In the last three seasons:
- Luka took the Mavs to the WCF in 2022 (losing to the eventual champions Warriors, where he was arguably the best player in the series)
- Luka took the Mavs to the Finals in 2024 (where he was definitively the best player on offense in the series).
I don't understand why y'all keep putting all this emphasis on his weight issues and lack of commitment on defense. It's completely irrelevant in this context because he's a top-3 player and has proven himself to be the #1 option on a contending team. He brought that franchise back from irrelevancy, both on the court and their monetary value as an NBA aegis.
Even if the perceived issues you had of him didn't exist, nothing would've changed over the last three years, so what possible logical reason could there be to trade him?
There isn't one.
The best that AD could do leading a team was get them out of the 1st round, one time. He couldn't even get the Pels on the map, in any sense of the word.
Beyond how lopsided this trade is in a vacuum, when Kyrie and AD both end up inevitably declining and the Mavs need to retool, what star is going to willingly want to go to Dallas after how they disposed of Luka like they did? This is going to deter free agents and any players who're they're wanting to draft in the future as long as the Adelsons own the Mavs.
He took the Mavs to the WCF
with Brunson.
He took the Mavs to the Finals
with Kyrie.
He didn’t just drag these teams by himself, that’s disingenuous.
Without those level of talent or the defense that helped him get to the finals last season, it isn’t a foregone conclusion the lakers will have the same success Luka had with the Mavs.
Luka’s flaws being brought up is because it has impacted their team. Your best player doesn’t care about how he carries his weight or defense, it trickles down to the rest team & normalizes you don’t have to do the hard work. The Celtics purposely attacked Luka in the finals again and again because of his lack of effort on defense.
Reminds me of Charles Barkley in a way, went to the Finals (like Luka), rebounding, scoring menace (like Luka), weight issues (like Luka), lack of defense (like Luka), won MVP (we shall see with Luka), never won a ring (again, we shall see).
You’re essentially propping his accomplishments and downplaying his flaws that could be detrimental to potential success. It’s not a fair and balanced argument, it’s actually biased.
