tell ESPN, Lakers brass met and believe the 25-year-old Donchik has the ability to be the face of the franchise for the next decade while giving Anthony Anthony Davis, a win-now move in Dallas. The best is the last sentence like, Hey, say something nice about Anthony Davis on the way out of here. I love the idea that they got the call and then we're like, All right, let's kick around some thoughts. How How many opposed? They must have thought that they were getting fucked with when that call first happens. But yeah, on the Dallas side, you're right.

Well, don't you think if you get that call and you're almost like, Am I being pranked? Is my phone tapped? They can't possibly be actually trying to trade Luca Datches to us.

Or what's wrong with them? What happened to Luca that they would even want to trade him in the first place?

It's like when Paul pierce dropped to 10 in the '98 draft that he hit around like pick six, and all the Celtics were like, What happened? Was he arrested? Do we want to take him? Why is he dropping? Rosillo, how about this? Dave McBeneman just tweeted, LeBron learned of the Davis-Donchis trade After the next game, he was out to dinner with his family. Sources close to James told ESPN, he was surprised by the news as processing it, had no idea it was in the work, sources said. I actually believe that. Because I think if any of this even came close leaking out beyond the immediate people that were involved in it, I think it would have leaked out. That's one of the shocking things about this, is that none of this leaked out. No.

I mean, it can't happen, but that also, I think, speaks to the speed of what this was. Because if they had reached out, say, two weeks ago, I think eventually somebody figures it out. I would say, though, if Clutch knew because granted, Davis is their client in this, I don't think that they would have leaked. What would have been the purpose? You wouldn't want anyone to even know about any of this stuff because they wouldn't want competition.

They would have told LeBron. They tell LeBron, and then you don't know what happens. What if LeBron doesn't want the trade to happen? Sure. If you're LeBron, it's like... There's so many pieces to talk about this, but now we have LeBron, James, and Luca Daci They're all on the same team. Luka has had the best seven-year start to a career that any player has had since LeBron. It's been on all the same, and now they're going to be on the same team, which is like... That has only happened a couple of times in the history of the league, where it's like, hey, Wilt's now going to be in the team with Elja Baylor and Jerry West. We just don't have super-duper-star pairings out of nowhere like this. And I honestly don't know how they fit. I think it's a pretty weird fit, the two of them.

You know what, though? That used to be something I used to always think about when they would say Chris Paul and LeBron really want to play with each other. When they were at their peaks, I always thought it was a little stupid because I just felt like it was redundant. It was taking away what both of their greatness was. It was just setting everything up and reading it. When they were both in their primes, I'm like, Why would they actually... I don't even know that that makes a ton of sense. Now, when you watch the Lakers and you think about their best possessions, they were so good tonight, man. Their spacing and the way LeBron was reading everything But a lot of times, Austin Reeves, now post-Angelo Russell, is tasked with having to figure out a way to set up their offense because I think he just has the energy to do it. Lebron doesn't have the energy to play point guard the entire time. Then on the other side of it, as good as Reeves has been, he's the number hunt target for the other team's best player, and they're trying to get him into every single switch.

It's just an exhausting role for Reeves to have all that stuff. It was the best version of him based on who they had. But now with Luka, at this stage, at 40 for LeBron, this is great for him. This is fine. Now, we could talk about their defense because they were always trying to figure out their defense.

Luca LeBron and Austin Reeves all at the same time, three of your five guys. No Anthony Davis.

No rim protection.

Jackson Hayes is still out right now on the East Coast. He's like, extension, baby.

Jackson Hayes is like, finally.

You know what it is, though? I mean, is it worth going immediately Unless there's some more moves, they are a weird team, and the Lakers and ownership are like, fuck it. Who cares? Of course, they said, Who cares? Because now we have arguably the second best player in the world at 25 years old. Now, you do this every time. You just do it.

Zero questions asked.

You don't even blink.

It could play out for a team that's been playing better. And again, you don't make decisions based on how a team is playing for two weeks, but it could play out that it becomes more of a reset year than a, what if we get lucky in the right playoff matchups? And next thing you know, we're in the Western Conference finals, even though I think that that was still unlikely, going up against some of these other teams that I like better in the West. I don't know that we could completely write it off.

No, because they also might have another trade for some rim protection.

Well, they need a big. They need somebody.

I'll say this, man.

I don't think that's Valenzunus as far as rim protection.

That's not what you want.

