The Mismatch - Early Luka Doncic-Anthony Davis Trade Theories and Rationale

Episode Date: February 2, 2025

Verno and Jacoby both woke up to the absolute bombshell of a trade that now has Luka Doncic with the Lakers and Anthony Davis with the Mavericks and decided to fire up the mics. The guys try to piece together how exactly the biggest trade in NBA history came together and offer their own theories of why the powers that be in Dallas and Los Angeles decided to go through with the deal at this point of the season. They close the show talking through the Luka-LeBron pairing and how the two of them and JJ Redick will make it all work. Hosts: Chris Vernon and David Jacoby Producer: Ben Cruz Social: Keith Fujimoto Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hey there, humanoids. It's the Maskman David Shoemaker. It's a new era in professional wrestling, and that means a new era here at the Ringer Wrestling show. Kaz here, every Monday and Thursday hang out with me and my guys' shoes on the Masked Man show. And Ben Cruz here. Come kick it with me, Cal and Brian on Tuesdays for Ringer Wrestling worldwide, where we hit on the most interesting headlines and even react to some of Masked mans and even your hottest takes. Don't tap out. Tap in to the Ringer Wrestling show feed now on Spotify. or wherever you get your podcasts. Worldwide. Welcome to the mismatch. I'm Chris Vernon and joining me on this special Sunday podcast, an emergency podcast

for the most shocking trade in NBA history. From The ringer.com is Dave Jacoby. Jacobi. I love this stuff. This is why we care so much about the NBA. Things like this happened. I have felt every emotion. I have been through every adjective in the English language in the past four hours,

just thinking about what happened, did it happen, and what does it mean from every angle? And I can't wait to talk to you about it. Okay. So let's just talk about our experience. So last night, I had a buddy over, watched the tail end of Nick's Lakers, watched a little of Kentucky, Arkansas, alongside the Royal Rumble.

So that was all going on. It was a great sports night. Great Saturday at the Vernon House. Had two TVs going. And then my wife who's been battling a cold is like, I'm going to go to bed. This is at like 10.40, something like that. I was like, all right. I was like, I'll go to bed too so I don't wake you up later.

And so anyways, I go crash. I'm probably asleep by 11 o'clock central time. Put my phone on silent. wake up this morning and it's one of those horrible feelings whenever you look at your phone and there's a million text on it I'm like oh no oh no right

because you're always thinking the worst and then I can it was honestly like you know you've seen like usual suspects when Chas Palmetry drops the mug it was like that except with my phone because it's now

like a bunch of different group text and I'm watching I'm reading it now, not in real time, of the whole conversation of whether or not this is a hacking or not. And it seems like all around the entire NBA, when something is so unbelievable that everyone just assumes,

oh my God, the biggest reporter in the NBA has been hacked on a Saturday night that's when you know something extraordinary

has happened and said biggest reporter in the NBA then post yes it's real and then you're still like but bro is this really you everyone's looking at every account

that tweeted anything and be like are all the vowels there Like is this NBA central or NBA central? And then you're wondering. And then you're wondering. Right. So I'm watching this. Imagine me reading this in real time on my text.

People discussing whether or not this is real. To that point, even then as I'm following the timeline, they're like, oh, Bobby Marx's comment has contacted. Like at that point, you're waiting for other reporters. It's confirmed. to reach out. But I mean, we're to the point where we need other reporters. We don't need other reporters to confirm the trade.

We need other reporters to make sure Shams is okay. Right? Is this real? And so obviously then it was one of those deals where it's like, how do I process this? Well, this is one of my first reaction was this. This is the Dallas Maverick saying. Luca Donchich is not a championship basketball player. Luca Donchich will win you games, but Luca Donchish will not win you a championship.

