Blockbuster NBA Trade: Superstar Luka Doncic Moves to Lakers

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00:00Certainly this is as big a trade as we've ever seen in the league. I don't recall another one

00:05like this where you have a superstar player just dealt in the middle of the night, a pair were

00:12reported at least in the middle of the night, to one of the most iconic franchises in the history

00:17of sports in the Los Angeles Lakers. So it's like, it kind of feels like how did they get lucky again?

00:22You know, the commissioner several years ago, there was a Chris Paul trade. I know that that

00:26was not allowed and people are bringing that up. I don't know that this is comparable to that,

00:31but you would think that if Luka is healthy and in shape starting as soon as next year,

00:37it immediately changes the future of the Lakers franchise.

00:41Yeah, you know, the Chris Paul trade, I don't think is on the same level as it,

00:45the one that got vetoed, of course, that the initial trade was sending him to the Lakers.

00:49I don't think it's on the same level as this because that trade was so lopsided that,

00:52you know, the commissioner at the time had to step in, David Stern had to step in and,

00:55and, and kind of, you know, make sure that the Lakers weren't going to get this

00:59incredible super team at the time with Chris Paul. And then they were going to somehow regain

01:02Palo Alto. Like that was a part of that as well. When they shipped them out, this one is a life

01:06for life, right? Like we're trading two top 12 ish players. The only difference is really the age,

01:11right? Like Anthony Davis is, is in his thirties, early thirties. Luka Doncic is not yet hit his

01:16prime, just 25 years old and still has time on his contract. So it is weird in the sense that

01:21you are trading someone or the Dallas Mavericks are saying to themselves, like, we got the best

01:25out of Luca and good luck, you know, deal with him over there. We don't think that he's going

01:30to be able to live up to the mass super max contract that we would have been able to pay him

01:34a summer from now, not even this summer, the next upcoming summer. So they were trying to

01:39stop a problem. And in doing so, they actually created a bigger problem for themselves and

01:43having to answer all these questions. Cause now this team that they've built with Anthony Davis

01:48has to win a championship because they were saying that, Hey, the top, the final scene that

01:52we got last year, the team that was three wins away from winning an NBA championship

01:56just wasn't good enough. And we feel we're better with Anthony Davis. So now the only way to

02:01actually prove that is to go out and win an NBA title. Yeah. And so Carla, here's,

02:05here's what I would say as somebody who's reported on professional sports for a long time

02:10and considered as far as baseball goes to be an insider of some kind, I feel like I have good

02:16sense for this sort of stuff, Carlin. And I, and I think that what you're saying in the end, I think

02:20is accurate, but I truly do feel, and I've seen this play out before the Russell Wilson trade

02:26comes to mind as well. I got to feel like the Mavericks know him better than anybody else.

02:30And for them to do this, I think jumping to conclusions. And again, I don't know how it's

02:35going to work out for the Mavericks, but jumping to conclusions to just assume that they don't know

02:39what they're doing, I think is super foolish, man. Like, I don't know. I feel like eventually

02:44a reporter in Dallas, Carlin, maybe a national reporter, and it could be a year from now. It

02:50could be two years from now. I think a lot more is set to come out about why this deal was done.

02:55Maybe it'll be fed to a reporter in some way. It'll be off the record. I don't know, but I'm

02:59just not buying that the Mavericks just are silly or a silly franchise and didn't know what they

03:05were doing. I think personally, they felt like, in my opinion, that like a thief in the night,

03:11you call one team once, once you open up the door to everybody and everyone starts wondering

03:15what the heck's going on with this guy, why would they want to trade him? I think they felt like

03:18this was the max that they could get. Maybe some people don't feel like it's a lot in Anthony

03:22Davis, but I think that something else happened here. Yeah. And there's two different things

03:27here, right? Like there's a public perception and, and that's what I was just speaking on.

03:30Public perception is the Dallas Mavericks made a huge mistake going forward. And like I said,

03:35the only way to kind of change that in most people's minds is to go out and win an NBA title.

03:39If you want my honest opinion, I think the pressure here is on Luka Doncic. Luka Doncic

03:44was just sold to the Los Angeles Lakers for what many believe is less than what his actual value

03:49is. Luka Doncic is being told like, Hey, you were not good enough to win us a title here.

03:54Good luck over there. Luka Doncic was told, Hey, you know, you've been able to get away with

03:58certain things here in Dallas that you might not be able to get away with in LA. And some of that

04:03is true, right? Dallas is not a small market, but it's not LA. LA is a national story, whether

04:08they're good or bad and not just in the NBA, like when they transcend sports, like they're one of

04:13those franchises we talk about throughout sports. They're in the level of the Yankees, the Dallas

04:17Cowboys. That's where the Lakers are. We put them on a pedestal. So game 21, when Luka Doncic isn't

04:23playing defense, that is going to be a talking point. And that hasn't happened so far in his

04:28career. He's going to have to step up and prove to the Dallas Mavericks that they made a huge

04:32mistake by getting rid of him here. And the only way to do that is to really win a title because

04:37all the greats have done that in LA. You talk about Shaq, you talk about Kobe, you go back even

04:41further, Magic Kareem, anyone that has ever worn a Laker uniform that has been considered an all-time

04:47great has been able to win a championship. And that includes LeBron James, who is now his teammate. So

04:52championship or bust really right now for Luka Doncic and a guy who started the last two seasons

04:57as a favorite to win the MVP has not yet gotten an MVP. Like that's not going to be good enough in

05:02LA. You got to maximize that potential and deliver. And it starts now. The minute he

05:08starts, it steps foot on the court whenever he does come back from injury.

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