No, but maybe it's like a Robert Williams. Well, I don't know if he would be able to stay in the court, but it's that level, like the 10, $11 million center who can stay near the rim. I'll say this. This team would... It's breaking my brain thinking about it, but LeBron, the way he's looked tonight in a couple of the games recently, where he's really, really, really, really good and efficient and some of the choices he's making and the way they were spreading the floor for him. He was just violated the Knicks tonight. Then you think about that with Luka and those guys spread out, playing off each other with the offense spread. It's not nothing, Rob. I'm looking at the Laker odds right now on FanDuel. They have these six best odds now to win the title, 21 to 1. So people are wagering on this, Rob.

They still need a lot of work in terms of that frontcourt. I mean, as we said, playable bodies. The Christian Coloco, Jackson Hayes thing, that's not going to get it done. These are small potatoes problems in the scope of when you bring in Luca Donjic. Ultimately, having two supercomputers on the court is just going to give the Laker something that literally no other team in the League has, and the selective deployment of LeBron that we've been talking about where he can now pick his spots at a level that he's never been able to before. And he was someone who played with prime Dwyane Wade. And so that in itself puts them in such a unique space that is frankly unquantified verifiable in terms of what the title race is. I will rule nothing out at this point. Lakers' exceptionalism clearly is a thing that exists, and we need to acknowledge that they can move the pieces around the board in ways that no other team can. There are big markets. Dallas is one of the biggest markets in the league. There are massive markets that operate in their own ways. And then there's the Lakers in their own zone of existence making shit like that.

This happened on a regular basis.

From a hunting the weak link on the other team standpoint, this is a nightmare now with Luca and LeBron, if they can actually figure it out how to balance that. There's always going to be somebody who are like, Oh, you're going to... That's who you're going to have on him? Oh, cool. If they can figure that, they still need some rim protection. Racillo.

Yeah, but we both know. We don't even need to say it, but maybe we just say it one more time. I think the point is, even if they feel like they can't fix themselves, none of it matters.

You still do it. Yeah. Racillo, here's the question for you. What else would you have thrown into this trade from the Lakers side before you said yes, if you were Dallas? The trade they already made, if you were the Dallas GM, what more would you have had to get?

Nothing. There would not have been a trade. I would have gone to a different team. I would have asked for all their pics. I would have said, San Antonio, you're going to give me all your pics. I'm going to even make up some shit. And I'm getting Castle, and I'm getting Vassell, and I'm getting at least one really good young player that profiles to be a difference maker, which still, sometimes we fall in love with these guys so much that you're like, you can go back. It's like the JJ Hicks and Amari Stoudemire thing. Amari ended up being hurt a little bit. It was like, he loved Amari, but we can't put JJ Hixon in the deal. It just happens time and time again. I'll admit, even right now, when I think about the Fox Castle stuff, I'll be like, Man, Castle, there's something to him. But then that's where you can start making some mistakes. As far as what would the Lakers need to keep adding for me to say yes, if the core of this is Anthony Davis, who last year was fantastic, all right? But it was the first All-Star team he had made in three years.

He played 76 games. Before that, he played 56, 40, 36, 62 and 56. So it was his first 70-game season since 2018. And as much as we love what he is, and he's already got the ring, and he was so good last year, you're like, I'm trading for him. I'm trading for Anthony Davis. So if Anthony Davis is the main piece I'm getting back, because I guess they can argue, Hey, we're just different, but now we're competing, and Luca wasn't even playing, and we got some bad news that it might take another month, and things were getting a little weird. Okay, fine. So I guess you're not resetting it the way we would normally expect a franchise and roster to have to reset on moving on from somebody like this. But what's more likely? Davis just ages really well the next four years?

No, I feel like we're at the tail end of the prime with them. For me, if somebody tasked us not knowing this trade was going to happen, make up a Dallas-Lakers trade. Reeves would have to be in it. It would have to be Davis and Reeves.

Or Dalton.

I would assume.

He's untouchable. He's untouchable. Don't connect untouchable.

The 29 pick and the 31 pick. I would have wanted swaps in 28 and 30. I'm sticking you with the worst contract I have in my team. You're taking that, too.

We're going- It's the Vando deal. No, it's the Vando deal.

Right.

Now, I'd have to have all the math in front of me here once Davis and the other stuff is included, then maybe it doesn't work or whatever. But like, with Vandos, every five minutes, I still can't believe it happened.