And one of the things I found so interesting about this, and we all heard this. When he had the calf stream, we all heard my guy, Tim McMahon, shout to him. He was like, oh, the Mavs have conditioning issues with him, so they're going to give him some time off to get into basketball shape. It was such a weird report because you're thinking. thinking to yourself, you're like, you need to not play basketball to get in shape? Like, this conditioning idea at the time was just a curiosity. It was just odd. It was like,

wait, so he has a calf strain, but he has to take a couple weeks off to get in shape to play basketball. And that McMahon is sourced in this article about this trade, that the Mavs have conditioning concerns about him, his nutrition, his diet, his approach, and his basically his seriousness of a basketball player. I'm shocked by this and nothing I can't wait. This is great information to leak on a Saturday night Sunday, but there's going to be more information coming out because we're going to hear exactly what happened

between the Mavericks and Luca Donchich because a trade like this doesn't happen. We don't know everything. That's how I feel right now. We're going to learn a lot more about the relationship between Donchich and the Mavericks in the coming days, don't you agree? It's one of those things where...

In the absence of anything that makes sense, we then search for reasoning. And so to your point, you feel like there has to be something more. I immediately was given to conspiracy theory. What? Yeah. Oh, no. I mean, come on. Why do you take this deal?

Why? Why do you not get more? Why is Luke Godotich not known to be available? What is going on here? This seems, this seems insane. This is, and you have one guy who runs one team who was Kobe's guy, who is making the deal with Kobe's agent. Yes, Kobe's Nike guy was Nico, and then his agent was,

is Rob Plinker. They're friends. Yeah. They've been friends for 30 years. So me and you making a deal and no one else even knowing about it raises a tremendous amount of red flags in a highly competitive 30 team leave, right? So what and then Nico's close with AD and it's like, you would not make this deal with anyone else except you're.

buddy. You wouldn't do it on the low. You wouldn't do it on the low and you wouldn't do it for this price. Because otherwise, it's outrageous. Everybody says, so the only thing I can, so that's not even conspiracy, by the way. Let me just say, that's not conspiracy. What I'm saying is you don't make this deal, you don't make this deal this way unless you're doing it with one of your buddies. Yes, I think that is fair. But from a strictly like objective business strategy perspective, it does feel like if you have an asset as valuable as Luca Donchich is, no matter what you feel about it, objectively, reputationalally,

it is a very valuable asset that you would like to have multiple bidders bidding for his services. You would like to drive the market price as high as possible to get the biggest return possible. But instead, this is more of a, handshake wink wink wink back room buddy buddy deal right that gets you a smaller return than you would get through normal practices which it it I mean red flags it's more just curiosity we we cannot do it this way we we can't look we cannot overlook the personal relationships here that led to this moment because it's unexplainable it's the most insane like I'm not kidding you, Jacoby.

If all the, let's say money doesn't matter. If they offered me LeBron and AD for Luca, you're not doing that deal. You're not. So you're not. So you're making my point. You're making my point. No one knows more about Luca Donchich, his approach to his job, his work ethic, his diet, his makeup, his desire, his competitive fire, his everything.

knows more about that than the Dallas Mavericks. The Dallas Mavericks have decided that they don't want him on their team. You know what it strikes me as it's a bunch of guys that got in a room and said, you know, I've seen all those clips. There's these entire, there are these entire videos of him in last year's finals playing bad defense, right? Like you've seen it. Yeah, we've also.

Yeah, yeah. compilations of, oh, my God, what a disaster, right? This feels like a bunch of guys that work for the Mavericks all got together and thought, we could have won the NBA finals. We had four guys defending, but look, I mean, look, the video doesn't lie. Look at the way this guy is defending because I'm going to give you one little tidbit that really stood out to me. Oh, what do you got, Bruno? Brian Winhorse trashed Luca Donchitz. You remember very famously torched him on national television. When horse said when he went back to the arena for the finals,

the next game obviously Luca was great. When he went back to the NBA finals that the crowd was like chanting his name, screaming horrible things at him. He was omnipresent at the press conferences locker room everywhere else because he said what he said on national TV. He did what the good reporter does and shows up. So he took all the heat from Dallas fans, right? they were mad and he said not want this was of all the things that have come out this is one of the

most revealing to me he said not once did anybody from the Dallas Mavericks complained to him and that is unfathomable to me because what organizations do if you rip their players they immediately yeah you're getting calls from the GM you're getting calls from the coaches You're getting calls from the PR director. You're getting calls from all manner of people. I've lived this life. And the second that you jump up because their parents are involved in the thing or what, I mean, it's, it is not an easy thing to do, especially with that kind of platform with what

