The Deep 3 Podcast - Luka Doncic Is a Laker: Reacting To The Biggest Trade In NBA History

Episode Date: February 2, 2025

Luka Doncic has been traded to the Los Angeles Lakers!! Emergency podcast! Check out the TD3 merch: https://the-deep-3-shop.fourthwall.com/ Listen on Spotify!: https://open.spotify.com/show/3elbbqVumwqz8wlIdknsLW Listen on Apple Podcasts!: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-deep-3-podcast/id1657940794 Follow us on TikTok!: https://www.tiktok.com/@thedeepthree Follow us on Instagram!: https://www.instagram.com/thedeep3podcast/ Isaac's twitter: https://twitter.com/byisaacg Mo's twitter: https://twitter.com/Mojo99_ Donnavan's twitter: https://twitter.com/Dsmoot3D Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Yep, go here. Yeah. Call your ISO. Oh, man. The Dicies. D.C. Ah! I can't believe my life.

I hate Lakers fans so much. I hate the Lakers so much. I mean, I don't know what to say. Pray on eaters, rejoice. I can't believe my fucking life right now. I can't, I can't believe it. I can't. Why is it 1 a.m. Eastern Time and we're up recording.

Because the best day of my fucking likes is happening. Put some respect on the Los Angeles Lakers. I thought someone died. Y'all, we were recording this at what you just say. 1203, Central Standard Time. Luca Donchish is a member of the Los Angeles Lakers. And we had to report immediate emergency response. This is the most surprising moment in NBA history.

One of the most surprising moments in sports history, I think. You cannot exaggerate how utterly ridiculous this is, how utterly surprising it is, and how absolutely amazing it is for my life and my fandom, my well-being, everything that has to do with me as a person. You guys are frowning over there. You're going to have to shut the fuck up for the next hour because there's going to be a lot of smiles on this side. I haven't even begun to process of what's happening. This is insane.

Yeah, just go, shut up, buddy. Shut up. Shut up. Because here the Lakers go again, doing the Laker thing, and they have once again found their successor. And there's like four, the Lakers go four years at a time where they might look lost. And then all of a sudden a star is like, hey, I like the beach.

I'll go play for the Lakers. And they've just gotten ahead of it. And so now, I'm glad you say that. This start didn't even like the fucking beach. I'm going to pull this up real quick. The trade details. The Lakers get Luca Donchich. Everybody likes the beach Morris.

Sure. The Mavericks get Anthony Davis, Max Christie, 2029 L.A. first-on-pick, and the Jazz get some shit. This is reportedly happening because Nico Mannion, the general manager for the Dallas Mavericks, reached out to Rob Polinka and initiated the conversations in the recent days. It is such a wild surprise. LeBron apparently found out about it after the Knicks game.

ended an hour ago while he was at dinner with his family. Luca didn't know, Anthony Davis didn't know, LeBron didn't know, because the Mavs decided they want to trade the 25-year-old five-time first-team All-MBA in six years, most talented guard of a generation, probably top 20 most talented players of all time, before he hits his real prime, they decided they want to trade him for a win now piece. That's not even a star picking them. That's just a rival GM being fucking batshit insane. yeah i don't i don't think that you just said makes zero sense to me right now the whole trade the reason why they wanted to go ahead and trade him knowing what they got back for anthony

davis too it's just like they just had one phone call you know what that sounds very nice let's do it nothing makes sense whatsoever and i can't even stomach this just like you donovan i'm my heart is hurting yeah the quotes uh again and i don't know and i don't even stomach this just like you donovan i'm my heart is hurting yeah The quotes, again, and I don't think we can reiterate this enough, none of this makes sense. None of it. None of it. And like the quotes from Nico Manian afterwards, even further pushed this to the point

of like, what the hell are you talking about? Because it sounds like extreme cope. It sounds like somebody who was forced into this decision, right? You trade for Anthony Davis. And he's like, well, I believe the championship wins defense. And now we have one of the best defenders in the NBA. And it's like, yeah, cool. the guy who took you to the finals last season,

you just traded away. Luca Donchitz has been the two years that they've actually given Luca help. The Mavericks have gone to the Western Conference finals and they've gone to the NBA finals. And now your entire team is centered around Kyrie Irving, who we've seen Kyrie as a number one guard and Kyrie is getting older.

Anthony Davis turns 32 years old in a month. And you got one first round pick for once again, the 25-year-old superstar third best player in the world. Bro, I've seen Macal Bridges gets to get dumped off for a load. For five. McKell Bridges went for five.

Rudy Gobert went for four. Luca Dodgers went for Anthony Davidson one first round pick. This is the, on the Lakers side, this is arguably the best trade in their franchise history. For the Maverick side,

it is the worst trade in the franchise history at this point. She may be an NBA history, bro. What can I say? This is pretty much up there. Smart front office. good organizations

well-run establishes with a devi shut up shut up oh my god with the bevy of intelligent men

running the organization with infrastructure and place a full-on analytics team generations of smart bass on minds put their heads together behind a legendary organization with legendary colors

and this is what they fucking do I'll give Rob Belinkin credit because listen he may not be he may not always answer but if what did he do shit he may not always answer when you're

call, but he is always on time. Rob Polinka has, you have to give him credit that he has been able to pull off just some wild stuff from time to time. And the everyday GM in job, yes, he's not good at that. But if, but if somebody comes to you, and mind you, if somebody came to you and was like, do you want Luca Donchison? He's like, I bet. Rob Polika had to sound so smug on the phone to try, to try and make sure that he could

get this deal there. And he's like, I mean, maybe, like, you know, what's the, what's the price for? I'll see, I'll see if we could do it. This was. Do you guys realize that I, do you guys even understand that I get to root for the best pick and role player in NBA history? Yeah, I don't know. The best passer in the NBA, the best volume score from the guard position.