So Windhorse, I guess, was on ESPN saying that the clip notes are the Lakers were the only offer that Dallas had in their pocket. He didn't think Dallas could get all I could get from LA and that Dallas was hesitant to offer Luca the Supermax this summer. I have no idea why Dallas was hesitant to offer Luca the Supermax this summer unless... Even if they had some crazy insights to his terrible diet habits, some physical issues that maybe they're only aware of, I still would offer him the Supermax. He's Luca Dantzsche. She made the finals last year.

No doubt.

I just don't understand. He could have been smoking cigarettes, Bill. He could have been smoking cigarettes, bringing the ball off the fucking court, and I would still be like, When can we sign you to the Supermax? By the way, I've heard from multiple teams that I sent text to in the beginning of this thing. Not one team even thought. They were completely shocked, totally off the radar. People did not know that he was even available.

No. So this is how- I'm not- This is how I saw the sequel, but it's like the Dennis East sequel where the budget is way bigger. It's like this is not little indie high school anymore. This is a big budget As you guys know, I hate the Lakers. This is infuriating. You're fair, though.

You're fair about it.

Bill, Boston fan is infuriated. How dare they get Luke Adachitch. What the And then what if he gets in awesome shape in a year? Now they're reset. I felt like the Lakers, they weren't real title contenders. They were just illusional enough to think they could be title contenders, and they weren't. They were headed the wrong And now this has saved them because Dallas didn't feel like Luka Donchik was worth $340 million over five years in a league where everybody is getting $300 million for five years now.

If that part is true, this is just going to go down as one of the biggest self-inflicted wounds in NBA history. The fact that that's where they balk. That's where the line is. Inexplicable shit.

Do you think you'll wake up tomorrow, Bill, though?

I'm sorry to to interrupt you, but when something like this happens where everybody is going, you've got to be... And getting guys that work in the league are texting me going, I can't believe this, just like we can't believe it. Is there a moment three days from now where you think you'll understand more?

There's two things I'm not going to understand. One, how is this the trade? I'm just going to trust my blink reaction to reading it and thinking it was Shams getting hacked because the trade seems so lopsided. I just couldn't... I was like, Oh, they fucked that up when they hack Shams. That's one. And then two, how do you not chop them? You have this incredible asset. Basically, you have an open house for the best house in your neighborhood, and the first person walks in and makes you not... They're like, Done. Done. Cancel everyone else who came in. I'm done. Wait, wait. I think we could get more. No, no. That was the first offer. We got it. I just don't understand that. It's just bad business.

But he's not even the house. He's the neighborhood. This isn't an asset. This is He's not a tradable player.

No, it's not. Unless it's for Jokic or Wembedyama or SGA.

Even then, you would have to really think about it. That's how good Luca is.

I guess Tatum is more intradable than Luca, Rusillo. It's one of my lessons tonight. I don't think the Celtics do this trade. Big win for themselves. Oh, man. Everyone you're hearing from is like, We had no idea he was available. I love them.

Again, I'm not talking to 29 teams here. I'm not that cool to get 29 techs back, or I guess I would ask for 28 techs back. But yeah, multiple teams.

What do we got? Another Tim McMahon. We missed this one. The maps had major concerns about moving forward with Luka Donchage due to his constant conditioning issues and looming commitment of another Supermax contract extension. So we're going to get the now they tell us story Monday about the war behind the scenes to keep Luca in shape, that whole thing?

Yeah, but we all knew this stuff. None of it mattered, and they still made the finals in the Western Conference finals, two years before that. If you're going to say, Hey, if he were 32 and available for whatever the most it was, and you're trading for 31-year-old AD, and it's run its course, and he's been there a decade plus. Okay, fine. All right. So say all of it, because you're right, it's all going to happen. What's the problem with shopping There's nothing that tells me this would be the best deal if you called 28 GMs and said, It's real. You have 48 hours. Put together your best offer. And by the way, you'd leak it. You'd leak it so that everybody knew, that everybody knew that it was serious. So that when it's leaked to say a Brian Windhorst, who he'll probably go, I can't believe this is happening. Don't burn me on this. He would have to have the relationship with Nico or somebody with that team. That's how this stuff works. And then all of a sudden, Windhorst is getting calls from team saying, Is this serious? What do you think they're doing?