Winhorse did. And the fact that nobody outside of fans defended Luca Donchich. to him after he torched him on national TV for his lack of effort and defense, that to me is a major sign of what happened here. Oh, well, there's, obviously, the Mavericks do not want Luca Donchage on their team. You do not make this deal unless you feel that way. Obviously, the Dallas Mavericks have said, Luca Donchich is a great basketball player, but he's not a championship basketball player.

Obviously, the Dallas Mavericks have decided that they are a better basketball team without him. And here is the quote from Nico Harrison that he gave after the tree. Quote, I believe that defense wins championships. I believe that getting an all defensive center and an all NBA player with a defensive mindset gives us a better chance. We're built to win now and in the future. You would think that a team would be built to win now and in the future if they had,

I don't know, gone to the Western Conference finals last year and gone to the NBA finals and had an MVP candidate who was 25 years old. that is built to win now and in the future, but he said twice in that quote, he mentioned defense. And later on, McMahon is, it said, quote, the Mavericks were motivated to move Donjish

because of his constant conditioning concerns, sources told McMahon. There had been significant frustration within the organization about Donch's lack of discipline regarding his diet and conditioning, which team sources considered a major factor in his injury issues. So here's a deal. I'm telling, to go back to what I said earlier,

there are these compilations of him not playing defense. It's a bunch of guys sitting around blaming him for what took play. That's how it feels to me. That they blamed him. They've resented him since the NBA finals and him not giving this what they consider the requisite effort

in order to win at the highest level. With, and there's nobody in the room that says, hey, hold on. I get it. It's frustrating. But you do understand we're only there because of him. Right? Like, we're not in the finals without him.

Like somebody's got to stand up and be like, I get it, bro. I'm mad at him too. I wish he would have given more effort. I wish he would have cared more on the defensive side of the ball. But let's have a moment of clarity, fellas. We're in the finals because. final. He's on our team. And also, let's not forget this. Let's not, okay, so they're saying, and again, I'm going to quote it again, there had been significant frustration within the organization

about Donge's lack of discipline regarding his diet and conditioning, which team sources considered a major factor in his injury issues. Here's the thing about Luke at Donchish. He's always hurt, but he's also always playing. He was hurt throughout the entire playoffs last year. He was limping around, giving him 35, 8, and 7. Every game he was hurt. Every time he scored, he would limp back on defense. And like what I saw from him was not a lack of effort or a lack of discipline. I saw someone willing his team to the NBA finals injured or hurt, not injured, more hurt than injured, whatever you want to say.

But this trade tells me that there's things happening behind the scenes between Dodgich and the Mavericks that this relationship is over and it had to end, which is why they took 70 cents on the dollar. No. They're celebrating in Dallas right now. They're celebrating. So the fans aren't. I mean, look.

They are. No, the fans? I'm saying the front office is celebrating. Oh, God, look. They think, they think we just got rid of our biggest problem and we got Anthony Davis. That's how they feel. That's how they feel. I'll tell you this.

Their team tweeted out, welcome to Dallas, Anthony Davis this morning. And they might as well have, they would have gotten better responses on Twitter if they would have tweeted out, dear fans, we hate you. they would have got at least somebody would have been like ha ha ha they must have gotten hacked right like no it is an absolute mind field of your can you imagine being a ticket rep there this morning oh my god like well this is think of it through the prism of everybody else that cares about the mavericks except the five guys that put this together well one of the things when you say conspiracy theory this is where my mind goes. The Lakers are the winningest franchise in the NBA or the Celtics, whatever you want to say. I mean, the two, the top five sort of core franchises in the league history,

they got, well, they got Kareem, they got Magic, they got Shaq, they got Kobe, they got LeBron, and now they have Donchage. The Lakers are now relevant for another decade. The Lakers are never, they, like, between Kobe and LeBron, there's like two years of rebuilding, which they did do a good job of. And it's just like, the conspiracy theory to me is, of course, Luca Donchich is a Laker. Of course they're going to have arguably the biggest star in the league. Because all that, that is the town of superstars. That is the biggest marquee. Those are the brightest lights.