Shut up. The most talented combination of scoring and passing we've seen outside of LeBron James and maybe Nicole Yokic, like, do you guys realize that my life is a lot better than yours, tangibly? Okay, so. Brunson. Brunson, Trey, you. suck my dick. Luca Dachach is so much better than those guys.

It's just so insane because it's like all these questions. I hope the mega sweep, y'all. I really do. I hope I hope you guys stay in the 5C. I actually hope you guys go to the 4C. Do you guys have Home Court advantage? That's Serbia man walks you down every single night. I hope that happens.

God walks you too. So Mick Man reported that the Mavs had concerns moving forward with Donchich due to conditioning issues and looming commitment of a supermax extent. intervention. Wow. Okay, so they're saying he's on Zion Williamson timing and they don't like that he comes in with a bad work ethic and has to play himself into shape and all this stuff. I understand why that's an issue. I cannot understand.

Again, this is happening in the moment. You guys are going to watch this in the morning tomorrow by the time I can get this up. Maybe more information will be out. Surely there will be. So you guys have a firm understanding of this and we do. In this moment, it seems fucking ludicrous to me to trade the best player that's ever played for your organization because of long-term mission. I guess. And what you get in return is a win now window based around a top 10 player who is

not a one option because he's not a creator. He's a finishing big man and a secondary star who is also complimentary and not a creator. You are not winning jack shit with Anthony Davis, Kyrie Irving and a good roster around that. But that's not some walk into an immediate title window. So why would you get away the long term ability of Luca? It's insane to me. And you just, Luca Donchitz just gave you the results. as a franchise player. He took you to not only a Western Conference final just a couple years ago, and he also obviously had all types of crazy superstar moments. You just went to the NBA finals. And you didn't loot, like Luke was banged up, of course, and he didn't necessarily

perform his best. You had actual, like, roster issues, but he took you there. Like, that's something you said he, like, they think he's on Zion Williams and timing. Yes, you're right. But also, I'm like looking at Nico when it says. I'm just like, this is not the same situation because the results are there in your face. And if that's how you feel, if that's how you feel, you know what? Fine, right? Because like going in before the Pelicans extended Zion and we've seen a lot of guys get their rookie Supermax. And there's a couple guys where you're like, eh, like maybe it's too soon, whatever.

If that's how you feel about Luca, cool. I promise you, there's other teams out there with better long-term packages than going That's what's weird. And short-term packages. Yes, that is the weird part. If you want to trade Luca Donches, by all means, you have the ability to do that. Getting one first-round pick for that is, that is absolutely asset mismanagement. It does not make sense to do that.

And it does not make sense that, like, to have AD on your team right now because the entire, like, win now of the Mavericks is built because Luca Donci's handles everything. I know. So we have this pulled up from Brett Siegel. I'm not super familiar with this credibility, but I'm just trusting anybody right now because there's need information. He said, early word and all of this.

Apparently a rift has been forming between Anthony Davis and Lakers management, especially after his sit down interview with ESPN. This trade just came together in last few hours with nobody around the league knowing about it. So if that's true, we also got reporting from Chris Haynes that Anthony Davis is waving his trade kicker,

which is basically a bonus that the Mavs are to pay him because it's part of his negotiated contract if I get traded my salary goes up he's waiving that so you know immediately he's being a good teammate I guess and he's allowing the Mavs to not have to pay as much more price so they can continue to compete and say

thanks for believing me I guess I don't know let's say this is true and there was a rift because he wants them to make moves and they were trying to sit on their hands they made the right fucking choice I've been saying since last season I am ready to this team to get

torn down. I've been telling you guys I go through the ups and downs as a Lakers fan because they're mid and they have good runs and bad runs. I'll allow myself to get excited when they're playing good, you know? Like, why not? I'm a fan. But I've long said now since the show about past 18 months, I am ready to move on from this era. It's run its course

and they don't have a chance to win again. So if AD facilitated that and was like, I'm getting annoyed, maybe I'm going to make it clear that I'm also not too happy. And that resulted in a 25-year-old superstar thank you Anthony Davis you were one of our favorite Lakers of all time and now you are maybe maybe you passed LeBron's a favorite Laker of all time because you secured us

Luca fucking Donchich yeah this is this is absolutely best case scenarios like when you when you tear stuff down the only thing that you can think of in terms of tearing stuff down would be all right is LeBron going to get traded like that's yeah that's the that's kind of where my where my mind goes to next I don't know if it's going to happen but just in terms of like the Lakers moving forward. Obviously this is best case scenario for all of, you know, all, all, you couldn't paint a better picture at all for any of the Lakers fans. For J.J. Reddick, for J.J. Reddick, how, from a basketball coach perspective,

how blessed can you feel? Oh, as a rookie coach and you get to build a program that the organization wants to believe in you long term? And for the next 10 years, you can latch yourself to Luca Donchich? Yes. Yes. And this era, too, you just like, all you Lakers fans were over here wondering about, oh, like, what are you going to do once, like, the LeBron era is over? Like, you're perfectly ushered in to, like, easily the second most, best and most dominant ball handler since LeBron has entered the league and, like, Luca Dodgers is gifted to you in your hands.

Like, this is the absolute best case scenario. Now, earlier while you were, while you were getting your shit off, Isaac, I was fucking dying because I saw. Sidon McCall tweeted he was like damn I better start packing my bags now

because if Don can go anyone can go like literally no one's safe rat this is like know what I saw my thought

when I saw this I thought like oh my God is Adam Silver gonna veto this I thought like it's gonna be Chris fall over again

because this is some vetoable shit because this does not make sense whatsoever bro it don't make sense whatsoever

and like I know like other teams like if I'm from the San Antonio first. I know you don't make trains. I know you're not into the, you're into like the slow grind and all that. You want to develop talent, but it's like, I know you wish you picked up that phone. Or I know you wish you were the first one to get the call about Luca Donchich. Now, will they have enough? I don't fucking know. But still, at the end of the day, like, you just have to sit down and imagine all these other teams that are weeping. That's your tweet says, this might be the craziest day of my life. And I'd done been shot before. Who said that?

that's what I feel I've never like this is not the most substantive analysis because how could it be this is outrageous I've never been shot before but it is the craziest day of my life oh my god and like okay so now let's talk about the teams what they look like the math are trying to win now apparently they want to make this move that that can't be the truth right there has me some kind of other motive we'll find out but even when now like how much faith do you have in Kyrie Times, Karee, Clay, Najee Marshall, PJ Washington, Anthony Davis. Shout out to y'all.

