This is the place where sports being skilide, Dennis Sports, emergency live, emergency live, probably one of the most shocking news announcements in sports that I've seen in quite some time because of the players that are involved. If you guys are watching or listening to this, you already saw the title. Luka Dockage was traded. And the wee hours of the night burning the oil to the Lakers for Anthony, Davis, and some other players, Max Christie, Cleber is another one.
A number of players, but we know the major pieces on all the ones that count, Dockage for AD, who I just never would have imagined that would happen. Before we went on, we also got other news about Darren Fox being traded to the Spurs for multiple trial picks, and then Zach Levine is going to Sacramento. So that just broke, which is interesting as well. But yeah, this Luka to the Lakers is a very interesting trade.
So- You see, I'm already drinking about this kid. Oh, what did you think? I got it. I've been thinking about it like, because I saw all of the, I was just hopping in the bed, and I saw all the text messages going back and forth, theories about who's going and where, who's going this, and who's doing that.
And it's just like, it was a lot. So, and I'm still processing. But nevertheless, it is official. What is Shariam saying, whatever his name is?
I mean, it just respects him. Shariam, wow. He said, this is not, I haven't been hacked. So, amen, Shelton, I'm gonna start with you first.
What were your thoughts when you saw this trade go down? This had to be the most shocking trade I think I've ever seen in my whole lifetime. I can't think of anything that's equivalent. They were trying to come up.
I saw a couple who were trying to come with the football equivalent to this trade being made. And the closest thing I saw was two of them, when they said Lamar Jackson for the Rams quarterback. Matthew Stafford. Matthew Stafford.
That's the closest thing. And I was like, yeah, that's kinda close. Or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, sorry, something like that. There's something, there's no real equivalent to this trade.
I was, I was shocked because two reasons, one, Dallas initiated the trade. That's completely surprising for me because you take a 25 year old franchise player that took his team, I don't care what, look like, I don't, you know, yeah, he didn't play no defense. All that stuff, you can say whatever. He took a Dallas team that was pretty much dormant when he got there to the championship.
You can't, you can't, the only thing you could've done different was winning. So, to move a piece like that, that's unheard of in this day and age. And he's been 25 years old, in line for a super max contract. To move him at this point was just mind-boggling.
And then what you got back in return, is comparison to some of these other people. You think about Rudy go bare, for example, what they got back in the hall for Rudy go bare trade. And you look at what the Lakers gave up, this is highway robbery. AD, Max Christie, in the first round in 2029, like there's nothing, they going off to, I feel like this is, it's like who thinks about AD this highly in 2025?
Like I know we, I know we, I just, man you wanna have a time to talk. I was saying, I made me the one on the island, but everybody keep on talking about AD this, AD, I'm like, bro, I would never want AD to be the face of my franchise. We already seen that story. We've seen that movie before.
It don't really get you nowhere. So to me, it's like, never mind, go ahead, I'm sorry, I ain't even in a row. He had to leave his own team to get the title though. Like, you know what I'm saying?
Like he got them a title, but that was what, five years ago? Yeah, it wasn't with the team as the lead dog. Yeah, my bad. Well, I'm just saying, like even then, like people say he's still a top 10 player, you know, he's or whatever.
Maybe he has top 10 talent, but like, I'll say this. This is just a weird ass trade. I don't know what to say. I don't wanna say, I don't wanna say if it's anything like, it's a who's won and who's lost.
I think that's, I'll lead it up to y'all for right now and I'm not talking about marketing and all that stuff. Okay, yeah, on the court. Yeah. Even on the court, it benefits you because like I said, you take a superstar in the league right now, which he is definitely that.
You take one of the top superstars in the league and you put me in him into a team that is devoid of talent and superstars and other, you lose your defender. You defend your best defender. It's addition by subtraction. 80 is not his best ability.
You don't find Luca Doncio. And 80's been healthy over the last two seasons. You don't find Luca Doncio. You don't find Luca Doncio.
And he's been healthy over the last two seasons. I think he's been a lot of the best. I think he's been a lot of the best. Yeah, so that's that talking point is by now that was old 80.
He's still he's still. But to me scoring scoring wasn't a Lakers issue. It was like defense because of the web, the conference that they're in. Like especially with the type of bigs that they face.