That is the biggest spotlight. They have the most celebrities in the front row. Of course, Luca Donchage is now on the Lakers because you and I, and everybody who cares about the league was thinking the same thing about the Lakers. What's going to happen when LeBron leaves? Is this going to be an Austin Reeves Anthony Davis franchise trying to win a championship? And now we know the answer. Well, and here's the deal to Kobe.

All of this can still never explain to us or anyone else that pays attention to the NBA. Why? Even if I want to accept, they are shorting Luca Dodgers. They think he is not what other people think. They obviously do. I don't care what they say their actions are so loud. They traded Luca Dajus for Anthony Davis. It still will never explain the value play here.

Because let's just say all things are even. If I put Luca Dant. If the Lakers said tomorrow, Luca Dantich is available and you see what kind of trades you could get for him. And the Mab said Anthony Davis is available. And you were to see what kind of trades you could get around the league. It doesn't. It will never.

explain it, right? Like we have a standard here where lesser players have been, but Paul George, again, you can look back and say these are bad trades, but Paul George was SGA, five first rounders, and two swaps. The Gobert trade was Walker Kessler, Malik Beasley, Jared Vanderbilt, four first rounders and a pick swap. McKell Bridges, Cam Johnson. four first rounders and a first round pick swap were traded for a 35 year old post-Aquillies Kevin Durant

And you got AD Max Christie and one first round pick And what are the jazz paid $55,000 for two picks? Like what just happened with the jazz? I don't even understand what the jazz have to do with this. Somewhere in the age, this is like, cool. I have to like write you a check and drop off a double bag full of cash. Did I get two picks out of this? What?

So that's why it seems so shady to me. Because you only made the deal with one team, right? So I saw earlier today, my man Derek Thompson, who does the plain English podcast for the ringer, no less. He said, even if we grant the Mavs everything, Luke is out of shape. He's not worth the Supermax. He might opt out.

His defense is catastrophic barrier to winning championships. is there any explanation for keeping the trade a secret? I don't get it. channeling BS. You don't pocket list the best house on the block. You just don't. Well, this does, I'm glad he brought up real estate because I watch a lot of reality real estate programming.

And this does feel like, why did you sell your house without putting it on the market? Like, why did you sell your house without finding out what the market value is? and the only explanation that I can fathom in my head is they just didn't want to deal with the information being out there. You don't float the idea of getting a divorce. You know what I mean? Like you make that decision and then execute it. That's sort of the only thing that I can wrap my head around

because they're getting 80 cents on the dollar. He did. This is two buddies that talk themselves in. All right, I'm going to read you something real quick. This is from the Dallas paper. Okay. It's from the Dallas Morning News. This came out and it said Harrison cited his two-decade long relationship with Rob Polinka.

Starting when Harrison was a Nike executive and Polika was a player agent. Harrison told the news that he and Polinka began having, quote, basketball conversations more than a month ago. Then all of a sudden we're like, would you ever do this? No, you're joking, right? Hmm, interesting. Maybe I would. Added Harrison and then it just built over time over the last three weeks. A person familiar with the Mavericks thinking told the Dallas Morning News that Harrison

got full support from the team governor Patrick Dumont in the weeks leading to the trade and when it was time to pull the trigger late Saturday night. All right. I have some questions for you, Murdo. Okay. Do you believe that LeBron James learned about this while? he was out at dinner in New York City after the Lakers Knicks game.

Do you think that LeBron James gets a phone call from Rob Polinka saying, Anthony Davis, clutch client, close friend of yours, you guys won a championship together. He's no longer on the team. We traded for Luca Donchich.

By the way, basically, I don't understand the basketball fit between LeBron and Luca. We can talk about that in a second, but I'm going to answer this question. do you believe he found out in the manner in which we're supposed to believe he found out? I'm going to shock you and say yes.