I hope you guys have a good time. I hope you guys are very good friends. You are not, like, I'm not going to put a ceiling on it or a floor because I have, again, I have no idea what the team is going to look like. All I know is that whatever championship aspirations, whatever Western Conference, so, you know, I guess I am putting a ceiling on it. They can't make the Western Conference Finals anymore. Like, that's kind of out the, out the door.

It's still, it'll be a really good team, though. I view them as, like, the same ceiling. Maybe they're a little bit better than the Clippers. They're in that tier where it's just like, you're annoying to go against. I don't envision you reaching those levels, but you're really knowing to go against because their defense is surefire. You got that traditional one-five role and all that, but you're definitely not going to reach the Western Conference finals in my mind.

I think they could. It's not. I mean, this is going to be a really, really good team. Like, Anthony Davis is the top ten player. Kairi naturally is going to fit well with him They also got Max Christie in this trade Who is not gonna start for them But he's a good player

Yeah I was actually Before the start I was like We were talking about it right before he record I saw it last second I was like oh shit Max Christi is there That kind of hurts like That's a good beast Their wing rotation is now

Clay Naji Marshall Grimes Max Christy Who else not forgetting about There's more Needless to say It is a deep wing rotation

With a star point guard Star Center that's this I mean the Rock is just a two seed the Grizzlies or the three seed you're telling me that you can't be as good as them like you're right that they could be as good as the Grizzlies you're right but I'm just so sick bro I feel so bad for Mavericks fans because it's like as well as you're talking this up and you know when it comes to them still being able to contend to a certain degree yes they are but it's just a different type of contention it's a

it's a contention that like you know you ain't doing the whole thing you know you're not winning at all you know like all fate that you you had in getting some shit done in the next five to ten years is gone because of this trade like yeah like congrats you could get to the second you can get to the second round or maybe the west conference finals but it just still doesn't hit the same yeah let's talk about the maz fans before we get back to me rubbing it in your faces and just dunk it on your foreheads um this is the worst feeling you could possibly imagine i am assuming i'm assuming you're here this next morning dude you are absolutely devastated look like

Hunt just got traded before Trey Young. That's so crazy. I won. Yes! Yes! The Hawks won the goddamn trade! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes!

Fuck. Ooh, man. Oh, man. Hey, fair enough. Fair enough. Wow. You are, if you are a Maverge fan, you are surely devastated. And I have no sort of relying for you. You should be devastated.

This is somebody that should have been a Mavs lifer that you had to have the, the blessings of going straight from Dirk and Aluga. There was a year overlap. The storyline was perfect. White boy to white boy. Shit was picture perfect. And the fact that Nico Mannion,

or Nico Harrison, I keep saying Nico Mannion. I've been saying Nico Mannion. The fact that Nico Harrison. I've been saying Mannion too because I heard you say Mannion. And so I was like, okay, yeah. Like that's his name. The fact that Nico Harrison took that from you.

That's Nico. Is insane. and I maybe maybe by the time this happened maybe by tomorrow I'll have some kind of way to level-headedly view this for you but right now I think you should be outraged and I think this is insanity I think you should be open to watching this team the rest of the year open to seeing what the Kyrie Anthony Davis experience leads you but I I would not be happy I would say if you are a mass fan the only the only thing that the only like that the only like solace i can tell you is that if if all of these things were truly going to come to fruition and lucas conditioning stuff was going to be an issue and you know that there was going to be a rift and like an ugly fallout fine rip the bandit off get over with now i'm also saying if you would like to root for another team now is the time to do yes you are you are generally if you are a maps fan and you are like i can't take this anymore i can't i can't root for this team because they just

traded away Luca, and you want to find another allegiance, you can switch teams. I, myself and the rest of us up here will not be upset at you. The deep three cosigns you switching teams at this point in time. He better not wear. He better not wear fucking number 77. Please leave that in Dallas. Wear number seven here. I don't think it's retired.

Please, please wear a nice number. I'm a player. Now I play. So he's wearing 77. Tim McMahon. Tim McMahon reported that Luca was pushing. 270 pounds and the Mazur tired of his conditioning issues

270s it's insane All right guys That's some fat fuck shit But that's my fat fuck now I don't care That's my big lad I'm ready I'll run suicides with him I get it but like 270's like OD

It's crazy It's crazy Yeah, but we got to get this guy out of here. You know what? Let's cancel the math. These guys are fatphobic, man. Exactly, though. Let's get him out the paint.

See, I appreciate all body types. It's simple. Oh, no, but yo, it's going to be so sick because Lucas is going to be out there in L.A. doing all this, you know, eating all this vegan food. No barbecue. Vegan food, gluten free, everything, smoothies on deck. He's going to be skinny. He's going to be doing Pilates outside in 70 degree weather.

Do you think this, like, puts driving to him? like what just trying to we don't know the guys but like what you know about Luca Donchage and what we can read from this material. Someone like Luca who loves to talk shit and is like we see all his moments what he says and how he cries and whatever to the

referees like this definitely has to put you put like a batter on your back especially if they didn't let you know anything and this has been bubbling up like this has to put some type of battery in your back and shit this might turn into a fucking beast again bro. We know what's crazy why are we acting like this a multi-year thing like I understand the issue

with conditioning, I guess it's not something you want from your star. You know kind of what we talk about with Joelle and B when Tyrese apparently called him out. The star sets the tone to a certain degree. But you just made the finals. It's not like he was holding him back for years and years. Like, it feels so reactionary. And my only thought

is they just got new owners. Mark Cuban isn't controlling the team anymore. That just happens past summer. Maybe these new owners are just like, no nonsense. They're like, we wanted to start with our own. Okay, yes, but even new owners, you would, like, if you get a new owner, you would think that the move would be, all right, let's trade Kyrie, right? Like, we have Luca, we have the piece.