And then Windhorse is almost in that position because that's like, Woj was so powerful, man. Woj was so powerful that people be checking in on him going like, What's going on over there in Dallas? And then Woj would be telling him the truth. But you would be doing that. You'd be planting that seed so that everybody knew because this guy is now available. So put in your final bids because we're serious about this. And then you start bidding against things you don't need. You know what I mean? When there's those blind bids for... Dice Game, Matuzako had the mysterious gyro ball. Remember, they were blind bids? Yeah. And so you didn't know. You're like, should we offer 15 or 51 million? And you're like, well, I don't want to lose this guy. So you're almost bidding against yourself a little bit. So even if all that stuff, which is going to come out, the negative Luca, he was all of these things, we wanted to get in front of it. You don't want to get this in front of it. You don't want to get so in front of it that the rest of the league doesn't know that he's available.

To me, this is fireable shit. That's why I wonder, did ownership get involved in some level? But from what I've heard, it wouldn't make sense. Who's buying a team now that's scared off from a Super especially when it's somebody like this?

Rob is shaking his head as violently as if it was the worst season finale of all time on the Prestige TV podcast. Him and Joanne were just like, I just can't believe they did that. I just can't believe it.

It's just presumed Dennis all over again. My brain is breaking.

It was a time machine?

The thing that's really shaking me up, and we touched on earlier, is there isn't even the plausible deniability of trading for things that are on a completely different timeline. If you weren't trading for another player in his ostensible prime, and it was all of these pics, all of these swaps, you can at least understand an underlying logic. It would still be questionable. It would still be questionable. But here you have one pick, no swaps. Max Christie, thank God. You couldn't even get Jalen Hood-Shafino out of Utah.

Rassilo, remember I texted you today about the Utah? Yeah. And I was like, this set. So Utah made that weird trade today where they took PJ Tucker's contract and they took money and the Clippers and it was like, Man, this is a weird trade. And I texted Rassilo and I said, my shit detector is going off. You do this trade when there's another trade coming. We were like, Oh, I wonder if it's going to be John Collins and P. J. Tucker for Brandon Ingram. Not realizing it was going to be Luca Donchik as the third team. I'm trying to think if they had offered him to San Antonio, and the three of us were running San Antonio, we would have a two-hour meeting and we would basically say, All right, we could basically give up every single asset we have. If we just end up with Luca and Wemby, we're probably good. Do they want Castle, Vassell, seven first-round pics? Yeah, let's do it. They want us to take a bad contract. Whatever I had to do to just get Luca and Wemby on the same team, I would have done it. The Lakers basically got it.

It feels like 40 cents on the dollar. 41 cents on the dollar, Rasella? I just keep wondering. 41 and a half? 42?

What do we not understand? What do we not understand about this?

Dallas is now under the luxury tax.

Cool.

So that happened. Congrats. According to Bobby Marks, there's 628,000 under the luxury tax. What would you... Rob, you know some Dallas fans.

They're not doing well, by the way.

Yeah, I was going to say, I don't even know. What would you say to a Dallas fan who thought Luka was going to be in their life for the next 15 years?

There's no consoling a fan of a team like that in a situation like this. And As we said, there's no precedent to say, oh, look, it worked out okay for this other team and this other star. They rebooted. They got things together.

Marc Gasol ended up being pretty good.

Max Christie could be their Marc Gasol. That's really what they're hoping for.

He's further along than Mark was.

We should say congratulations to Anthony Davis, who will be playing with the center. Daniel Gaffard for now, Derek Lively later. You get what you wish for. Congratulations to Anthony Davis. There's no coming back from this. I would say the polar extremes of a fan base that was able to hold on to Dirk for so long and had all of the hopes in the world that Luka could be that same fixture within the franchise. Maybe that was always a bit of a stretch. Maybe no player in the modern MBA is that thing anymore. But I think they all count it on him being around longer than this. And certainly, if he did leave, there being a little bit more ceremony to it, there being a little bit more of a bidding war to it, and not just swept out the door in the night for Anthony Davis in a pick and Max Christie.

It's one of the biggest mistakes. I feel very comfortable saying this right after the trade. It's one of the biggest mistakes I can ever remember an NBA franchise making. How is there not a swap?

How are there no swaps? Every trade now, it's like, oh, and by the way, we did two swaps.

We have seven swaps and 14 second-round picks.

There are swaps. There was a swap in a Houston deal where I was like, that's such a stupid swap. It's already set in stone that it's not going to happen. But you wanted to be able to say potentially we have this other pick. Because I think it was an in-season deal. It may have been the Harden-Nets thing where the way the math worked on the swap was like, Oh, we also get the swap this year.

It was the Nets Houston one. Yeah. Where it was like, Yeah, we're going to swap.