And tell you, yes. I think so too. I believe. I believe it because I don't think this gets pulled off unless it's two people who promise to each other. We're not telling anyone. See, that is when you ask the question, why did it happen this way? Why didn't he go to market? And that, in a general sense, is sort of the answer that you just gave, is this doesn't happen unless it happens in this manner.

Well, but here's the deal. And in this article that I just read from the Dallas Morning News, he said, it's my job to make tough decisions, right? Fair. Look, they have to be good decisions. Well, right? Like, you don't just get credit. You don't just get credit. Like, I mean, cutting off your left pinky finger is the top.

decision, but it's not a good decision. But it's a bad decision, right? Like, it doesn't mean it's a good decision. Like, you don't get credit for making tough ones. And this is, but can we just mention the other crazy side of this? Nico Harrison has been objectively awesome. Oh, yeah. We sat there and said, they better build around Luca or he's going to want out.

They better build around Luca. And then he got Kyrie Irving and we're all like, what the hell? What are you doing? And it's worked. And then he did the Grant Williams thing, but he pulled the plug on it immediately and got him PJ Washington and Daniel Gafford. And now this is the best supporting cast he ever built around Luca Donchage. Nico Harrison has done an objectively great job. But this might be the all-time worst heat check in GM history.

Well, I think, well, listen, I have a couple questions. Number one, what is Luca Donchish eating? like what how is his diet so bad that he got traded they're like we didn't even want this guy around how what is he is eating ice cream for breakfast like how can your diet be so bad how do you play basketball six days a week and not be in shape like i just don't i can't wrap my head around this like what what is happening that we don't know that led to this tough decision from nico harrison what is this man eating how is he in such bad shape that they traded in him for 60 cents on the dollar.

Bro, he's, look, he's 25 and he's like five time first team, all NBA, right? Like, they are talking. He's like, I swear to God. He's a only finals MVP when he was like 17. Bro, they are talking the, if I were to extract the conversation about why you're getting rid of Luke Godotje. And then. I placed said, quote, alongside why the pelicans are getting rid of Zion Williamson.

It would at least be somewhat like you would at least sit there. But guess what? Zion is never won anything. Zion's not a first team all. They are talking about him like he's Zion, like he hasn't been first team all NBA over and over. Like he hasn't. I don't care whatever lack of dedication he has had to being the best he can be. He's still, no matter what kind of list you make, one of the best five basketball players on planet Earth.

Well, you make a good point. They are talking about him like he is Joel M. Beater, Zion Williamson. Like he doesn't take his job seriously. He doesn't condition himself, which leads to him not being available. I see him limping through the playoffs and scoring 30 points every single game. Like, he's available. He is. Crazy.

And here's my question, Bruno. Like, let's just talk about the basketball aspect of this. Luca Dodgich and LeBron James should not be teammates. It just doesn't make sense. Is LeBron going to stand in the corner and wait for a driving kick? Is that what's happening now? If you're LeBron James, you're like, what do I even do tomorrow? Like, what do I do in our next?

game with Luca Donchich. What do they do? I mean, they're both basketball geniuses, and I am one that goes, they'll figure that out. They'll figure that out. Are the Lakers better or worse now? I honestly don't know. I think they're better. I think they're better.

What? I don't know. And they're going to go get a big now. They're going to go get a big. They're not done. They're not done. They're going to be active, and they're going to go get a big. They're going to find somebody to pair with them.

The Lakers. So Lakers. It's like, it's like when the, this reminds me of when Tom Brady started dating Giselle Bunchin, it was almost like he Googled who is the most beautiful woman in the world

and then just got her. This is the Lakers being like, who is the biggest superstar? Because we're the Lakers. Oh, Luca Dantjic. Cool, we'll take him for a decade. This is so Lakers.

If you have a top five player in the NBA, you cannot get rid of them. End of story. You can't trade them in the middle of the night. You can't. No, but no one knows about. Look, we know.

the history of the NBA tells us you have to have one of those guys. You have to. You have to. There are exceptions, but yes. Yes. Like the pistons. Yeah. That's the exception.