Let's continue to build around. And maybe you don't like that specific backward. But trading Luca is the stupid part. But I, yeah, I'm not sure what they would think. I do agree with you that since Mark Cuban has sold the team, the way that the maps have moved, and the entire vibe around the organization. has felt really, really different. And you've heard quotes from Cuban, you know, talking about, you know, I'm still going

to be in control of the team. I'm still going to be here. But obviously, you sell the team and somebody makes a billion dollar investment into something, they're going to want control. So it makes sense if they, if the new ownership group came in and decided to do this. But again, he's 25 and you just made the finals. And you traded him for a 32-year-old. center who's also consistently injured at this point like I don't I don't I don't I don't

understand it and as for like the LA stuff I do think that Luca fits perfectly like Luca is always shines you know brightest when the lights are big all that all that type of stuff he you know kind of relishes the spot I'm I'm 2,000% sure that there's a hookah lounge in LA so he's going to be okay You're going to set that bitch for them Road. They're going to make one for them. Yeah. A little special corner in the locker room.

Yeah. So for the Mazz fans, it's definitely disparate. And you just have to watch this next, like, 25 games, right? The rest of the season and just see what happens. But we should probably get to the point where, like, Isaac, honestly, we should just push, we should push our mics away, call the little ISO, and Isaac should be able to do whatever he wants for the next, like, 15 minutes. because we have we obviously have to talk about it from the lakers point of view and what this

means for them so it means this team was obviously reaching the end of the rope right we were talking about one week they lose four out of five games and we're like tear it down trade lebron give him a chance to win somewhere else do right by him next week they win four out of five and it's this team is worth buying into go get fucking walker gessler go get Colin sexton whatever like they were so up and down it was going nowhere fast right so to do a reset and get luka donchich it's kind of interesting because obviously when i said i want to reset i wanted to like tank for three years and like try to get somebody in the draft and then build a cord and get somebody lucas win now is fuck this roster now doesn't have a center it does have lebron james it does

have austin reeves who can play with luka but austin reese kind of plays like dia luka in some regards in the areas of the court he occupies. So does LeBron stay and play with Luca? And they're just going to like do this passing of the tors thing that the Mavs did with them and write it out and try to enter some kind of quasi rebuild. But that'll take you like two years to get a good enough team around again to really content with Luca. At that point he's 27.

Did you trade LeBron? Apparently he just found out about it. He knew nothing about this. So I'm sure he's thinking about what he wants. Bro. It's a weird crossroad. What did you see? At this point in time, nobody is.

We all thought the two most untradable players in the league. There's probably four of them. Janice, Yokic, Luca, Wembe in those conversations. LeBron, I'm sorry. I love you. He's my goat. But at this point in time, I get a 25-year-old Luca Donchis at pretty much the peak of his powers is untradable or as tradable, he is too.

Me personally, if I was the Lakers and Rob Polinka, I'd want to yo what if this what if this entices lebron to stay for a couple more years what if he can play be like the second tertiary guy or secondary guy to luca donchich for just for two more years i think he genuinely has that in his game because all of the relief like the last time we saw lebron play with the player of with this much offensive juice was fucking kairi irving like 10 years ago so i think it relieves so much and this guy and this guy is like carry on he's twice as good as Kyrie Irving, three times as good as Kyrie Irving. So it's like, I think if

I'm LeBron, me personally, I'd want to stay and if I'm the Lakers, I don't want to be like, yo, LeBron, I mean, why not stay for a couple more years? I guess. Why not? That's the tricky thing that you have to navigate is that you do have, you do

have Lukadansansans right now at the peak of his powers. You probably should want to try and make a move to go and maximize it. But you have, Listen, you have the rest of the year, like, I think... Do they still have their 2028 pick? They trade 2029.

They have 2031 still as well as pick swap. So they have one available. They had two available first-on picks to trade. They only traded one. So they still have Austin Reeves to move. They still have this first-round pick. Oh, Austin Reeves is so gone. Holy fuck.

I forgot about him. We found a new white boy. Guy. Gaia. Bye ya. See ya. I do you can keep LeBron. Apparently, the reporting from Shams is that he didn't know about this.

I do not imagine LeBron appreciate. Gates being blinded like this if this is true I would have to if I had to pick a route

I would imagine he wants to go but it's complicated because he probably doesn't want to get traded at this point of his career that's not a good

look he wants to retire a Laker but they just kind of backdoor him a little bit so it really comes down to what LeBron wants and how he feels about this relationship

with the team after this I would expect it's not going to be good but I'd also kind of expect he wants to protect the legacy of his final years

and not go somewhere else. Yeah, if I'm Rob Palinca, if you're Rob Palinke, you think you would like check him with LeBron for this type of trade when you have a moron just like ready to do it and sign off of it right now?

Go to hell, burn. I'm doing this right now. No, no. If I'm Rob Polinka, I'm prioritizing the future and the future is Luca Donchich. But if I'm LeBron, I also like, damn,

let me know about the future. Like I understand both sides. I don't blame Rob Plink at all for not telling him, like, especially if like, low key, the smart thing would be is let LeBron. LeBron get mad if he wants to get traded good.

