The Josh Innes Show - WTF?!? Luka Traded

Episode Date: February 2, 2025

It's Saturday Night and the world has been rocked by the news that Luka has been traded to the Lakers. What the actual fuck? This one came out of nowhere. As I said yesterday, basketball fans care more about the trades than the actual games. Instant Reaction... Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

All right, everybody, it's almost midnight, Saturday into Sunday, and like about 40 minutes or so ago, there's a Shams bomb, Shams bombs, who is, you know, the new Woj, of course, because Woj left ESPN to go be the general manager of like St. Bonaventure's basketball or some such shit. How shitty of a job is it to work at ESPN when a dude's like, you know what I'm going to do? I'm going to go be the general manager for a college team. Did not know that general managers for college teams existed,

but apparently they do. But that's not what this is about. That is not about making fun of ESPN or Woj or anything else. About 40 or so minutes ago, there's a tweet that comes through, and the tweet says that Luka Doncic, Luka, one of the stars of the NBA, despite the fact that he's been out so you don't see him,

and no one watches the NBA, so you wouldn't know, but Luka gone. He's been traded to LA as part of a package that sent Maxi Kleber and some other shit to LA. And in return, Anthony Davis comes to the, uh, to Dallas and, um, holy shit. Like even the, like, it's almost like the NBA was like, listen, nobody gives a fuck about us.

Nobody talks about us. The only talking point about us is that people aren't watching our product anymore. So what do we do? Let's just light the world on fire by having one of the top five, six, seven dudes in the league get shipped off to LA, which by the way, if you want to be a conspiracy theorist here, one could argue that the conspiracy could be that the league is desperate, right? The league needs something good to happen because people are not watching the NBA anymore. And what could the NBA do to maybe fix the league? Well, you take your marquee team, the Los Angeles Lakers, they've got LeBron, but they suck. LeBron's on the tail end anyway. So you say, what could we do to maybe add some life to this

shit? And you go, hey, why have Luka toil around in Dallas where nobody gives a shit? What if we send Luka to LA and maybe Luka becomes like this super stud and he's not really a stud, but like Luka goes to LA and then all of a sudden people are interested in basketball. Now that's a fine conspiracy. It's not the case because he, I mean, LeBron is in Los Angeles and no one cares about the NBA, so Luka going to LA wouldn't matter. Anyway, I'm just looking to make sense of any of this because none of it makes sense. Like, think about the absurdity of this, Jilly, and we're sitting around drinking booze. Gout will probably flare up again in the morning.

Whatever. It is what it is. So it's absurd when you think about it because I'm trying to make sense of it the only thing that makes sense is that basically and this is what the Mavericks have said and I don't know if they're just trying to save face or whatever but the Mavericks have said basically we weren't going to pay the dude and he's injured a lot and he's got conditioning championships it doesn't nobody gives a shit about defense but that's fine so like you like here's what i love though i love the idea now

like just let's go by that logic defense wins championships so you mean to tell me that the dallas mavericks are closer to a championship now because they got broke dick always injured anthony davis to play with the dudes they already have there. You're closer to a championship by trading Luka? That's fucking absurd. No one in Dallas is going to want to hear that. Now, maybe it'll turn out to be the most brilliant thing ever, and the whole world is stupid, but as of right now, the Dallas Mavericks look like total fucking puds,

absolute puds, and you can feed me the defense wins championship. Then tell me this. Enlighten me. Where are all those lakers championships and i'm not talking about the the fucking rona championship i'm talking about a real championship where are all those anthony davis championships that he won with new orleans oh yeah they didn't exist where are the lakers championships oh yeah he won one in the bubble big fucking deal like if i were in dallas today and i'm a fan of the mavericks i'd say like what the actual

fuck are we doing yeah i know i agree i literally had a look at seven i i thought he was hacked the world thought shams was hacked and then like all these other reputable news sources start posting it like no fucking way i love it like people are going like shams post a video of you saying this hold up today's newspaper in a picture, Shams. We need to know you're alive. Is this real? But then everybody's going with it, and there's follow-up tweets about it and about the reason why Dallas did what Dallas did.