Granted, some of that's changed a little bit, but like you still have some bigs that can score and defend and now you gave up your big that could score and defend for a guy who essentially does the same things LeBron does except he's younger. Well, I'll many of my head into units and Duane said he played 80 plays 76 games last year. It's most games he's ever played. I think 76 lesser.
I think he's a lot of the players. I think he's a lot of the players. I think he's a lot of the players. I think it's most games he's ever played.
I think 76 lesser. Yeah. So I met because I know people got a lot. I know you've got a lot to say many as a fan of the franchise.
Yeah. I don't know if they traded away the wrong Laker player for you. Because I know you're more anti LeBron, but I know you had to have been stoked when you saw you guys get a look at it. Bro, I was on I was actually I was on a way to the movie there.
I was gonna go see that new movie companion check it out by the way. It's pretty good. So I was on a way to see that and like the area where I go to see the movies that it's like services kind of in and out. And right when I get to the movie there and I'm parking, I'm getting alerts on my phone and shit.
And I'm like, what's going on? And I see Lucas and Lakers and I'm just like, I had to like literally like mid park just like stop and look like the fuck like what? No, this can't be real. So then I'm texting people.
I'm seeing the dead end group check. Like, no, this is like legit. Like this is really happening. So I was stunned.
Like literally I mean, obviously from a Laker fan perspective, I'm static. Like this is a trade that if you're a Laker, if you're Rob Lincoln, Mitch Cupjack, Jerry West, name a Laker general manager, you're gonna make it every single time. Because the thing about it is, Luca Daunchich, when at his worst, he's what, the fifth, sixth player in the NBA at his best, he's probably the second or third best player in the world. Like these guys don't grow on trees.
We're not talking about a jailing green. We're not talking about some guy you can find easily in some other places. This is Luca Daunchich. This is a once in a generation type of talent at 25 that has already accomplished a lot in his career already.
And now you're adding him to your franchise and all you're giving up. And I love AD. All you're giving up is Anthony Davis at 31, Max Christie in the first round pick. Like I'm driving the Dallas to pick him up.
Forgive me. I'm driving to Dallas to pick up Luca Daunchich. Like let me know what I gotta do. Like I'm going there to get him.
So I think if you're Lakers, I think this is a no-brainer. To me, this isn't even about the Lakers because I think this now sets up the Lakers for their next run. This is not even about LeBron. This isn't even about AD.
I think this now, this is now the start of the next Laker era with Luca and whoever else used around Luca with because LeBron is 40. He's not gonna play that much longer. I don't think. And even if he does, it's probably not gonna be on the Lakers.
So yeah, I think this is, this has so little to do with the Lakers and it's more about Dallas. What the fuck is Dallas doing? First of all, they didn't shop him. You didn't request a trade.
Like they initiated trade conversations. The only thing they talked to was LA. Crazy. Well, the team, well, the team, well, the team, well, the team five-year-old superstar.
Well, the team that you'll talk to is final. And NBA final. Finished second MVP. You're trading him for what?
Like why are you afraid he likes chips of hois and he likes fried chicken? You can talk to him. That's really what we're doing. Like you're trading him because you don't want to pay him for $80 million.
What? Like the Dallas piece of this, I do not understand. You couldn't trade him. Anybody else who believed, though, Nick, any other team in the league would have taken him.
Philly was the better example because they could have given more. You couldn't trade him anywhere else and got more pieces than you did. The Lakers had a bare cover. The last thing I went to.
Hey, you were literally getting 28, 29 of the team's calling you. And Mark Cuban said he wasn't involved in any of this. He's not even though he really is. He doesn't even know if he really knows the team anymore.
He's a minority owner. He's a minority owner. But he doesn't own the team. And we can try to own the owner.
That's not a GM. Like when you trade a player of that magnitude, like Rob and Lincoln had to consult us. Like when you're trading players at this level, that's an ownership call. So yeah, I am fascinated by Dallas piece of this trade because it doesn't make any sense.
And you know what I thought instantly when I heard the news, something happened. Like did Luca sleep with a 14-year-old? You're right. Did he piss hot?
And nobody knew about something? Is he about to get suspended for a year? Like that's instantly because it doesn't make any sense otherwise. Can you make it make it make a trade a player of this magnitude?
Unless the player requests a trade. Maybe I'll load the clip. I'll load the clip. So obviously there's several factors here.
First and foremost, right? Let me know just some of the things that Manny said from the Dallas Mavericks perspective. When a trade like this happens and it wasn't shopped, it wasn't public. We didn't know that this was something that was being discussed.