Now we can get even more picks and some kind of other assets to build around Luka and try to spend the next year and a half building up a championship caliber team. Oh, that's no. I think like if anything comes out of this, I think that we've talked about it. We've kind of danced around it for a long time. But the LeBron retirement stuff is very real now. Because especially after, after LeBron says, yeah, I don't, I don't want a fair world tour. Okay, cool. We're going to play out the rest of this season. You completely blindside

of me. You traded AD. I didn't know, right, what was happening. And so clearly, I'm not a part of your future. We're going to rock out here. I got to play with Bruny. I got to do everything that I needed to do. I don't need this anymore. But listen, can you imagine winning another NBA championship as the second best player on a team and having your son win an NBA championship too? That's pretty cool. There's even more, bro. But this team, I mean, think, let's talk about the basketball fit in that, if that instance, that's where you're thinking. Let's move on to this conversation. They didn't make this move because it makes sense for the team this year.

Luke is not going to be back until probably the All-Star break. I saw he was targeting February 9th for his return before this happened. So they're going to be without now they have no Anthony Davis, no Max Christy, no Jalen Hood. So they're going to be more under manned. So, you know, they're going to slide down the standings a little bit, maybe unless they just fucking go sickle mode. But now we don't know how Lebrons will be feeling if he's going to be able to carry them. they might fall into the play end at this rate then Luca comes back

has to play himself into shape you have LeBron Austin Reeves and Anthony and Luca Donchish is your three best players three ball handlers who outside of that makes sense now

you don't have any bigs left you're gonna start Jackson Hayes full time good fucking Lord you have Jared Vanderbilt who I guess can play with Luca but you really want like five out spacing essentially so that doesn't make sense Rui sure he can stay

the roster doesn't make a ton of sense now Junior and Luca reunited. Oh, we love to see it. Yo, they are big homies. We love to see it. So, I mean... So it's a good thing this happened now

because they have like five or six more days to make stuff happen before the deadline if they want to compete for this year. Yes. But you're right. Like, I don't think that they have enough to make a serious run this... Like, as currently constructed,

they don't have the pieces to make a serious run this year. I agree. But when you have Luca Donchich and you have LeBron James, it doesn't take a third. ton like let's okay let's think what were there options different that's different okay but you said and we've talked all year about saying just saying oh we have lebron james that that means something different now than it did yeah a year a year and a half ago right and so to do that to do that consistently over four straight playoff rounds can lebron give you what you are asking for a

second star every single night in in over the course of two months i'm not sure he can do that anymore. LeBron had a great game tonight against the Knicks in the Garden. Listen, I'm saying you right now, I'm taking the under in his next game. I don't know, I don't know if he can dial it up on a consistent basis like that. And like you just need to. He's like, there's a ball handler now. Like he's going to be Draymond Green and like do all the small stuff and play

finisher. Like, does he want that? Like I really feel, okay, I really feel like by the time this comes out, we might have word that LeBron wants to leave. Like this really, the more I talk about it doesn't make a ton of sense outside of the fact that he wants to have the storybook ending no it does it if i'm lebron i want to be in golden state or something tomorrow why though why i keep i keep looking at my phone i keep i keep looking at my phone keep trying to like refresh stuff to see if we're missing anything yeah we have to like so the team doesn't they have they have a first round picked a move they have austin reeves who doesn't make as much sense anymore

yeah but there's bigs out there there there that are available. You know, there's talk of Miles Turner. A five out big always makes a lot of sense with Luca Donchich, as well as a lob thread big. So maybe it's not Miles Turner. Austin Reeves is very valuable. You guys can, you guys, Austin Rees, Rie, and whoever else, I mean, those are the two most valuable things. And then that first on pick, three most valuable that you guys have on the roster, which can get you a lot of shit. Okay, they're going to get Robert Williams. They're going to get Robert Williams. Robert Williams is available for second round picks. I bet they get Robert Williams. That's fair. A starting center that they're going to

I play Jackson Hayes, a lot of minutes, played Jared Vanderbilt, a lot of minutes at the five. He's a cheap, high-ceiling big that obviously can't stay healthy. But for a patchwork job, they need to just, like, save the rest of the season, do whatever they can. I bet Robert Williams is a Laker. After that, you know, like, it's a full, a full re-haul has to happen to this roster. And, like, it's probably an instance where, you know, they're offered this,

and they're like, yes, like, I'm not even going to think about anything else. But it is a weird timeline fit, right? because Luca is ready to win. Like, you can't really rebuild. No, there's no such thing as rebuilding it. You can for sure retool, though. And I think easily like scraping everything that you, scraping through everything that you can do

and looking at like someone you said, Robert Williams, while Robert Williams is the third, or fuck, who's another, who's another like low-key center that could easily be grabable right now? I can click a pillow. Fuck it. There you go. Like, that'll be fucking, that'll fucking work. at this point in time yes that quick retool

in my mind puts you on the map now you are on a super tight timeline considering like you know LeBron and Luca you have four days yeah yeah four days and do they trade all their picks now and go all in to like try to be a contender next year

around Luka I think they should do you have no reason if Luca don't just exists on your roster and you're done being like these draft picks don't matter at all do they get do they go get like a Brandon Ingram or a Zach Levine or something Like Reeves salary in that first round pick

Get another star in there Maybe Nah, I wouldn't do that I think I'll focus on your defense Maybe BI Nah, that's too much ball handling right there If Lebron leaves I mean, you can't leave Luca with nothing

If LeBarrant wants to go BIA is not the best fit in the world It's not the worst He plays Those are two really slow stars And like really prodding That like I guess it could work But it's not

What would be my preference Yeah, but I do agree that you do have to, you do have to make a move. You obviously don't trade for Luca Donchis if you're not ready to be committed. They're so far. But we saw. Aren't they really?

