boognish_bear said:

---

The Luka trade was so colossally bad that another really terrible trade that he made a few weeks later doesn't even really get mentioned

We traded Quentin Grimes for a guy that Jason Kidd refuses to play.

— MFFL NATION (@NationMffl) April 19, 2025

---

And Nico's b1tch ass trashed Grimes in his stupid "media roundtable," too.

The guy is not only incompetent. He's a petty little *******.

Clown, by Georges Rouault, 1912 https://t.co/RjCELDJtpd pic.twitter.com/Vr0FL4vjKI

— ArtButMakeItSports (@ArtButSports) April 19, 2025

Don’t worry guys, 33 year old Kyrie Irving -Fresh off an ACL tear- is going to fix all of these issues!

— 🌟 (@IsoHeavy) April 19, 2025

LUKA LIKED THIS TWEET. 😭😭🔥 https://t.co/Sf6ERUJt6H pic.twitter.com/ogorYaYDpa

— NBACentel (@TheNBACentel) April 19, 2025

Really good article on the Mavs prospects moving forward. A sobering read, but the shots at Nico are great.

https://www.cbssports.com/nba/news/whats-next-for-mavericks-nico-harrison-thinks-winning-can-fix-everything-but-how-are-they-going-to-do-that/

"Firings, 'cheerleader energy' and lost trust: What really led to the Luka Doncic trade"

https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/44704219/inside-end-luka-doncic-era-dallas-mavericks

"I did know that Luka was important to the fan base. I didn't quite know it to what level."

—Mavericks GM Nico Harrison on the Luka Doncic trade pic.twitter.com/AIpzFygBb3

— ESPN (@espn) April 21, 2025

"I consider you a friend of mine... don't do any more press conferences. I don't even know what you're doing. I really don't. ... This war is over, brother. You taking the L."

Charles Barkley's message to Mavs GM Nico Harrison.pic.twitter.com/vUlLOlthNY

— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) April 21, 2025

A huge blunder that keeps blundering. A bigger issue is with ownership. Nico is not Jerry. He reports to people.

Yeah...but who cares as long as the trainer has that Mamba mentality

Report: Nico Harrison ignored the fact that Athletic Performance Director Keith Belton was missing a required certification to be an NBA trainer…#MFFL pic.twitter.com/MCFYoRKnz7

— MFFL (@Mavs_FFL) April 21, 2025

Remember how it used to be impossible to get free agents to consider Dallas...here we go again

The Mavericks are now considered one of the NBA’s worst franchises according to players in the anonymous players survey conducted by @TheAthleticNBA #MFFL pic.twitter.com/0tdX9R8dqi

— Kevin Gray Jr. (@KevinGraySports) April 22, 2025

https://www.si.com/fannation/sneakers/news/the-true-story-behind-nikes-failed-meeting-with-stephen-curry

I just found out Nico was also the dude that mucked up getting Curry a Nike deal, by recycling a PowerPoint and calling him "Seth". The signs were there.....

The thing i don't understand is it seemed like for a couple of years he was making really smart moves....then all of the sudden the worst move in sport's history followed by another bad move on Grimes.

Harrison Bergeron said:

---

One of these things must be true:

1. The NBA drove the trade to get - again - the most popular player in the world to play for the Lakers as a means to try and revers declining ratings and interest

2. Nico Harrison is so unbelievably incompetent and stupid as to defy all possible logic

Unquestionably the single worst trade in the history of sports.

---

It's definitely the worst trade in the history of the NBA. The Babe Ruth "trade" was probably as bad, but it's the only other one I could think of across all sports on this level.

Luka on pace for a 40 burger tonight.

Nico....you dumbass

Every player in NBA history to average 30+ PPG in the playoffs:

— Michael Jordan
— Luka Dončić pic.twitter.com/H7QQq2aPxq

— Basketball Reference (@bball_ref) May 31, 2024

So....the lady that has had to bear witness first hand to the historic mismanagement of a franchise for 25+ years was brought to tears by Nico's move. Nico out-Jerrying Jerry.

Jerry Jones says wife Gene cried after Mavericks’ shocking trade of Luka Doncic https://t.co/xLsonLBQ47

— Brad Townsend (@townbrad) April 23, 2025

bear2be2 said:

---

Harrison Bergeron said:

---

One of these things must be true:

1. The NBA drove the trade to get - again - the most popular player in the world to play for the Lakers as a means to try and revers declining ratings and interest

2. Nico Harrison is so unbelievably incompetent and stupid as to defy all possible logic

Unquestionably the single worst trade in the history of sports.

---

It's definitely the worst trade in the history of the NBA. The Babe Ruth "trade" was probably as bad, but it's the only other one I could think of across all sports on this level.