That means that that organization internally has had it with Luca. I sent you guys a little video of Michael Finley taking away a beer from Luca and after they wanted to come to NBA finals? Yeah, you should be drinking. You should be drinking.
Especially when you are Luca Gunchich. We know that he has an issue like Zion Williamson and a lot of these youngins with stamina, with health, right? We've seen Luca have a lot of soft tissue injuries in the last couple of years. And we also can see from his rookie year to where he is now, just look at the pictures, the picture progressions for every year.
The man is getting fat in the face. He's not taking the conditioning aspect of being a professional. It's serious as he is a baller. I don't disagree with what he is on the basketball court on the offensive side of the ball, right?
I don't disagree. He is a once in a generation offensive talent in the NBA. When it happens the way it happens, it means that they're over it. Now, to adjust a couple of the other things, Nick, you were talking about the basketball fit.
When I thought about this, I'm like, bro, I don't understand it. Mainly because LeBron is no longer that dude that is a magic eraser for all things that are an issue with a basketball problem. He's 40. He looks 40 on the defensive end.
He doesn't have the same amount of effort. He doesn't have the same wheels for the whole game. He can turn it on and off, but you can't dominate the basketball game on the defensive end. You let go of Anthony Davis, one of the best defenders.
Now, you bring in a guy that is out of shape. You bring in a guy that doesn't play defense because he doesn't want to play defense. We saw him in the finals run out of gas. The whole time I was saying this guy doesn't...
We saw him in everything. He was carrying that team to... We know what Kyrie is. Me and my homie came up with a way to identify certain type of players.
Luca is a dragger. Meaning that he could drag. It doesn't matter who the hell is on that roster. He could drag that team to heights that you didn't think they were possible.
That's why I say, look, like, offensively he is that guy, but defensively I don't know what he looks like with the Lakers. From the Lakers perspective they have that true passing of the baton from Le Bronze to Luca. A.D. was questionable because A.D.
he's never been Batman. He's always been Robin. We know that Luca could be damn near Superman. We know that about Luca.
That being said, everything the way that it transpired I'm cool at how it transpired. You know what I'm cool at how it transpired. I think it helps both teams. the GM of what he said with Dallas is that they're more with now makes sense.
I didn't understand the Kyrie, Luke, a thing in the first place from a basketball perspective, right? We're talking about two isolation heavy players, both of those guys were top 10. Matter of fact, I want to say it was top six or top seven and isolation basketball plays. Now they're efficient in isolation, but you don't win championships that way.
Name the other team. I got to stop you. Yeah. Go ahead.
I don't agree with nothing with you saying because everything you said about Luke, the man was in the championship game of the championship last year. So everything you said is out the window saying that, you know, they were fed up with him and he's 25 years old yet. And he's dragging his team, which is exactly what you said. And you traded him for a Robin.
It still don't make no sense from Dallas. And agreeing that Dallas is in a win. You don't trade a 25 year old superstar winner. Win now mode.
That's winning now. He wins now because he does have the conditioning. We saw that. No, he's the narrative.
Now the narrative. I love this. I love this, right? Because now the narrative, the narrative has been there, but now the narrative is going to hit overdrive now, right?
Like, Luca is being now compared to like a Zion. The Zion situation is totally different. Luca. Yes, I agree.
Could he could he stand from from losing a couple pounds? Could he stand from doing a standmaster too? Absolutely. But even with all that, the man plays, he's won.
Like he has accomplished a lot. He has dragged like as you said, using your words, he's dragged that franchise to an NBA finals. Okay, they ran up against a much better team, right? But he dragged that team to a finals and a year, not even a full calendar year later.
You're telling me you're fed up? I'm getting rid of him. What? I'm not even a fan of that.
I'm not even a fan of that they traded him. I can even as a doubt, I put him on Dallas. If I was a Dallas Mavericks fan, you're going to tell me, okay, we're going to trade Luca Dontia because we're tired of him being fat, whatever, right? I can hear you.
If you open this process up and you open it up to all 30 something teams and you tell me, I that's offer. I'm looking for two starters and four picks at least for a 25 year old superstar and least you got four picks for really go there. You can't tell me you can't get more than one 20, 29. They could have but they didn't want that.
Exactly. And here's the thing I didn't talk about the assets, right? I have any guy to that part of the trade. All I'm talking about is player for player and basketball fit.