This is bonkers. Again, at the end of the day, it's the NBA. The world doesn't really give a shit. Like, the NBA is more fascinating on the, like, Twitter level than it is on the actual court. Nobody gives a shit what happens. We talked about this on the pod the other day. The NBA is one of those things where the talk about it, the chatter about it, the Twitter about it is far more interesting. The free agency, the trades, people are more interested than actually watching the

product. Nobody gives a fuck about the product unless you're gambling on it. People don't care. So whatever. But it is fascinating. Let me play a couple commercials here and we'll continue. All right. If you're ready to win some real cash during the basketball playoffs, you got to check out Pick 6 from DraftKings. When it comes to basketball payouts, DraftKings Pick 6 posterizes the competition, including prize picks. It's a very simple concept. Hit all your picks and score higher minimum payouts on Pick 6,

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Pick six not available everywhere including new york and ontario void where prohibited one per new customer bonus awarded is non-withdrawable pick six credits that expire in 14 days limited time offer see terms at pick six dot draft kings dot com slash promos all right so i'm trying to like I again trying to make sense of this there's nothing that the Mavericks can tell me today that that would make me be able to make sense of any of this it is stupid it is baffling they obviously didn't want to pay Luka major cash and they were gonna have to pay him now to a degree I almost get it because they're like listen like in my mind there's no NBA player that's worth this super max.

And he was going to get like 300 something million. There's no NBA player that's worth that because enough people aren't even watching the NBA or interested in the NBA to ever pay a guy $400 million to play basketball. Particularly one that ain't one shit like Lucas. So that's a fair complaint or a fair at least like, okay, I get where you're coming from. But I ain't trading a superstar for fucking anthony davis you could have told me that the the mavericks were signing caitlin clark and i would have thought that was more believable yes than this it's like listen guys it turns out angel reese has been signed by the the pelicans more believable it's all more believable than saying

that luka donchic one of the handful of best players when he's healthy, when he's conditioned, although he's a hero of mine because this motherfucker doesn't give a shit about conditioning. This guy just pounds beers, he's out of shape, and then goes out and drops 40. Like, I admire that. I admire a guy who just doesn't give a fuck, who's like, you know what? I'm fat, I'm out of shape, I don't condition, but I'm better than you. What if this whole time Luka just has the gout? you know what, I'm fat, I'm out of shape, I don't condition, but I'm better than you. Like, I can roll.

What if this whole time Luca just has the gout? What does that mean? All from drinking too much beer and eating too much shellfish. Like, they're like, why is he out? He's undisclosed illness. As it turns out, he's got the gout and he's limping around because he can't feel his feet. They're all swollen like mine. Could be.

Tell you, the guy's a hero of mine. I admire people who can just, like, be fucking awesome at what they do without even trying, which indicates that you could be amazing if you actually gave a shit. But it's almost like I'm not trying to say that I'm Luca, but I don't try. Yet I can still roll out of bed and do a lot of better shit than a lot of people do. Now, some would say that's not admirable, Josh, because if you actually tried, maybe you'd be successful. Maybe, but I kind of get my rocks off on not trying and still being better than people that try really, really hard. Like I know that's dickish. And you

might say, Josh, what a cocksucker thing to say. It is, but I have the ability to just roll in. Like I told you that story that one time that Spike would get all pissed that I didn't prep out the show and write it down the way he did and then one day i rolled in and did this awesome first segment and he goes man that was really good i go do you want to see my notes and he goes sure and it was a blank piece of fucking paper i'm like stand get out of the way you're standing on the tracks when the train's coming through the champ is here god damn it and that's kind of why I admire Luka. Because Luka clearly doesn't give a fuck about the real things you have to do to be a champion. So Luka's kind of always going to be known as this dude that could have, should have, would have been an all-time great. But he could just roll out of bed and be like, I don't give a fuck.