And we had no chance. There was no way that was actually going to be in play that they would want to swap pics of them, but it just sounded better, right? Because all these trades get reported and potentially up to five first-round pics. That part of it was one the first things where I thought it was hacked. I was like, Oh, the guy hacked him and wasn't smart enough to put in two swaps because this deal would always have a couple swaps in it.

Two things. Number one, this is where I have to go back to things I've written in the past and regurgitate them. The FU factor with Luca now is going to be unbelievable. I think he's the wrong guy to challenge with an FU. I can't think of somebody in our lives from a basketball standpoint that I'm more excited about to have a fucking fire lit under his ass now. Really? You guys traded me? What happens if he really takes this seriously? He's like, All right. Then I never felt like from a physical diet, the whole thing, it always felt like there was going to be some year coming. We would joke about it on all of our podcasts. Oh, wait till the year when there's the video of Luca in August and he's fucking working out and he's jacked and he's eating And he's eating grilled chicken and beets, pickles. Maybe that's going to happen. That's one. The other one is, is LeBron the next move here? No. Because I had somebody that knows things was saying that they do this, they don't give LeBron a heads up. And then the next move is LeBron to Golden State.

Wow.

And they're just basically out of the LeBron and AD business and rebooting.

What happens to LeBron?

I think he's probably in the trade. I think he has to come. Lebron, he had a lefty lay up today.

He's in Santa Cruz.

He got one today.

He did.

I love the- He still got a percentage in the teens again.

I love all the announcers. What if LeBron was like- Everybody has to be nice.

Lebron has the no trade clause, but what if LeBron is like, All right, now I'm next, and that door was open, too. Or maybe he'll be like, This is great. I can't wait to play Luka Donchik.

Then Laker blows up the deal because he's like, I'm not paying tax on Bronnie's extension.

Can we stretch Bronnie for the next 18 years? Rizel, what do you think about the FU side of the Luka thing now? Yeah, I think Can you see a year in three years where he's just in awesome shape and just declaring war on the league?

I would hope so. I mean, just think how much scarier that would be. But I think he's always one of those guys. Jokić has a bit of this, where you always think Jokuj is spent, and it's just the the way he carries himself for his 35 to 38 minutes a night. Granted, it's been cranked up what he's had to do, especially at the beginning of the year with all the injuries. But Luka is somebody who forever throughout the game, he constantly looked like he's hurt. He's a bit theatrical with it. Lebron has been that way for a good chunk of his career. We were like, Oh, no. Is he going to get up? Is he going to get up? So maybe. But he's a pretty mad guy. I mean, he's probably one of the maddest players, and you would want that to translate some of the offseason stuff. I think there have been times, too, in Dallas where I'd hear like, Okay, we really expect him to come in. So pissed off. The problem is, what are you going to do? It's not like he's putting up 30 and they're the 11th seed in the West.

So whatever his approach is, it's hard to tell him, Hey, you need to change this thing, because I know that his background is that he's just different. Obviously, he's very different. His father's different. It's a different culture and the way they look at the profession of the whole thing. I don't know what the LeBron part of it is. I wonder, Rob, do you think AD feels like, I'm out of this and this is cool, or I went to the one team that Clutch wanted me to go to to be paired up with LeBron, win the title? Now, granted, the Lakers are just going to do this no matter what. Yeah. Or is there a part of this where if LeBron's 35, they don't do it because Because they're worried about the relationship more with LeBron. But again, then maybe they don't take his kid. I'm just thinking about the clutch part of it. If Davis is thinking, Hey, it's cool, whatever. Dallas would be one of the five places I'd want to play. I don't know if he has a new relationship with Kyrie. They're going to say all the right things and all that stuff.

Rob, before you answered that there was stuff on there about AD and Nico Harrison had a really good relationship, and that was one of the reasons Dallas wanted to trade for him. Take that for what you will.

The Nico Harrison part of this is fascinating, because he had done a pretty tremendous job overhauling the Mavericks roster over the last couple of years. Even moves, I was highly skeptical when they traded for Kyrie in the first place. I didn't quite see the vision of that. It was just hit after hit after hit.

I think it's fair of everybody to be like, I don't know that I would want to trade for him, but at that point... Yeah, go ahead.