And at the end of the day, the reason why they moved them and you could we could spend narrative however we want. I know what my eyes told me. And I said last season, we could go run the tape. I said he is out of say anything that was random.
No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. It doesn't matter. That doesn't matter.
Yes, it does. That's the general manager of the Dallas Mavericks today. Are you trading Luca Dontia? FIFO?
Well, I want you to ask before. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Me, if I, I will, we'll get into a conversation and assets.
I would be, I would, I probably would have moved Luca depending on what I have seen of my franchise player because here's the thing right, like this is what we know of franchise who franchise got. We know that they are the first person in and they're the last person out. We know that they put in the work in the all season. We know that they handled themselves with class and respect and professionalism.
Now the class respect, professionalism, I'm not in the building. I don't know. But what I do know is, is that that man looks chubby as great of a basketball player as he is. That man has been chubby.
And the thing is, is that even if you're chubby doesn't mean that, that you're not necessarily in shape, right? The prime example I was using to, I hope you would all talk about this was Carmelo Anthony. Carmelo Anthony was never ripped, but Carmelo Anthony had all of the stamina in the world. That man was a bull down low.
He could play the whole game. He could throw up 50 shots for 60 something. How many titles are Carmelo making to? Well, hold on, hold on.
I don't know. Every player. I we're not comparing players. What I'm saying is the stamina aspect of Luca Daunchez is the main reason why this went down and because they are in the building because they are in the building and they see it on a daily basis and we saw it to a degree in the championship round as well.
They are over it. Now, from the asset perspective, I agree. They could have got way more of a haul. Kevin Durant got way more.
Rudy go bear that you just went to show to got way more. So I don't understand it from that perspective outside of they wanted to make this quick, swift and painless. That's the one I'm asking. They didn't accomplish that goal.
Because you got a bunch of number 77 dollars there. He's running around here getting burned right now. And also, like I said, we're in a results driven business. Give me results.
I want butts in the seats, which he accomplished that. You know, everybody was there. He had a fan base and too, I want to see you in. If you're winning, all that other stuff don't matter.
Talk about it. You got to franchise this. Don't tolerate the same nonsense to a degree. Philly, Philly, join the beat.
Even play. If you continue playing. Stay loyal. But why accept the status quo?
I'm not safe. If this is how it goes. I know that I'm accepting it. Yes.
If they feel that they cannot go. If they can't win it. Okay. Maybe we better without Luca or with Luca right now.
I think I think from a basketball perspective, this makes more sense because we look at the West and how and the best teams that are there, right? We look at Denver, Joker, you're going to need bigs to get past Denver, right? A.D. A.D.
Just told me that I understand that. But A.D. is going to now play the four. He has a couple of fires that he could go.
And the thing is, is that look, even though he is more comfortable at the four, when you are that talented, bro. If there's a big man on the court that is more talented than our five guests, what? You're going to get some reps on that. Go on.
My name is Nick. Go on. I'm saying Anthony Davis, Derek Lively winning your championship. It probably can.
Nick, what you got? My thing is on that side is like, is with the Dallas side, like the look at thing is crazy because I agree with Manny and Shelton. Like, y'all just came off a final run. This is like, yeah, this is like, if the bagel's traded to a barrel after the Super Bowl run, it's like, what are you doing?
Like, you trade them for Kurt Kuz. A pass rush. Like, to me, just, and I'm thinking about, again, I'm thinking about the Dallas side is like, bro, I'm seeing in the chat, I'm getting killed for my takes on AD, but I'm sorry, bro. I can give a fuck about AD.
It's 20, 25. That big AD doing shit for nobody, bro. I promise you, because many, if you say, I'm tripping, why are you saying that? Does Kyrie Clay Thompson and AD not do shit for you?
Like, do as much as a singular looker. You know what I'm saying? So, here's my thing. I think you're disrespecting AD.
AD should have won multiple defensive players already, but we're not even going to talk about that. AD when he's healthy. And I get, and I agree, that's a big part of it. When he's healthy, he is one of the best players in the sport.
Absolutely. The problem is AD is a replaceable commodity. Luca Daunchech is not. I can't go out.
I may not be able to find AD, but I can find a rim protector. I can find a defensive big. I am not going to find a Luca Daunchech that's going to be fine. My thing is that many is that, is that I can say the same thing about Joellen V, based off your criteria.