Here's a 40 piece. Here's 40, 10, and 7. Like, did you even try today? No. What did you do to prepare for the game? I got blitzed. I got hammered in the locker room before the game and dropped 40. Kind of like when you hear those stories about Michael Jordan,

and it'll be like, well, MJ played 36 holes of golf in the morning and, like, lost 20 grand gambling on golf and drank, you know, a 12- pack of Coors and then rolled up to the United Center and dropped 50 on the Knicks like that's when men played sports like when you'd see pictures of like uh like Lynn Dawson smoking a cigarette in the locker room during the Super Bowl for the Chiefs and you're like holy shit men used to play sports not these overly conditioned can play to their 45, like type of dudes. Dudes who when they were 30 looked like they were 50, but still went out.

Like I saw a picture the other day. It was a split with Ken Stabler and Tom Brady. And Ken Stabler's looking haggard and old and decrepit and everything. And Tom Brady's looking immaculate. In the picture, Tom Brady is 45 and Ken Stabler is 30 and like Ken Stabler like all the dudes did was went out and smoked and drank and fucked and it was awesome and that's a man like they could still roll out and sling that motherfucker like it's nobody's business and that's why all those Michael Jordan stories are

great because Luke is kind of like MJ whereas like you watch LeBron on that basketball player show that we watched a couple episodes of, like LeBron is constantly getting worked on and he's getting massages and he's in the, he's in the cold tubs and the hot tubs and the saunas and he's drinking wine and all this shit. Then you go look at Michael Jordan and the stories are literally gets up in the morning, goes to the golf course, 36 holes, case of Coors lights, 10 cigars games at seven rolls up at five 30 after the 36 holes of 20 grand down to Charles Barkley on the golf course and says, fuck, it goes out and drops 45. Like that's when men played sports.

Now guys are far too like proper and far too in shape and they all look like adonises and they care too much about their bodies i like luke is a true throwback i admire luca because luca is a throwback to when dudes did not give any fucks about their body or conditioning or training like how many videos did we see of michael jordan in the the last dance documentary motherfuckers smoking a cigar in the locker room before a game. He's like, whatever. And then, like, they show him and Scottie Pippen after the game, and they're both drinking fucking High Lifes. And you're like, wow, men used to play sports.

What happened? All that said, you know who looks like a real pud at this very moment is Mark Cuban. Like a massive pud. And, like like look trump said everything woke turns to shit does he even have any ownership of the mavericks anymore i thought he sold it oh no i think he's got some i think he's still part owner of it he didn't sell the whole team did he no cuban still got a piece of the team i forgot what person look at what percentage of the team mark cuban. Like he owns part of it.

I think he sold a large part of it to somebody and got really rich off of it. But I think he still has a piece of it. I don't know what percentage it is. He sold a majority stake for about $3.5 billion, but I think he still owns about 27%. So he still owns enough. So I stand by what I said. I stand on this. When Trump said everything woke turns to shit,

all of a sudden Mark Cuban goes from being one of the most admired owners ever. Like back in the early to mid-2000s, Mark Cuban was the tits. Everybody, like I can tell you from my standpoint, I loved the guy. Like the way he'd like shit talk the refs and he'd be bitching on the sidelines. And I liked him. Then everything woke turns to shit then everything woke turns to shit everything woke turns to shit and now the dallas mavericks decides you know what we're gonna do we're gonna trade a young 25 year old superstar for broke dick ass anthony davis a center in a

league that doesn't give a fuck about centers to that point and this is a very interesting anecdote from our friend funaki stats who rockets fans if you don't follow steven adams stats great follow uh he tweets wait the lakers need a cheap high impact center on an expiring contract to set screens for luca yeah go get steve-o with the rockets i'd never let steve steve-o's gonna eventually play for every team in the fucking league and he's like the most unsung hero of everything. Like the dude plays four minutes a game and gets 20 rebounds and set screens, gets assists. He's a stud.