At this point, if you are AD, I agree that if you're a player of his stature at his position that plays the way he does, if you look around the league, Dallas is a pretty good spot for AD to land. The supplement of being the return for Luka Donchik is a pretty strong endorsement of your game in and of itself. What's a little confusing to me as we juxtapose all of the pieces in this deal, not only are the Mavs getting AD, they're getting this 2029 pick, but we just said that Luka Donchage is not only this level of playmaker, but this level of fuck you competitor. You're betting that a Luka Donchage Lakers team isn't going to be that good in 2029? I think they're going to be pretty fucking good.

Yeah, that's a good point. Yeah, you would almost want the 2031 pick over the 29 Or just get fucking both of them because you're trading for Luka Donchage. Give me both picks. What picks do you have? I'm going to take all the remaining picks you have. I'm getting a slew of text, and they're now moving as we're like 40 minutes after the trade, 45 minutes. Two camps are now merging. This league fixed it for the Lakers. This is fucking bullshit. You've got to investigate this. I'm getting those text.

Are you doing that monolog on Tuesday's pod?

I want to research it more and maybe talk to some lawyers. Then there's some clutch and AD and LeBron pushed the Lakers too far, and they finally said, Fuck it, we've had it. That was why they didn't give them a heads up, any of that stuff. I actually believe that because I think when there was those stories last week about, what was it a week or two weeks ago about we need some help. It was the self-esteem. We got to improve the roster. When they did that, I was like, Are you guys fucking serious? We're doing this again? You're doing that, we've got to improve the roster, pass aggressive thing. Your roster is actually pretty good. So I wonder if maybe they're just trying to get out of this business completely. And plus, they traded for Luka Donchage, so of course, they're doing that.

So they trade for Luka Donchage and the Lakers get to be the little guy standing up to Big Bad Clinch.

Yeah, the little $7 billion dollar team standing up to the $15 billion dollar agency. Yeah.

By the way, six months after they drafted his son and gave him a two-year $100 million extension. And so like, wow. You guys really told them. You did it, guys.

I knew they could.

If we want to compliment them, do you think Palanca at some point, like Niko was like, I need two first, and Palanca had the balls to go? No. I'll give you one.

He's like, What about a 20-30 swap? I was like, No, my offer's my offer. My shitty offer stands.

Because the story about when the Celtics did that Nets deal, when it was all of their picks, it was like a real Christopher Columbus type moment with one of those trades. I remember I was in Brooklyn for the draft because I was doing the draft for ESPN, and I remember how confused I was at first. I was like, So they get this pick, but then they have the right to do this? The story goes that they were like, Hey, it's Prokheroff. Just keep asking. They'd agree, and then it's like, call them back.

That's how they got the 17th swap. That's how they got the Tatum pick. The last second, they were like, Hey, we want that, too. He's like, Oh, that's fine. That sounds good. I will give you that.

That's some good Prokheroff.

Thank you. I've been working on my prokheroff. I knew it was going to come in handy. Yeah. So Dallas, Nico Harrison really values the center position, apparently. Values conditioning and doesn't value pics in the 2030s. That's what we've learned.

I'm just trying to think of how it would have hit me if someone would have told me a week ago, Rob Polinka is going to win executive of the year and what it would take to get us to that point. But I think it just happened.

I think it just happened. There's one other Tim McMahon reporting that Luca was pushing 270 pounds. I don't give a shit.

I don't give a shit. It doesn't matter.

We're still looking. Can we talk about hood Shefinos fit with the jazz? How do you see him playing off of John Collins and some of their base?

How are he and Sensible all going to play together?

I just don't want my guy, Will Hardy, to retire this year if there's another on-ball dominant dude while Markanin's standing off to the side. Just being sad. I like Keante George, but the number of times I'll see him dribble in and then not get the angle and then be like, All right, let me just reset this. Trey Young watches that film. It's like, Dude, you're going to move the ball a little bit. He'll go in. I mean, it doesn't happen all the time anyway. Nobody wants a jazz breakdown at this point. I think you wait your whole life to have a player like this. A franchise waits. I agree. You hope to have... There's some teams that are spoiled, your team, Bill, the Lakers are spoiled, Chicago certainly had that one guy. I'm not saying Lucas MJ or any of that stuff. Lebron's had some different stops. It's a more modern version of what we're used to in the NBA. But you hope as an owner or a city, you get somebody that makes you think anything is possible if you have the right pieces around.

What happened last year.

Yeah, right. The fact that he turns 26.