But if I told you to go find me, if you don't know, I can't say I'm saying I'm playing players at that level, you don't find, they don't grow in trees. I'm saying, Charlotte, at Sacramento, I'm saying, I'm these franchises that have been stuck in mind for decades, but I'm saying, you don't find transcendent great players in the NBA that often. I'm talking about the upper echelon of elite talent. Of course, Luca is up there in a different tier than AB and MD at this point in your career.
But at the same time, the same time that those two players are replaceable over Luca, it's like, that's fine. But I wouldn't want either of those. If I was to tell you, you could have AD on your team or Luca, you're picking Luca all the time, right? Absolutely.
So when I'm looking at that side from like, why are you saying that about AD? It's a slight against AD, right? It's not about, because if they were at the same talent, you'd be like, this is what it's like AD and to diminish AD. Because the reason why we look at this trade is weird is because we look at Dallas, like, we got that.
Which I'll get for Luca, like, go with your book about AD in the first round. I think the age differences between the two is probably why we look at that and we're like, wait, what? It's like talent. But 31 on a big man who's already, I know, I mean, it looks odd because AD is what, 31 32 and Luca is 25.
So there's a big gap between the two ages. But the talent gap, I mean, it's Luca right now has more talent and it does wait more, but let's not act like it's that damn big of a gap now. I think y'all. I don't think anybody's acting like that.
I'm not saying that. I'm not saying that. Yeah. I was talking about AD in New Orleans five, seven, seven, eight years ago.
And I think people would have a different opinion about this trade. But I think, I think 80 is older. I think he's in a different stage of his career. He's 31 and you know, 31 on a big man is different than 31 on a guard or a forward or whatever.
It's just different, right? Here's what I want to say. First of all, the trade makes no sense. There's no way you can talk around it.
You can talk like you can get into the analysis of how each player is blah, blah, blah, blah. At the end of the day, it just, it doesn't make any sense which is why we were talking about it. It doesn't make any sense from a Lakers perspective or just Dallas. For Dallas.
For Dallas. My thing is, there's a lot to what FIFA was saying. And you have to really think about for trade as asinan as it seems, how bad were they pissed off or fed up where they have luke and dawgage. You know, and you really have to think to trade a guy like that, what do they know that we don't have privy to and hopefully maybe one time we'll find out.
And to us and to a lot of people, it's like, find out, deal with it because we got a title. Well, guess what? They went to the title and they fucking lost. So it didn't materialize into anything.
So am I willing to endure whatever the hell he's doing there for the next couple of years and give this dude $300 million or something, $1 million, ascension, whatever luke was doing must be to the point where they were like, fuck, and screw this guy. As long as he's not murdering people or sleeping around with 14-year-olds, you'll endure a lot. And that's the point. That's the point.
That's the point. They got to the different point. I'm not putting up with this anymore. And I don't want to deal with it because it doesn't make any sense.
I need to know what it is then. But that's the beautiful thing about this is that it's not public. And it shouldn't be. And a lot of these trades and the things that we know about these players shouldn't be public information.
It should be kept in-house. And if there's another organization willing to, first and foremost, you got to ask the right question. This is sales. I'm not going to divulge all of the negative things about luke.
Hey, would you trade for luke or shit? I might. Okay. You know what I'm saying?
So at the end of the day, it's not for us. You don't work for the Dallas Mavericks. Nobody on this matter works for the Dallas Mavericks or the LA Lakers. It is not up to us.
And we don't have no contacts. Right? Like nobody here has anybody who can just get on the phone and be like, hey, whatever, whatever. So we are outside looking in, outside looking in with the information that we have that we seen in the finals, he ran out of gas.
We seen this man get chubbier and chubbier every single year. We already know that he is already a non athletic player. He plays off a IQ and skill set. And the Dallas Mavericks got to a point where they are just over it.
Now I don't know how over it they are, but the trade tells me a lot. I don't know why they're shopping to get more value from it. Okay. All right.
I'm not saying you're wrong. I'm saying, okay, let's say I'm willing to say you're 1000% correct. Everything that you're saying is spot on whatever. Does Dallas have a better chance today going forward?
Not just this year, but in the next two, three years. You know what I asked to do that question without Luke Adonchich? No, with you. You know what I asked?
And the answer to that question is no. And I think everybody in the organization know that answer to that question is no. I think they also know that man, I don't give up. I don't, I could care less.