I mean, if you want to say, if you want to say, if you want to say you've got Tatum a little bit lower. But look at the history, if you look at who's raising the Larry O'Brien trophy, it is a superstar. Every single year.

And every year, I go over this and I say, Look, and what you're going to find is that the best player on that team was 27 or 28 years old, almost exclusively. And that goes back to Jordan. That goes to LeBron. That goes to Curry. That goes to, you name the guy generally. And there have been a little bit younger ones recently.

A younger one was a little older. Yeah, yeah. But even last year, guess who finals MVP was? It's Jaylen Brown. He's 27 years old. Right? You just traded a guy who's 25. I just told you guys don't even usually win the title

until they're 27 or 28. Is he eating lucky charms for dinner? Why do you trade Lucas Hutch? Is he having milkshakes at halftime? Like, what the fuck is he doing? I'm going to propose one theory that we have not. Milkshakes for breakfast? No.

Because we brought up that they're friends. This is going to be, this is going to be an unsolved mystery forever, that I only can convince myself this is two buddies that made this deal. And they think they're, you got one who's thinking irrationally. And you've got one that he certainly, look,

if I'm going to trade Luke, I'd rather do it to my buddy, right? They've got this longstanding two-decade relationship. And so he, he, he helps him out. And then delusionally, the other guy thinks he's getting helped out by this deal. Okay.

Oh, see, I don't think that's delusion. I think there, I think the Mavericks front office is popping champagne right now. No, no, he's delusioned. We avoided the biggest disaster in the history of our franchise. We thank God we just traded Lucas Dodgers and he's no longer our problem. That is what they are saying right now today. I promise you.

Here's the other theory that I have not floated with you. Okay. Oh, no. You said they're popping champagne after it. They are. Who amongst us? Now, again, there's going to be people listening to this. I've never done that.

Who amongst us? has not had a night. And what I would present to you is the champagne got popped earlier. Who amongst us has not made an incredibly regrettable decision after they drank? That's like you're going with, you're going to be going out of the club. It was 1115 central time last night when this deal got made. Usually those decisions are like, let's drive to Niagara Falls. It's not let's trade Luca Donchich.

Is there a chance he woke up this morning and like me rolled over and grabbed his phone and went, oh my God, what have I done? But those, those decisions are usually like, let's capture a squirrel and make it a pet. It's not like let's trade Luca Donchich. I'm just saying, there's a lot of, I'm not accusing him of getting drunk and making this deal. I'm just trying to come up with reasoning. That's all. I think that you would have to be drunk to make this deal. I think you're simplifying this too much. I think you're saying that this is an illogical,

delusional, terrible decision by Nico Harrison and the Mavericks. And I disagree with you. I'm saying the Mavericks know more about Luca Dodg's ability to win basketball games and championships than anyone else in the world. And they've decided that they've decided that they don't want Luca Dongechish on their team. They have decided that this is not championship basketball. It's a little bit like Charles Barkley saying jump shot teams can't win a championship. It's like they have, they've seen Luca Donchich, they've drafted him, they've brought him in, they've evaluated him, they know more about him than anyone on the planet.

And they said, we are not winning a championship with Luca Donjage. Even though we went to the NBA finals last year, it's interesting to me that both Western conference finalists completely gutted their team. both Western Conference finalists said we need to make dramatic changes to our roster and they're four wins away they're five wins away

Oh no. Look, here's what we know as we wrap this up. There's no question. I do agree with you in the sense that that's what they think and they are Nico Harrison, Jason Kid, the rest who they all have to be on board with this. They all

think they're the smartest men in the room and that they know better and that this is the deal that they wanted to do and this does enable them to win at the highest level and time will tell if they are right I think virtually every single person outside of that room with a functioning brain thinks they will be wrong I disagree I think this might be a good decision for the Mavericks it might be I here's what I love to think about Verno here's what I Very rarely do I ever read. You know, I like Kevin Pelton who writes, and he always, I always go and check.