But what? Dirk Nowinski has reacted. Oh, what does old Dirk have to say? It says, oh, it's just that kind of like what the fuck face. Yeah, it's like, dude, like what are we fucking doing, bro? What are we doing? If you're the Ma mavericks today what like you can feed it look monday i'll give them this they're gonna be top of the headlines on dallas radio on monday you know the cowboys out of sight out of mind baseball out of sight out of mind you know what the big talking point is gonna be what the fuck

are you doing mavericks like that's what you're dealing with right now this shit is bonkers like credit to i mean look give credit to them they've brought attention to basketball although pretty negative attention because you're talking about a superstar uh being traded um for nothing like no offense to anthony davis anthony davis is a really good fucking basketball player but he's a 31-year-old, always injured center in a league that doesn't give a fuck about centers. The team shoots 63s a fucking game. Who cares about a center? And I know that that's a bigger piece. To make the deal work, I'm guessing you had to include someone who had money like Anthony Davis. You can feed me the defense wins championships bullshit. are no closer winning a championship

than you you're farther away much further away i'm sure there are other pieces they have to make moves for but on the surface basically the two big pieces in this are anthony davis and luke donchage and you don't win that trade if you're the team getting anthony davis and the mavs i mean their big guy gafford playing pretty well no he's a baller he's averaging like almost a double double i think recently no he's a beast like like look i know i compare everything or base everything on gambling but like the dude's points and rebounds over under every game is like 23 24 and a half and like last game i want to say it was like 26 and a half so this dude eats boards and and is great with uh you know he'll give you 12 points a game so i don't know what his defense is like, but still, I mean,

you said Anthony Davis always hurt anyway. Mavericks ain't winning dick anyway, but, like, this is a longer-term thing. It ain't like who's going to win this year. Also, LeBron claims he had no idea. Yo, he may not have. They say that he found out when he was out to dinner with his family after the game tonight, and he's currently processing this. Okay, processing this.

Go fuck yourself. Your team sucks. It's going to suck. It's over. Although LeBron balled tonight in the garden, but other than that, your team sucks, bro. Process away while you drink your fucking wine and process. I do believe that, actually.

I do believe that LeBron wouldn't know that because I don't know that anybody in the world knew this. I don't think the Lakers view LeBron as such an important piece because they know they're not winning championships with him anyway. So they're just kind of like, like they don't have to blow LeBron anymore. So I wouldn't doubt that there's this, like, I actually believe him. I believe LeBron when LeBron says that he had no clue that was going down. Maybe I'm stupid. Maybe I I'm naive I don't know but um that's uh I buy that but long story short here end of the day in this thing what the fuck bro what the actual fuck are you doing you've got a 25 year old star I don't care if his conditioning fucking sucks like I get that

you're taking a chance and like maybe the level-headed reaction of that would be like yeah you don't want to pay 300 million dollars to a guy who's doughy and always hurt but he's also a guy that can drop 40 any given night a guy that can give you a triple double any night a guy who when he's locked in can also give you a block every night and a steal every night he's an elite level player a great player and you're letting that guy go for Anthony Davis. And again, I know there's more to it and there will be more to it, but the two biggest names involved in this are Luka Doncic and Anthony Davis. One is a guy who can score from anywhere on the floor, is an elite player who can play a wing position and one of them is a fucking center in a league that doesn't give a shit about centers

anymore. You look like puds. It's not a good look. So you can feed me, oh God, the argument about defense wins champ. Oh my God, you sound like assholes. Oh Christ, you sound like assholes. That the idea, well, you know, we thought defense wins championship. Oh, go fuck yourselves. You are dopes. Dudes, these teams shoot 45, 50, 55. Actually, I'm low-balling it here. Most of these teams are shooting 53s a game, okay? So don't tell me about fucking defense in the NBA. You know what wins games in the NBA? Being able to fill up the cup. That's how you win games in the NBA. Not by getting Anthony Davis. Tell me what Anthony Davis wins. I'll tell you what he wins. Dick. That's what he wins with all of his defense and everything else. When he was the star player on a team, you know what he won? Dick.

Except a damn Rona championship. A dipshit could have won a Rona championship. Oh, I'm sorry. I guess they, okay, I was wrong. They did win the NBA Cup. So he is an NBA Cup champion and he is a bubble champion. So look, I did not mean to disparage the great Anthony Davis. I'm sorry, Brow, you deserve better.

But all that said, what the actual fuck Dallas?