Yes. They are. Like to becoming a championship level team, yes. Well, no. Okay, I guess you never are where you have Luca. But how far are they from building a supporting cast as good as what he just left? Kind of far. If you could trade LeBron and get some really good shit to happen your way,

like if he, like, wants to. to go somewhere that just like gives you real stuff for a 40 year old then maybe there's a way but it's to say you're keeping lebron and he's being a secondary forward downhill guy playing like what josh hart does for the nicks i guess pushing the ball on transition doing little stuff leading other bench lineups broncon that's really cool that can work with luca they'd have to adjust though so i don't know if it'll work this year i don't know how like get like a derrick lively and gafford level big man rotation get a nausea marshal quentin grimes that like level of wings that like level of rotation. You already got one of them to DFS. No. Okay. You got DFS. You already got DFS. You already got DFS one of

those guys. Austin Reeves is an easily move piece for one for some big so you can like pencil that in right there. Like in my mind like in terms of the structure like it's it's all almost already written to me unless like they have a hard time. Unless they have a hard time trading training away someone like Austin Rees who in my mind is also a valuable asset that a lot of teams would love to fucking have. Austin Reeves for Walker Kessler? They would do that. They would do that. A team like the a team like the um

you taught you have to do that in a heartbeat because I don't know if I would do that. But if it's like Austin Reeves for Kessler and Colin Sexton and you like replenish their guard depth and just get Kessler for like an additive pick, I guess that makes sense. Yeah. You keep your pick and then you trade like other salary like Vanderbilt plus that other

first round pick for another really good role player. I guess they can get their relative quickly if LeBarrant wants to stay. Yeah, I will say it'll be super tough to get all these things to align and have like an actual identity and all that. Oh my God. Is that Russell Westbrook that I see on the screen right now? This was y'all just like two years ago.

All I'm seen is my franchise player giving buckets. Fuck everything you're talking about outside of that. Dennis Schroeder and Russell and fucking Russell Westbrook was on your team. Decimate you guys. Killing your hopes and dreams. Why did they just give Mozambic? Why did they trade him because he's fat? Like, why did they get such a harsh turn?

I saw ESPN confirm that he was indeed 270. How does ESPN know that? Which is what worried him. Fucking Nico, bro, Nico has some real questions to answer, bro. Mass fans, I feel so sorry for these boys. So, so sorry. What else is on the table here? Like, it's crazy.

I don't know, man. Again, 270 averaging a 30 point triple double double. when taking you to the finals. No, I think he's 2.70 like now, like, since he's been out. He's like all this way. Just got it to him. Okay. You know, we don't have to go.

We don't have to go too far. But like, it's a massive overreaction. I just can't, I can't fathom seeing all of this go down. And like, even if you had a star player and like he's getting weight and you're kind of getting concerned wait to the off season what what are we doing this now for way into the off season we can recoup sock you can give him a chance to play himself into shape we see every single year lucca comes into he comes into the season a little bit big and right around this time he starts hooping because he's been playing basketball for several months and now he's in basketball shape and he's been

hurt for the last couple weeks he hasn't been able to do that i just think like you should have been able to give him a one pick back why didn't they get the other first Trump in their fucking dumbest shit bro what the hell it's like they literally yeah this was the worst negotiation that I've seen in my life

probably bro there was only one there was an initial offer on the table and there and Rob Polico was like yeah I'll give you this Nico Nico was like yeah bet let's take it no roboto whatsoever sounds good I feel like I'm not fully like rationalized this in my head that traded Luca Donchish and I'm going to see Loua Donchish in liquor's uniform like I hear it I'm

reading it I'm talking about it I know what happened but it just like doesn't fully compute it just does not make sense because it does it's so outrageously ridiculous all the words I said in that order guys a new thought just hit in my head okay so I am so a second thought of Braun you got to stop with this you got to stop with this that's like two in the last three weeks. I got more coming. And as he said that too, that's the fucking pedigone. What are we doing here?

But second thought disappeared on my head. Okay. I'm so not for LeBron leaving the Lakers. I think it's a storybook if he stays in L.A. But again, in my mind, storybook. Pay attention here. Just really lock in for a second. Okay. If he was like, you know what? Trade me.

But I want to go to only one team. Take me back home to Cleveland. what if he gets trade to Cleveland for fucking Evan Mobley or Jared Allen or whatever else They would never be calm down Calm down Why would they give you have Evan Mobley

For a 40-year-old LeBron James Because they have a 40-year-old LeBron James Along with Donovan Mitchell and Darius Garland Wrap this up And that is literally like That is literally game That's so proven to win

It's late It's late in your hallucinating and like obviously a lot of crazy stuff is happening tonight. Y'all just don't see it, bro. The best. You don't, fucking y'all choose, bro. Y'all choose.

Oh, my God. Again, we're all a little bit loony, but like it's kind of wild, though. But if I would have told me he's a Laker, dude. You would have told me I was wild too. Anything, bro, anything can happen, bro. Don't tell me what I'm wild. Don't tell me when this shit just happened.

That's fair. Apparently, streets are saying that they, She's just saying that DJs in the club were announcing Luca trades. It has rocked the brunch community. The Levant Club community. I don't understand what's happening here. I don't get it.

Do you think there's something like... Is there something we don't know about Luca Dodgers? Absolutely. There has to be. There has to be. Somebody said that Luca must have some charges coming. Otherwise, this doesn't make sense. Like, there has to be.

something like really serious underlying like we're talking about how nonsense school it is this front office has not moved as idiots in the past several years they've done a lot of good moves right they are well aware more than us of the value of luca danchish to the city to the organization as a long-term superstar current term contender caliber player this only especially if he didn't ask for a trade and is reported with this stupid silver lining of like we believe defense wins championships. Maybe there is something going on and they don't want to like blow up his spot. Yeah, that's the first thing that like originally when it came to mind was like, okay,

Luca had to ask for the trade because obviously, you know, you don't make a move like this unless he asked for it. But as the report has said that he didn't ask for it, we, we probably don't know. And maybe maybe in a year we get the piece or in the off season, we get the piece. And it's like, X, Y, and Z happened. Luca, you know, Lucas said this or this happened. And so that's why the Mavs ended up, you know, moving on for him. Because I refuse to believe that they, again, that they just saw him getting big.

Now, at the same time, if you think that he is getting to, like, Glenn Davis levels of big, then maybe, like, maybe you get a little bit of turn. So did he kill someone? Yeah. I mean, listen, if he's on his. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, I'm gonna relax. But, yes, I do think that something, they have to know something that we don't. And that is the only way that any of this makes a lick of sense.