You got to hate somebody. I'm telling yourself. I think about this. What the hell is going on?
That's the best point because I refuse to believe FIFO's reasoning. I know FIFO is right about them being done with him. That's why they shot them. But the reason of him being fat, I'm sorry.
That can't be it. That's too stupid. That's too stupid because we got somebody in the world and who've been dealing with that. His whole lives in the conference a lot less and they still putting up with him.
So something, he must have slept with somebody wife. He must have been, he must have been somebody that somebody can't understand. You don't think there's, look, first and foremost, well, I saw this thing happen last night. The first thing I told myself was, oh, this is about to be a crazy ass trade, trade deadline.
This is about to be bananas because there are a lot of teams that need to make moves, not necessarily to get better, but just because it's time to shake up rosters. Right? Like we just saw like Luke and happened last night. Now, Zach Levine is going to have a high high.
We talked about Zach Levine being traded. The area of Fotch is traded. Jimmy Butler is going to come next. There's going to be a whole host of guys that's going to be moved.
That being said, with a look at thing, Nick, I think is primarily basketball. And I think that is off the court. Because again, your franchise, your number one guy needs to be, there's a certain mold that if you're going to win a championship, this is the mentality. Zion is talented as he is when he is on the court, just like Joanna B, he's not on the court.
And Joel is a little bit different. He came into the league injured with feet problems, lower body extremities at 71. He had a tremendous growth spurt and he packed on all of his muscle and stuff. Joel is a whole different case, right?
But when we're talking about Zion, I'm not saying it's easy, but you can control what you eat. You can go work out two, three times. This is your job. And for Luca, again, I'm not saying you need to be world's strongest, man.
But bro, you have to- I get what you're saying people, but- I'm saying- The one thing I disagree with you, I don't think this is basketball. I'm sorry. You're going to have to hold a gun in my head to convince me that this is a basketball. Because if this was a basketball move, as a fan, if I was a Dallas Mavericks, are we better today with Luca Donchitz or without him?
And you cannot tell me with a straight face that you are better without a 25-year-old, not a superstar, transcend it, sorry. You're not going to be that. You know, another part of that too many that we're leaving off, even if it was a basketball move. Now we talking strictly basketball people.
If it's a basketball move, we're going to put our heads together and figure out the best package we're going to get. We're not going to sit here and say we're going to take. We're just going to take anything for them. We need to know.
You know what I'm saying? You're going to get something back that's equivalent. This seems like a move that was made to me. It seems like something- It was a quick move.
You know, we got to do something right now. We got to make a move today. We got to take the best available option at this second. There was no boss put in this, it seems, because you didn't get enough in return.
There's no way you can tell me that that's equivalent. And even with basketball that this is enough, we would have done something better than this. We would have figured out how to better trade than this if it was just basketball. Well, the conditioning thing about Lucas has been around for years.
Like isn't it new? I think because he was on the court and putting up those numbers, people overlooked it. You know, I think you could also theorize that maybe if he was in better shape, maybe we could have won the thing. You know, we'll never know.
I'm not drinking like it. We'll have a better fight. They were going to beat the Boston. Probably not.
But nevertheless, his conditioning has been a thing. I think it's just people just kind of overlooking for years. That's one of the first things that they're putting out there as part of the reason why. So, you know, he's been affected with it.
Last summer when he was single handedly destroying the Minnesota Timberwolves, I never heard one person said, man, I wish I wish Luca Donch had an LA fitness description. No, but one person. I know one person. Tell me that.
What you know what I did here throughout the course of the year is Luca came into the season in better shape than he did in previous years. And you know what they got him to the NBA finals. And like FIFA was saying, he wore it down over over over time. You saw Anthony, Anthony, I would say that man to get this far, I need to be in better shape.
So Luca came into into that last season in better shape. And then they got to the finals. And I think people were probably speculating that man. If he just took it just a little bit more, maybe we could have won it.
I don't know. This is insane shit, bro. Let me pause you right there. Right.
Last season, he came into the season better shape than got to the finals. Should that not be a motivating factor to be like, you know what, I'm going to crash out and break that barrier and be in the best shape of my life instead of just better shape? Right? Because he got to the finals, I dashed out.
Boston Boston was going to win. They had too much. You know what I'm saying? They satated him, Jalen Brown, Drew Holiday.
They threw waves out. You know what I'm saying? I'm going to throw them down. But at the end of the day, should that not be more motivation to come in this season?