---

It's funny because of the similarities with Babe Ruth and Red Sox:

- Out of town owner not trusted by locals

- Rumors owner had ulterior business motive for trade (fund musicals for Babe/promote casinos and/or move team for Luka)

- Concerns about committing big salary to the player

- Allegations that it was an inside job (Red Sox manager became Yankees' manager shortly after trade).

Having said that, the trades are not comparable based on today's sports environment. The reality is that selling Babe Ruth was not really controversial at the time (players were regularly sold to other teams) outside of Boston (and then only to fans), but became a huge story later because Babe Ruth became Babe Ruth and the curse.

bear2be2 said:

---

Harrison Bergeron said:

---

One of these things must be true:

1. The NBA drove the trade to get - again - the most popular player in the world to play for the Lakers as a means to try and revers declining ratings and interest

2. Nico Harrison is so unbelievably incompetent and stupid as to defy all possible logic

Unquestionably the single worst trade in the history of sports.

---

It's definitely the worst trade in the history of the NBA. The Babe Ruth "trade" was probably as bad, but it's the only other one I could think of across all sports on this level.

---

Tim Cowlishaw did a great piece on the Babe Ruth trade. His thesis was that at the time the Babe Ruth trade made sense from an economic perspective for the Red Sox owner. Baseball was not the money-maker it would become, and his interests were primarily in theater, which was the biggest entertainment and money-making business at the time. He supposedly used the proceeds to finance a musical, which turned out to be the biggest hit of the year.

To the point above, the Ruth trade looks bad in hindsight but not in the present. The Luka trade is shockingly idiotic in the present and will only look worse in hindsight. It is one of the things that I literally cannot wrap my mind around from any perspective.

Elite tweet here

— Jane Slater (@SlaterNFL) April 25, 2025

Harrison Bergeron said:

---

bear2be2 said:

---

Harrison Bergeron said:

---

One of these things must be true:

1. The NBA drove the trade to get - again - the most popular player in the world to play for the Lakers as a means to try and revers declining ratings and interest

2. Nico Harrison is so unbelievably incompetent and stupid as to defy all possible logic

Unquestionably the single worst trade in the history of sports.

---

It's definitely the worst trade in the history of the NBA. The Babe Ruth "trade" was probably as bad, but it's the only other one I could think of across all sports on this level.

---

Tim Cowlishaw did a great piece on the Babe Ruth trade. His thesis was that at the time the Babe Ruth trade made sense from an economic perspective for the Red Sox owner. Baseball was not the money-maker it would become, and his interests were primarily in theater, which was the biggest entertainment and money-making business at the time. He supposedly used the proceeds to finance a musical, which turned out to be the biggest hit of the year.

To the point above, the Ruth trade looks bad in hindsight but not in the present. The Luka trade is shockingly idiotic in the present and will only look worse in hindsight. It is one of the things that I literally cannot wrap my mind around from any perspective.

---

Depends.

If the Lakers keep getting smoked by the T-Wolves and don't even make it out of the 1st round, then it probably won't be viewed as catastrophic.

For all of the moaning and groaning concerning the trade, it appears that one of the key factors being ignored was whether Dallas felt the best move was to commit an astronomical amount of money to a player who's oftentimes viewed as a liability on the defensive end (and one who brought with him concerns when it came to staying in shape).

Had the Mavs committed to Luka long-term, they likely have little left to spread around to a supporting cast. Especially for players who are considered top-notch defensively.

And as the old saying goes, defense wins championships - so you should probably focus on that area of your game at some point.

So while I don't have an issue with trading him, I DO have an issue with not fleecing the team you ended up trading him to.

Dallas should have received a king's ransom for Luka.

And at the end of the day - This move should have played out like the Herschel Walker trade.

Bad game for Luka last night.. vomiting all day Thursday and Friday afternoon..

Maybe too many cheeseburgers and hookahs.

Better game today for Luka, offensively (at least until the 4th qtr).

Brutal game on the defensive end, however.

And now the Lakers find themselves in a 3-1 hole.

If Luka's effort on defense doesn't improve over time, it will only start adding validation to Nico Harrison's decision.

Luka Doncic was traded to a team without a playable Center, got them to the #3 seed and 4 games into the Playoffs, one of which he played with the flu, Luka Doncic is averaging 32/7/5 on 62%TS

Now they are trying to gaslight us into believing this is all his fault 😂😂 pic.twitter.com/wD6jS78ru0

— HeroOfTheDay (@Hero_OfThe_Day) April 27, 2025

Lakers “championship roster” went 2-14 on passes from Luka, including:

1 open dunk
1 open layup
10 wide open 3s

But but but why did Luka only had 2 assists???