I just saw when you're broke, you guys were talking in one of our Twitter GMs. So I said, did Shams get hacked? And you were like, he has to be. Oh, yeah. I 100% thought, thought that it was, because once again, you don't just do this. You don't just make this trade. Wow. Luca Donchitz is a Laker.

Oh, I hate them. The biggest, this is, like, I don't, I don't want, I want to, like, reiterate this moment. Like, this is the craziest moment in being a history, I think. Like, as a fan, we will probably never know a moment. This, just, I want to, I don't want to say league altering because that feels conservative. Because the, the unforeseen nature of it, the magnitude of it, the historical impact of the players involved. the LeBron James of it all like

it's one of the dexed one of the defining moments of modern sports history this is insane this is GDP altering like yeah it's crazy

and I right now we're just all speechless you think what did you I really think LeBron want to fucking leave his son over there alongside Luca Road

wants you know he wanted to write it out with Anthony Davis is bro, but not every old man. Guess what he wants? This old man is special, man. He devised everything. No, no. That's special enough apparently. That's the thing you have to understand. Everybody eventually gets treated

the same. Like, you're just to play. I don't care what you want. So my question to you guys, oh my gosh. So many questions. What does like the picture perfect avenue look like for the Lakers to contend this year what has to happen in your in your you would probably have to trade

lebrano reeves and get and get some really you're so settled on lebron being traded well no you're not going to get a better you're not going to get more talent than lebron if you trade them because you know people aren't going to give up like long term like really tantalizing players for a player who has one and a half years left i understand that i'm saying so you need lebron to stay i think if you want to contend this year and you stay at the buy yeah this question is only about this year Donovan. No, I understand what the question was. They're going to trade Austin Reeves for a starting center and a

playable caliber wing and then maybe Vanderbilt and the first round pick for another point for another guard. So they basically need to trade Austin Reeves and a pick for three players that are good. That's not impossible. That's not crazy to say. That's very doable. Awesome Reed is valuable. And they could also keep awesome reviews. We're saying this because like fit-wise, like that's a way you can imagine

swapping somebody now that Luke is there, but I guess they could keep Austin Reeves, but that's hard to imagine a good defense with Luca and Austin Reeves and LeBron James starting. Well, yeah, they would have to have to do that.

It's a lot of work in four days. We'll see, because let's see the question that I have is like, let's see what Rob comes up with, right? This was handed to Rob Polinka. Yes.

Now you have four days or three and a half, whatever, to go out and make something shape for yourself on your own. What are you prepared to do? Are you capable of actually doing it? And I think that's going to be the interesting thing to see over the next couple of days. But I'm kind of down on the Lakers, like overall, just because just because just because, like, you are getting an injured Luca right now. he's going to have to play his way back in the shape

and then LeBron. Oh, you're down for this year's title contention? Oh, yeah, yeah. Yeah, realistically, I don't, y'all, they're not winning championship this year because there's going to need to be some form of adjustment and recalibration around your new face of your franchise. But I'm going to assume LeBron's going to get traded.

I think that's a fair assumption right now. Gut instinct. I have a feeling just in my knees that he probably ends up getting moved. Where do you, but where, let's say today he says trade me. Where do you think he wants to? wants to go go to state i think i think he wants to go to state i mean so they don't want to trade raymond they don't want to do they trade wiggins i'd be fucking ecstatic if we got wiggins back

next to lucca defensively that would be do they do everything else everything else like salary-wise you can put in uh essentially dennis uh shrewder and uh what's his name slow mo that gets you to like 30 i think you put looney it gets you like 40 you can get close And then sweeten the pot with, I don't know, Kaminga. So salary plus Kaminga? Like, does that move you for as a Lakers? If you're the Lakers, yeah. I think if you're the Warriors, I don't think it necessarily helps you win a title this year.

But at this point, I think the- That doesn't help you win a title this year? You're way too low on LeBron in this whole conversation. That doesn't help you win a title this year? Think about everything that you just had to trade. You just traded like six warriors. I traded six shitty warriors. That's still half the team.

For salary, though. The team sucks. You only have 15 players. You traded six of the bad ones away. Like, you still used to have to, you know, foster out five-man lineups. I just think that, like, at this point, the Warriors have shown that they are not willing to compete. So I think that that deal would make sense because it's like, hey, our old man, here's your

old man friend. And you guys can just, you know, be happy and be, you know, friends for the last 40 games of the season. But, like, you're not winning a championship with LeBron and stuff right now. and trading out half the roster. I don't know. LeBron, Moody, Wiggins, Draymond.

Let's not talk ourselves into Disney movies. Is that ugly? LeBron and Moody. I mean, Steph and Moody is a backward. Wiggins are the three. Then LeBron and Draymond, that makes perfect sense.

Now, the bench sucks. That makes perfect sense, though. If Wiggins is still there, then yeah, like, makes sense. But I just don't envision the world and where Wiggins is like alongside the month, just because it just doesn't make sense. I'm not looking at the numbers right now.

I think I actually I don't think it's not It's not Yeah because I remember seeing That it's possible For them to do that type of package For Levine but not Jimmy Butler Because Jimmy Butler makes like 5 million more

I imagine LeBron makes more than Jimmy Butler So it's probably not possible LeBron probably has a $50 million What if OKC was to jump on LeBron And fucking 3P I saw the tweet someone said that The funniest outcome would be They get LeBron 3P

That would be incredible Just get replenish the draft assets Yeah I mean like If you're OKC would you be if you're the Lakers, would you be, like, anti-low, damn. I don't even think they can make that work because they don't have, they legitimately don't have anybody making that much who they would trade. So I don't even think that would work.

Damn. All right, Rob, listen. I want to see him back home if he's going to get trained. I hate the idea of that happening, but he has to go back home to me. There's a lot of stuff up in the air. Rob, you're going to have to show us something. You got to show us something. You got Luke.