Maybe not go. I agree. But if I'm training, if I'm training, if I'm training away a 25 year old player, that's like we said, a generalist on talent, if you're trading away something like that, I need to have a contingency plan going forward. This is what we're going to do.
80 is not that answer. Five years from now, 80 is not going to be there. Five years. Three years from now.
You know, and yeah, he did have a healthy season. I get that he was, you know, fairly healthy last year. But we know this, but we've seen this story before. We saw Chris McCaffrey be healthy for a year.
So, you know, I mean, I just know, like I said, and literally like trading away CJ around. Well, let's not like Luca is a good role. Or for a top flight corner and then signing Aaron Rodgers when the Jets kind of telling me, well, you know, hey, we're better for the next two years because CJ doesn't like to do work out or he doesn't like, it doesn't make any sense. My issue with the people, which are point people like I give everything that you're saying and the conditioning is a issue.
But is that enough of an issue where you sit there? You're a smart basketball guy, where you sit there and I give you a franchise and that's how you run it. The conditioning issue is enough for you to say, you know what, I'm going to trade this guy and I'm going to trade him for arguably pennies on the dollar. I don't think you would do that.
Trading is not it's not the issue. Hey, look, look, look, y'all too mad in the matter. Hey, the other two, they know how it gets down. There's a certain line.
I would be willing to trade Luca, but the assets I got to return, I did that's that's where I agree with you. I don't agree with what they got to return because they could have got a lot more. But we trade Luca the action of getting rid of him because of how I feel about his conditioning. 100% he can go.
What would you trade with before? I think I think Anthony Davis as the player is probably as good as you're going to get because anybody better, you're not, they're not going to give them up. That's number one. So I think from a player perspective, you got like the one for one as good as you're going to get now.
It's the future assets for me that don't make sense. Even I know that they got, you talk involved, they got a third team involved just so that way they can make the money work. But give me the draft picks. Like if you gave me a max Christie and I would have got, let's say the one draft pick from LA and two or three draft picks from other places and got rid of Kyrie or whatever else.
If I could have got rid of Luca and got a guy like AB and three or four draft picks for the future. For me, I would need a couple of starters back and I want to use them saying that because we can't even, who's going to draft pick this past year? We don't even know. So in saying that to me, draft picks are important, but I need to replace talent with talent at this point.
And it would have to be somebody that is a standout person that's going to put butts in seats. And say that for me. No, no, no, because because draft picks are extremely valuable because not every draft is the same, right? And this upcoming draft is arguably one of the strongest drafts, right?
So you take that because first of all, it's not like you're really in contention because Luca's been out, right? Luca's been out. Now, Luca was playing all of this time, maybe they could have been in the higher seat, but you're going to be in the lottery. I don't necessarily dislike the trade.
It is what it is. I think what A.D. you're not going to bottom out. And then the thing is, is that you're going to get enough future compensation to go make another move because the thing about draft picks, the reason why they're valuable, Shelton, is I know that you want starters, but maybe it's not starters for this season.
Maybe it's starters a year or two from now that you can do those draft picks. They're lottery tickets. Exactly. So to me, that is the aspect of the trade that they didn't get right.
Only because we've seen different trades for lesser players get more. Like I said, 20, 29, first round pick, nothing for me. But it could go. Thank you.
Look at Boston. Look at Boston. Boston wouldn't be exactly where they are now if Danny Ainge didn't trade away the big three. If Danny Ainge didn't do that and get all of those draft picks, they wouldn't have been able to make the boost to become a championship level contender.
And I agree, like I said, but they were at the time he traded them. It was time to trade them. They weren't 25 years old. And also, I don't see the Lakers ever being there at the top of the draft in any draft.
So like I said, 29, first round pick for the Lakers is going to be mid-round at best. You know what I'm saying? Maybe they'll try to trade AD and get some before my low, maybe we'll work the first round. Can I ask a quick question?
Real quick, Ken, I feel just the right because I know we've been throwing back and forth on this. I think I would stomach the the Dallas trade a little bit. The trade from the Dallas respect is more. If you told me, you know what, we made a good run.
We're trading Kyrie. We're going to flip AD and we're just completely just, you know, we just packing it up. Well, I would think I would know more. But we don't know if they're done because Kyrie just just asked for a trade.
So we don't, again, that wasn't true. That was a true. But either way, regardless of it's true or not, the dust is less settled. This is going to be the most active trade airline that we've seen in a very long time.