— Ramy Wolkowicz (@elsalvajeRW) April 27, 2025

LTBear19 said:

---

Harrison Bergeron said:

---

bear2be2 said:

---

Harrison Bergeron said:

---

One of these things must be true:

1. The NBA drove the trade to get - again - the most popular player in the world to play for the Lakers as a means to try and revers declining ratings and interest

2. Nico Harrison is so unbelievably incompetent and stupid as to defy all possible logic

Unquestionably the single worst trade in the history of sports.

---

It's definitely the worst trade in the history of the NBA. The Babe Ruth "trade" was probably as bad, but it's the only other one I could think of across all sports on this level.

---

Tim Cowlishaw did a great piece on the Babe Ruth trade. His thesis was that at the time the Babe Ruth trade made sense from an economic perspective for the Red Sox owner. Baseball was not the money-maker it would become, and his interests were primarily in theater, which was the biggest entertainment and money-making business at the time. He supposedly used the proceeds to finance a musical, which turned out to be the biggest hit of the year.

To the point above, the Ruth trade looks bad in hindsight but not in the present. The Luka trade is shockingly idiotic in the present and will only look worse in hindsight. It is one of the things that I literally cannot wrap my mind around from any perspective.

---

Depends.

If the Lakers keep getting smoked by the T-Wolves and don't even make it out of the 1st round, then it probably won't be viewed as catastrophic.

For all of the moaning and groaning concerning the trade, it appears that one of the key factors being ignored was whether Dallas felt the best move was to commit an astronomical amount of money to a player who's oftentimes viewed as a liability on the defensive end (and one who brought with him concerns when it came to staying in shape).

Had the Mavs committed to Luka long-term, they likely have little left to spread around to a supporting cast. Especially for players who are considered top-notch defensively.

And as the old saying goes, defense wins championships - so you should probably focus on that area of your game at some point.

So while I don't have an issue with trading him, I DO have an issue with not fleecing the team you ended up trading him to.

Dallas should have received a king's ransom for Luka.

And at the end of the day - This move should have played out like the Herschel Walker trade.

---

This sounds like one of the really dumb takes from the days after the trade. If you recall, some people were saying shortly after the trade that this is a trade for the future for the Lakers, as they lack the supporting cast and requisite post players to be a contender, while this was a win-now move for the Mavs, as AD would immediately make them a contender with his defense.

And then of course, the no-depth and no-post talent Lakers went on a tear with out-of-shape Luka leading the way - just as he did for the Mavs when he almost single-handedly led them to the Finals, and the older, oft-injured AD did what has become his calling card - got injured. That led the 33-year old Kyrie logging the most minutes in the league before his catastrophic injury.

As for the complaint that signing Luka would leave the Mavs with little space to acquire talent, that's the case now and was the case before the trade. The Mavs are already near the salary cap limit, and don't have the ability to obtain any real talent without trading players. They're not getting an old KD in the offseason without moving major pieces, including possibly Lively and/or Gaffert and a lot of depth at guard/small forward. So, there wasn't going to be much space either way, with the way that Nico has handled things.

Agree that defense wins championships, to an extent, but you still have to have a couple of all-star level guards running the show. In the lead up to the Finals run, the Mavs had the best defense in the league like the last 25 games or so. Their post-defense was already the best or near the best in the league with Gaffert and Lively. Now you're going to have to trade one of those guys in the hope of landing someone like KD (which is VERY unlikely at this point).

We can safely say it has already been correctly judges as one of the all time worst trades in history.

I like Ant. He's fun to watch and has swagger. His tenacity reminds me of Shawn Kemp...but let's not put him above Luka just yet.

Kendrick Perkins says he sees Nico Harrison’s vision

"Anthony Edwards is going to win a championship before Luka Doncic. Anthony Edwards is built different. [Ant] is a better all-around basketball player than Luka Doncic."

(h/t @ClutchPoints )

pic.twitter.com/225phJVwtD

— NBACentral (@TheDunkCentral) April 28, 2025

NBA confirms that the refs missed a foul call on Jaden McDaniels for tripping Luka at end of the game pic.twitter.com/F5KDPBTyDi

— LakeShowYo (@LakeShowYo) April 28, 2025

Wonder what percentage is Luka effect

ESPN has drawn its largest NBA playoff TV audience EVER during the first 11 games of the first round.

This year’s playoffs have been LIT. pic.twitter.com/r5DoFruoyw

— Legion Hoops (@LegionHoops) April 29, 2025

LOTS of choppiness .. buzzer beater... controversial calls...and a historic beat down in Cleveland...and another buzzer beater tonight

Stefano DiMera said:

---

LOTS of choppiness .. buzzer beater... controversial calls...and a historic beat down in Cleveland...and another buzzer beater tonight

---

There have been some great ones. The last quarter of the Pistons/Knicks on Sunday was great.

Damn...Luka came out of the locker room wearing back brace and took it off before going in the game