He, every time there is a trade that goes down, he writes like a trade analysis and does trade grades. Very rarely does a team get an F. He gave the Mavericks an F. An F. See, I disagree. I think that's based on the information that he has. I think the Mavericks have more information about who Luca Donchich is and what he brings to the table. And that's why they've decided to make this decision.

Here's what I love to think about, Berno. Remember that podcast. Even if you still think it's a terrible trade, though. I would not have done that deal. No. I might have traded Luca Donchage, but not that trade in that manner. No. We're going to learn a lot more about this.

But here's what I love to think about, Bruno. I know we're in the podcasting, sports. sports podcasting industry and some peers of ours named JJ Reddick and LeBron James got together from time to time, drank some wine, and they went on and on about the nuance of the basketball strategy and the plays that they would write up. And remember when Dalton Connect got drafted that JJ Reddick went straight to the whiteboard to break down the X's and O's. Well, guess what your job is now, JJ?

Pass the ball to Luca and everyone stand around the three point line because that's your offense now. You're not calling a play. You're not drawing anything up during the timeouts. You don't even have practice anymore. Give the ball to Luca. LeBron tells Luca what to do. Luca does it.

And that is your offense. I could coach that team now. Honestly. I will say I do think it helps that they are friends. They are actually friends. No, JJ and Luca. JJ and Luca are friends? Yeah, they're close.

Where's that information coming from? They're close? Yeah, from their friends. Look, only there's probably, I think the only podcast I have ever heard Luca Donchard to do in life is the old man in the three. They were, they don't hear a lot from Luke. No, they became friends in Dallas. They became friends in Dallas.

Oh, that makes sense. I did forget about JJ's Dallas team. That makes sense. No, they're close. This is wild. I know. I don't even know what LeBron and Luca look like on the same team. Do they set screens for each other?

Like what? How do you guard that? Are they good now? I don't want to see the Lakers in a seven-game series. I don't want to play against LeBron James and Luca Donch it at the same time. And what happens, I mean, God forbid. What happens when LeBron introduces Luke at all his trainers and whatnot? Like, we may get the greatest basketball player.

I just, I mean, if he, look, there's got to be some level of accountability. If the 40-year-old guy is pouring with sweat. 10.30 a.m. and you're, you know, drinking beers and smoking sigs and eating, you know, hostess or whatever. I cannot wait for Los Angeles Luca. He's going to be walking out of Arawan with like a Hollywood actress and like a joint and like a $70 smoothie. And he's going to get into some, some like Tesla that isn't released yet. This is Los Angeles Luca is going to be amazing. When we go into next season and the front

cover of GQ is NBA preview and it's a shirtless ripped Luca. Yeah, exactly. He's definitely going to have a six-pack. He's going to die inside. He's going to have a six-pack. He's going to be oiled up. He's going to be like magic Mike. I can't wait for Los Angeles Luca.

I, you know what? I want Luca to take over Andy Davis's prank show. Anthony Davis, he's got fired from his prank show. They're recutting it. Lucas now that's in charge of the prank show now. What if this is part of Anthony Davis's prank show? I got a bunch of tweets about that. I went out to Anthony Davis's prank show on Friday,

and then he pulled off the biggest prank over the weekend. You know what? The biggest loser is me. Maybe Anthony Davis does love pranks. Maybe this is the greatest prank prank ever played in the history of sports. Let's just hope. Because otherwise it, we're never going to make sense.

Do we get, do we find out how shitty Luca Donge just was behind the scenes on Tuesday or Wednesday of next week? Like, when does that come out? That's Monday. Is it Monday? Look, by the time. We come on the air. By the time we record on Tuesday, plus I cannot wait for Jason Kidd's media availability today.

It's going to be an all-timer. But look, by the time. The Lakers play the Clippers on Tuesday in L.A. By the time we record on Tuesday morning, we will know every bad thing about Luca Dachich and his tenure in Dallas. That's the way this goes. The Mavericks play the cabs at 3.30 today. Interesting. What do you think

Kairi thinks? Hold on. Hold on. Oh my God. Thank God we recorded this morning. Here's breaking news from Shams Sharania.