The Knicks want him? You got, you got Luca. Let's see what's going down. of it. Do you want LeBron on your team? Does the Knicks want him? I mean, what are we giving up? McHale? Macau. No. O.G. maybe.

You have a lot? Just McHale for LeBron, James. No, I'm not doing that right. The guy's 40 years old. Come on. No, I'm not doing this with you guys right now. He's 40 years old. You're insane. You are a way to be on LeBron right now. I'm not doing that. You are team McHale over LeBron? Yet, he's 40 years old. And that's Macal Bridges. Who do you?

think of Macau Bridges is compared to LeBron? I'm not doing that right now. I'm not going to do it. All right, well, you're ridiculous. Anyways, what other teams would LeBron be willing to go to? LeBron's obviously going to, he's going to be very selective on where he'd force himself to if this actually does happen. Is there any other, like, it would have to be a big market, right?

He's not going to go to, like, Denver or would he? I don't know. I think he would. I think he would. It doesn't matter at this point in this crew when it comes to a big market. Like, if he's going anywhere, like, he has to legitimately, like, have a real shot to win. putting me alongside Luca yes he does

he doesn't have a chance to win why would he why wouldn't why would he just stay yeah obviously you'd only leave if he wants to win that's what I told you all Brody's retiring like he's he's off

he's all right LeBron earlier Donva texts to me he said whenever they were playing the Knicks he just like I wish me he said I wish we did the LeBron fan behavior video now because I got some LeBron

hate to get off and he's clearly bringing that into this conversation I just I just think that like we've talked all season long about how step is old and he can't carry a team and how lebron is old and he can't do it uh night after night and now we're like yeah let's put the two old guys together which has rarely worked in NBA history and you're like oh yeah it it could it could work it could win a title like it's not that does not that is not that is not

insane if you have two guys who used to be top five players and now they're not they used to be to carry alone now together they dropped off the top 15 players two top 15 players at a good supporting cast get you somewhere that's not crazy they are you guys you guys you guys had a top 15 player and a guy that you just called top 10 player and you guys are what the 5C yeah you're saying like you said you wanted to set that up like it was a 10 C but it's a 5C that's no no supporting cast sucks after you had after you had but you had no indication of them ever winning a title like they're not they're not going to win are we going to pretend that there's not a difference in the guys

after those top two players like you don't understand that you know wiggins draymond and everybody is much more impactful than reeves and ruy but you also just said that to trade lebron there you would have to get rid of six of the six of the assy players six of the players that don't matter but they are on the team right now the whole team sucks as a whole so you would have to trade whatever players you you had to get them correct are you one of the impression those players are more impactful than lebron james If you think that 40-year-old LeBron James right now, and Steph Curry, who's 36, like, you still need, do you, you are acting like it's going to be three-on-three basketball, and it's going to be Steph, Draymond, and LeBron, and they're just going to win a championship. You are, you need role players.

I need three players that barely play that are out of rotation. I did not name good rotation players that matter. I left a lot of players there. You need rotation players. Carl Anderson is not one of those players, but he healed is barely one of those players. Again, I don't know why we're talking about the Warriors specifically. I don't know how we got to then specifically. I think we established that that trade doesn't, is it mathematically possible.

So I don't know why we're talking about that specifically. That wasn't the point at all. Because you try to trade them to this old man team and still trying to like make you believe that. I'm not. We've been past that. We were talking about other teams. You're trying to give me to believe things that are just not true. And it's like, we were talking about other teams. This whole entire episode just feels not true, Donovan.

That is the theme for today. All right. Just get with it. I'm not going to fall into y'all. trap of untruth. I'm not going to, I'm not going to, I'm not going to do that today. I'm not going to do that today. It's kind of tough to imagine other teams that

LeBron would be willing to go to though. Like, if you look around the league. Are the Milwaukee books able to go ahead and like make some shit shake or are they a second apron team? Oh, they're a second apron team. They're second apron team. God damn, stupid assake second apron. Fuck. Do you guys think LeBron be willing to play for a non-premier franchise? guys? I don't think he wouldn't I don't think he would go anywhere like the fucking what do you go to Memphis? Detroit Pistons

or Memphis Memphis sounds fun but there's too much smoke over there. You go to Houston? Nah, yeah, I don't think it's happening. I don't think it's happening. I guess you know Miami but you might as well stay if you're going to go to Miami's mediocre ass. What if the Houston Rockets did push all the

to be like yeah, LeBron could be the guy and like help close the gaps? What if the Celtics trade, Drew Holliday and some salary filler for the project. I would that would make me so upset. That'd be hilarious. That's not happening. I'm just kidding.

Man, oh man. Well, sounds like we've exhausted our thoughts in this matter for the moment being many more steps in the conversations will come. This is an initial reaction, emergency pod. We can't even grade it right now because we have to just like

we have to think a little longer. Like on two days. Really, we don't have to really. Shit, I mean, we can read it. that bit right now. We all know what we're going to say for each team. I need time to think, man. I can't even. I can't perform right now. I need to.

Oh, man. People are still here. What should they comment? Just comment. Wow, Lucas the Laker. That's it. It's one of a clock. He's so mad. I am, I'm also upset. He's so, I mean, I'm literally, again. I'm upset and I'm sleepy at this point. I love Slovenia, to be honest. I've been saying Slovenia is underrated. You did say that.

You act like you. I've been on it all the time. You try to take me to that Slovenian restaurant the other day. Yeah, this is the type of shit I've been on. Yeah, you're on the culture. What the fuck, type of. This is not real. Hashtag not real.

What the fuck is going on here? Yeah, I feel like I'm hallucinating. It's fucking late at night. I don't know what's happening. And we're talking, it feels like a dream like Luca. All I know is I'm going to wake up and I'm going to be really happy. And you guys are not going to be happy as me. And that's your cross.

Prasta bear. Ah!