And it's very possible that they may trade AD. It's very possible that they may trade Kyrie may be possible that they stand pat. We don't freak it. No, I doubt that the Lakers trade broad.
But from a basketball perspective, I just don't see LeBron and Luca working. But it is what it is. Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah. From the Lakers. I think the Lakers said, you know what, we're getting a 25 year old generational talent. You know what, fuck it.
We may have to put on this season, but our work starts 2025 off. They would go plenty. Anyway, man. I think that's what the Lakers mindset is.
We got a Ferrari. My thing is, I want to switch it over because we've been going back and forth. My thing is like the LeBron side of these stuff. Like, do you believe that he had no idea?
Because he had no idea. Nobody knows it. Nobody knows it. Nobody knows it.
Because there was no LeBron knew. No, I think he brought knew because here's the thing. Nothing leaked. Nothing leaked.
Nothing leaked. Like nothing. Like Ron went and told. Come on, man.
I tell you. I tell you. I tell you. The Lakers going to give a fuck about LeBron.
Bro, they're the Lakers. This is the Lakers franchise getting their franchise back from clutch sports in LeBron. This is them saying, all right, LeBron, it's been nice. It's been cool.
Now, our guy moving forward. They didn't control him. They didn't tell him nothing. You know why?
Because 80 is his boy. It's clutch boys. They didn't tell him nothing. LeBron, you know what I'm saying?
I saw. I saw Ramen's wedding saying he was fed up with 80. He quickly debunked that. I mean, LeBron, you never know.
Yeah, I was going to say. He quickly came out and debunked that. Like, no, that's not true. Like, again, we'll never know.
But to answer your question, no, LeBron wasn't involved. He wasn't going to tell me. And he all know what else is getting in and and Rob Polinka. What else is crazy about this for Luca?
He's now no longer in line against Supermax, which he was about to get 300 plus million. And also, he goes from a place where he has no text. No, no Supermax. He can't get a Supermax.
Why can't he get a Supermax? I don't know what the rule is. He's not going to be able to get one with the Lakers. He's not going to be able to get one with the Lakers.
He's not comfortable, but I don't think he's eligible for his, that 380 million or whatever. No, he's not. And I believe he is, though. He's not.
He's not. He's not. He's not. He's not.
In the second part of that is he goes from a place where there's no text to the highest text of all. That's another second piece to this for Luca. So they said, fuck him. They want to just buy why he said it to the Lakers.
So that was all going to be his money. They say LaBrava out at dinner. So I believe that, you know, it's, you know, so, but real quick, I want to talk about briefly. Then we'll close it out the, the Fot straight, but.
Hold on. I got the money thing. So shut, so you are right. 345 was the super max, but he can sign five year, $229 million.
Like, come on. That's still crazy. Oh, it's a lot of rip. But the taxes on it, though, people so half that money's gone.
But if Donald Trump does what he wants with the IRS instead of the IRS. That's over a hundred, that's over a hundred, 10 million dollar difference that you're talking about. And it's an high. No, 100% but you don't think that in LA with all of the off court opportunities that he can't make some of that up.
He can't make some of that up. He can make 5060 million up. And pay 5060 more for what you live in it. And they don't got any other house insurance.
What a fire. Right. They're saying that, um, that LeBron won't be traded. There's ain't it now.
There's a no. Um, if he is not traded, if they are not lying. So I'm very clear that people will be trading in season. Um, he's going to be trading in season.
He's going to work from a basketball perspective. He's going to Cleveland, again, I'll see. He's going back home to get it. He's going to jump on the Cleveland bag.
We're going to try to win both sides of the East. They call it a cause they, cause I think what the Lakers are doing, if it sounds what I'm hearing, like they want LeBron to do the one thing that we always don't want to do with someone that replaced our job, train the replacement. That's how I was thinking it. I think LeBron may or may not do that either way.
He's going to leave after this. I don't see him saying it makes no sense for him to say. No. Uh, if you were saying that this would be a great pick and roll situation.
It would work out great. I still don't see how you got to ball down the players. Uh, working out like that. Unless you, unless you run it, it kind of like they did with Kari.
You know, LeBron is first and third. Luke and second and four. I don't know how it works on the court unless you can convince Bron to play the four. They were also saying that he wanted to play with with Luca, but basically Ron want to play with everybody.