Oh, no. What's that? Rob Polinka has been hospitalized for an erection for 12 hours in the Los Angeles hospital. Yeah, he's had a 12-hour erection. Oh, that makes a lot of sense. Pray for Rob Polinka.

That makes a lot of sense. If I was Rob Polinka, I also would have a 12-hour erection. Robillig is like, really? Was he like, no, I'm sorry, we're not going to part with Marquief Morris. Sorry. Does he know something about Nico? He's like, we're going to build around Christy.

We're going to build it around Christy. Is this one of those that goes like, hey, Nico, you've done a good job at Dallas, but just no. If I ever want to tell people, yeah, you know, I don't want to tell people about, you know, what happened way back when. and so he's got a blackmail you're going blackmail remember Cabo do you remember Cabo Nico do you want everyone else to find out about Cabo

you're happily married right we don't need to talk about Cabo right let's talk about Luca Dodgitch trade me Luca and it goes away never seen the light of day never happened hey put Luca touch in the purple and gold that name Cabo never happened

I'll tell Hector to erase him from his phone to Oh my God. This is wild. I can't wait to do the show on Tuesday. This is the initial reaction. And when huge news like this happens, this reminds me kind of like the like Kyrie requesting a trade. You remember that?

Whereas it's like out of nowhere on this like a random Wednesday, Kyrie Irving's like, I don't want to be on this team anymore. This is what that reminds me of. And this is the initial wave of information, just like the facts. But we're going to get all the conjecture, all of the rumor, all the behind the scenes information in the next 24 hours,

which is why I want to finish this pod the way I started it. This is why I love the National Basketball Association. I love the basketball, and I also love the drama. I'm not afraid to admit it. I love it. And I just want to say this. I'm sorry to Mavericks fans. I cannot imagine.

I know what this is like. I know a lot of Mavericks fans. I know a lot of Mavericks fans that are my peers that have kids like I have kids. And, you know, sports does matter to people. And it certainly matters. There's going to be a whole lot of kids that woke up this morning. There's a lot of Maverish fans who have kids named Luca.

I know. I know. Closets full of jerseys. I saw a tweet this morning that said, do you know how impossible it is to defeat Jerry Jones as the worst GM in Dallas? And somehow, I listen, I'm a stick to this. They think that they fleece the Lakers.

They really feel like they just. Well, they're stupid. They feel like they've foisted their biggest problem on the Lakers. And that Luca Tonch is not a champion. I know. I had the pleasure of working with Tim Hardaway Sr. I know what they think. Last year and Tim Hardaway Jr. was on the Mavericks.

And Tim Hardaway Senior, I don't, I don't feel uncomfortable saying this in a microphone because he said it into a microphone a million times. He's like, that guy doesn't play championship basketball. You are not going to win a championship with Luca Tonchage on your team. And Tim Hardaway Sr. knows about basketball. And he's like, that is not a championship basketball playing individual. What, wait, where was the championship that Tim Hardaway Senior won that I missed?

Hey, hey, hey. There'll be no Tim Hardaway Senior Slander. Wait, wait. Accepted. It's not like Michael Jordan said that. There's no Tim Hardaway Senior Slander accepted on the mismatch moving forward. Wait, he's been pissing him to his kid. I'm a text to me.

I'm a text to him telling me you said this. You're acting like, hey, Tim. How are you? Chris Vernon hates you. That's fine. I didn't say I hate the guy, but I mean, why don't you tell me what Mitch Richmond's analysis of the deal is too? What is Luca Dodgers eating?

Someone give me a food log. Like, what is he possibly eating that someone said, listen, I know you're one of the three best players in the league, but you had M&Ms for breakfast yesterday, so we're trading you. What? We could for sure talk about this. for all of Sunday, but we will reconvene on Tuesday after more stories come out. Can't wait.

Thank you to Ben Cruz for filling in on short notice today, helping us out to be able to get this podcast up. And Jacoby, I will talk to you on Tuesday. Can't wait.