Yeah, you're talking about somebody who has a chance to go down as one of the 15 best players of all time. We haven't seen anything yet that would make me think that's not still in play. He's hit every statistical benchmark you want. He's made the finals already, which is a huge piece of when you're talking about the greatest guys ever, did they actually have a moment where they got to the big stage pretty early in their career? He did that. We know that player's peak, 26, 27, 28. He's not even those ages yet. Now he's going to be playing for the Lakers. He's going to be a huge star. He's going to love it He's going to be a big celebrity in a city of celebrities. He's playing for... This is the most famous franchise that we have in the NBA. Has been the most successful because the Celtics have won a couple more titles. I don't count the Minnesota ones. But this is the most famous franchise in the NBA. It is. They've been the most famous franchise for 60 years. Celebrity fans, they keep winning. They're relevant every single decade. They pulled it off again.

I just can't believe it.

How many is this? It's Will, it's Kareem, it's It's Shaq, it's LeBron, it's Luca. Am I missing anybody that's that Mount-Royce?

Will, Kareem, and they look out with the magic trade. That was ridiculous.

It's a trade, but he's- Gasol. I'm saying Gasol.

Kobe. 12 teams passed on Kobe, but then especially like- I'm talking about player acquisition. Net's not taking them. Yeah, player acquisitions, Gasol is a big one, and then Davis is the last one.

Say that again. It's Will, it's Kareem, It's Shaq, it's Gasol, it's LeBron, it's Davis, and it's Luca?

Yeah. Just players they didn't draft that got sucked into their franchise. Who just showed up. Yeah. Because people love living in Los Angeles, including me and Rosillo. All right.

No one traded for me.

The only thing we didn't really cover is a Lakers team that will have Rui Hachimara, LeBron James, we think, unless he's the next piece of this, Austin Reeves, Jackson Hayes, Finnie Smith, Vandebilt, Gabe Vincent, Connect, and Luca when he comes back. And I assume they'll trade for some big rub. Yeah. I don't want to see that team in a playoff series. Sorry, I don't.

I don't care who is on Luca's team. I wouldn't want to play against him in a playoff series. This is part of this formula, too, is not only is Kaloka, one of the best players in the world. He's uniquely capable of lifting up minimum salary guys, mid-salary guys, all the players that are going to be essential in an apron, like luxury era, luxury tax era. He's the player that makes those pieces work, that makes a Christian Coloco viable, that will make Jackson Hayes viable, that will allow you to find... He broadens the range of the supporting talent you can put around him to make it make sense. So, yeah, if it is LeBron and Luka and Rui and Austin Reeves and whoever you can butchers around that, it's going to be competitive. It's going to be formidable because Luka Donchik is a part of it.

I would say one of the biggest gambles in the history of the league, the Mavericks, who basically seem like they just wanted to get out of the Luka Donchik business, which was frightening enough a decision to make, but then on top of it, to not shop him. I think it's going to be something that if it works out the way I think the three of us might think it's going to work out, that we'll be talking about for the rest of the time we talk about basketball. It's like, remember when the Mavericks did that? Remember when they just didn't shop Luca at all? They traded him for 28 cents of the dollar. It's an amazing trade. I think we hit everything. Anything else, Ursula?

Yeah, I just want to follow up Rob's point though, a little bit on what's possible around it long term and how he raises your floor so much. I always think there's these conference finals runs with teams that are really fluky, can actually cause more damage to the team in believing there's something that they're not. And Maybe a couple of years ago, you could have made that case for Dallas, but they turned the team over. They were better than making it to the NBA Finals. And we know it's primarily because of Luka. But if you look at that team that played against the Warriors and lost in five games a couple of years ago, look at the shot attempts. Luka took 118. Here are the next shot attempt leaders. Jalen Brunson, who was not even close to, I can't even say half formed, not even fully formed, Jalen Brunson, Dinwiddie, Dorian Finney-Smith, Reggie Bullock, Maxi Kliba, Bertans. Those are the guys taking shots against the Warriors, and that's the team that he had in the Western Conference final. I'm totally with you on how he raises it, but I do wonder how much of it is feeling each other out, knowing that you have to stay glued to your spot for Luka on those drives because he's going to make the pass to the last possible second.

That's stuff that basketball players can figure out pretty quickly. Don't reset and move from your spot because he's going to find you. But defensively, yeah, there's still... This is No one's going to sit here and go like, Oh, I don't like him now defensively in the playhouse. That's not what this is about, is you have a face of the franchise that's this special for the next seven years, probably. Because, hell, as much as we could worry about his conditioning, if he's this good already, He's already played at the body type of the guy that ages later on. I can't believe it. I know I've already said it a million times. I don't know how you run a basketball team and you don't let the world know he's available.

Then for the Lakers, when you're looking at the tail end of this LeBron thing, God only knows how many more years he's going to play. But when you think you got to keep the building filled, you got the most expensive seats in the league, you got all those suites, and it's like, What are you going to do? Are people going to be coming to see Anthony Davis and Austin Reeves. Now you have Luca, who, other than O'Tani, is now the biggest, and LeBron, obviously, but LeBron's on the tail end. But now you have Luka who has a chance to be the biggest star in the city. Your other option was Austin Reeves. Rob seems like sneaky, devastated. You just know too many Dallas Mavericks fans. There'll be a lot of hugs in your future, a lot of Zooms where you're just telling people it's okay.

A lot of just nodding acknowledgement with people who are in deep existential pain, and you just have to be there for them in the way that you can. You have to listen. You have to feel everything that they're feeling. Honestly, for everything that Dallas is going through, I am in utter disbelief of exactly what you just laid out, which is the expedience of the Lakers reset. I had taken it into account that whenever the LeBron era or the AD era or the combined era coasted out, it would take a couple of years, at least, before they could find their next Shaq, their next Kareem, we know they're going to do it. Or maybe never. Yeah. Maybe this would be the one time where it would actually take a significant window before the next superstar walked in the door. We really didn't even have to wait. The era didn't even end. This is the smoothest transition of power that we've seen in a recent NBA history. It is jarring on every possible basketball level and an inexplicable trade for Dallas. It just doesn't get better than this if you're the Lakers. It really doesn't.

I mean, think about it. They had a six-year playoff trial before they won it.

Right. One other thing I was thinking, I was just thinking back to my pyramid, like the best guys ever. Some of them got traded, right? Like, LeBron switched teams, Kareem got traded, Wilt got traded a couple of times. Moses. Moses Roses got traded, but really signed with Philly, and then they traded him. Durant changed teams. He go through the top 20... Kg got traded, but he decided where he was going. If you go through the top 25 players ever, none of them were blindsided by being traded. This is the first time somebody, at least who has top 25, top 30 all-time talent. I'm going through Barkley, Coosy. I guess Barkley, but Barkley knew he was going to get traded that summer. Kawhi Leonard was demanding a trade that whole summer. This is the first time we've seen somebody with that talent just been like, Hey, dude, you're out of here. Here's the number of the new GM. Call him. He'll tell you how to get your stuff. This is just an unconscionable trade. I think it's a massive mistake, and I think it's an amazing day for the Lakers, and I refuse to congratulate them.

I can't believe this happened again. How does this happen? The Pal Gasol trade in this. How does this happen? Were there were no other bidders for a guy that nine teams wanted?

The pal one's easy to explain.

Is it? Incompetence. Yeah.

There was a lot of... I just remember the conversations at the time. You're like, Oh, okay.

That seems to make sense. They chated them two weeks ahead.

I'm worried about Bill because you're going to have access to these people in your life that are going to start hammering like the chiefs get too many calls stuff.

The conspiracy stuff. It's going to get me the brow up. You're right. I got to be careful.

Right. Just be careful because I'm worried about your next episode. If If Qatar signs an extension with the Kings, then you're going to be like, Oh, wait, this was all countrymen. They were all in it together.

Like a big Slovenian thing. Jesus, I didn't even think of that. Thank you to Thank you to nephew Kaya, who I don't think was 100% sober tonight, but it's fine. I think he was functional enough to produce the pod. That's why he's a pro. Listen, it was the day off for all of us. Thank God my wife is doing dry February. I'd like to thank her that I wasn't drinking wine tonight, that I was able to do the podcast. Thanks to Rob Mahoney and Ryan Rosillo on very short notice. I can't wait to find out more about why that fucked straight happened. You could listen or you could watch this podcast, too, on the Bill It's a YouTube channel. Guys, thank you. I really appreciate it. Thanks, Bill. Must be 21 plus in President's select states for Kansas, an affiliation with Kansas Star Casino or 18 plus in President DC. Gambling problem, call 100 Gambler, or visit rg-help. Com. Call 1-88-789-7777 or visit ccpg. Org/chat in Connecticut, or visit mdgamblinghelp. Org in Maryland. Hope is here. Visit gambling helpline ma. Org, or call 800-327-5050 for 24-7 support, Massachusetts, or call 1877-8 Hope, NY, or text Hope, NY in New.