The Ringer NBA Show - Instant Reaction to the Luka Doncic–Anthony Davis Trade

Episode Date: February 2, 2025

Logan Murdock and Justin Verrier are here to give their immediate reactions to the Dallas Mavericks trading Luka Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers for Anthony Davis in a three-team deal. They begin with their initial thoughts on the deal and then they get into how this affects the Lakers this year and beyond, what this says about the Dallas front office and how the team will perform moving forward, what this means for LeBron and much more. Hosts: Logan Murdock and Justin Verrier Producer: Isaiah Blakely Additional Production Supervision: Ben Cruz Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

What's popping, everybody? Logan Murdoch here from Real On the Ringer MBA show, and I want to invite you to pull up and kick it with Roger Bell, Howard Beck, and myself during All-Star weekend for our live podcast. We're going to be at the Stork Punchline Comedy Club in San Francisco on Saturday, February 15th at 2 p.m. pre-gaming all the all-star festivities, and you never know who might stop by. Get your tickets now by heading over to ringer.com backslash events. That's ringer.com backslash events. to see you there. It's going on. It is a special edition of the Ringer NBA show.

Luca Donchitz is going to the Los Angeles Lakers. I am Logan Murdoch. That is Justin Barrier. Yes, you heard that correctly. Do you still believe this is real, Justin? Because I don't know if I believe this is real, yeah. Listen, 20 minutes ago, I was on a date. I was being told that I was being ushered into the friend zone and simultaneously, my phone was being blown up by 90 different text about this trade. So a lot of things are in flux in my life, but this one is probably the most concerning and the most

perplexing, honestly. And do you, let's, on that note, let's get it to the particulars of the trade. Yeah. Luke Luka Donches, Maxey Cleaver, and Markiev Morris to go to the Los Angeles Lakers in exchange for Anthony Davis, Max Crispy, or Max Crispy, this is how late it is.

Max Christie, a 2029 first round from the Lakers. The Jazz get in on the deal and somehow get some picks. They get the Clippers second rounder in 2025, the Mavericks second rounder in 2025. They somehow get more picks than the Dallas Mavericks out of this deal for a deal that included Luca Donchis. I'm selling you, Luca Donchins went to the Los Angeles Lakers and the Mavericks only got

one first round pick from this. That's not going to come for another four years. And they got Max Christie and Anthony Davis. Also, the Jazz got Jalen Hood. the maver. What level of fleecing do you think the Mavericks have got right now? Because like this seems like a trade that you make in 2K that you feel guilty about when you're like, you know, in the beginning of your little my career or whatever you want to do, you're playing for an ass team. And then you're like, let me just go get Luca Dodgers just to make it cool. You have to do so many different layers to make this deal work on a 2K game.

This is the league. And this happens. How, what level of fleecing did the Mavericks get? Like, did they just get taken to the woodshed? I kind of think it depends on how you look at it. Because on the one hand, I think these type of trades are typically done with massive amounts of picks going one way, right? That's what happened with the Paul George trade. It's happened with the Anthony Davis trade, frankly, going to the Lakers from the Pelicans.

That's just the precedent when you trade a star player. The other team is just getting a bundle of future draft assets to hopefully rebuild for the future. The Mavericks did the interesting thing here, not only just doing this under the cover, of darkness, not only doing this in the middle of a season where both teams are fairly competitive in the title race in the Western Conference or at the very least in the Western Conference finals race. But they went the route of just getting the burden of hand with Anthony Davis. And like, I mean, he definitely is on a different timeline than you, the teams that are typically trading stars get back. But the Mavs are kind of built for now anyway. And so I look at the Mavs

and I say like they just picked up a top 10 player for Donchich still in the prime of his career. There's a lot to figure out here. But I would say in terms of price, it's different, but I wouldn't say necessarily that it's bad. If anything, I would rather have Anthony Davis if I'm trying to compete now than I would a bunch of picks down the road where I don't know what I'm going to get. Yeah, that sounds really conventional. Like if you're trading, you know, for Anthony Davis. But when you put, when you have Luca Donches going out the other way, it's kind of hard to, make that, it's kind of hard to make that point, right?

Like, like, here's, this is something that, that Nico Harrison told ESPN, he told David Miniman this. He says, I believe that defense wins championships. I believe that getting an all defensive center and an all defensive player with a defensive mind is that gives us a better chance. We're built to win now and in the future. That doesn't make any sense to me. I get the fact that you want to play, you want to play defense and you want to do all these things, but Anthony Davis, if you've looked at him throughout the entirety of his career, he's probably a number two type player. If you just, if you want to put it down there, right? You've seen what he's been with the Lakers. He's been up until maybe two years ago. He's been a very injury-blown guy.

You see his contract and you're like, I don't know if I want to, when he signed that deal a few years ago, you were like, I don't know how he's going to be and how the Lakers are going to be. That's why that 2029 pick was so important just for longevity. But now that you go and for the Lakers, I feel like this is the steal, not necessarily for this season, although we get to see LeBron and Luca, which is something I don't think we ever thought we would ever see outside of an All-Star game. But you get Luca Donchitz in the prime of his career, and now you can, now players want to go to Los Angeles and go play with Luca. And it makes, maybe not right now, the Lakers of power, but I can definitely see them being something in the next few years. And in the meantime, oh, we get to see LeBron and Luca play with each other.

I feel like that's good. And then you look on the Maverick side where you see him. Anthony Davis, all the things that I described, you pair him with Kyrie Irving, who has always been a great number two gunner. I don't think that this necessarily puts you in the championship conversation, considering the fact that you just had this team with Luca as present, go to the NBA finals eight months ago. I just don't, like, I don't see why you would do something like this if you're the Dallas Mavericks under any circumstances when you have a generational talent walking out of your door. That's crazy. Yeah, so it's almost two separate conversations here. We should probably

take the Luca part of this first with the Lakers. I have to imagine, even though there are reports that Luca didn't request formally a trade from Mark Stein and other reporters who were plugged into the situation, that something happened behind the scenes to suggest that Luca either wanted out or there was discord between the Mavericks and Luca Donch's. Maybe he's been out for what? Probably over a month at this point. Maybe there was some just strife over how long he was out. the fact that he hasn't at this point come into a season like super plugged in in terms of being like in the best shape possible. He keeps getting these dings and dense that's really kind of stalled the MVP season that we've all been waiting for, frankly, for about four years

at this point. So we don't know that as we're recording this 10 p.m. Pacific time, like I said, right after this date gone awry for me. And so we, there has to be another piece of the pie here. And so I wonder what's happening there. I'll be honest, I would do this deal on both sides of this, assuming that Luca wanted to get to the Lakers, has suggested that he wanted to get there, was going to get there. He has two more years on his deal,

still left one of them as a player option. So he could have been a free agent as recently as the summer. I want to say 20, 26. Yeah. So. But like to that point, though, but yeah. But to that point, this contract though, right? Like, we've seen this time and time again with stars. I mean, we saw with Kobe when he was having a player option way back in the day, right, where you

have a guy that is disgruntled, but he is the face of your franchise. It would seem that even if you saw that there was strife, with somebody that talent level, you could have at least bought some time for yourself and say like, hey, can we work this out? But open the bidding up to more teams. Open the bidding up to more teams, see what's going on, make this a bit more public. this thing happened in the dead of night, clearly, because we're talking about it. But like, and then you trade them to a Western conference team that sure could, they're going to have to play them twice this year again still. There's good, they're playing.

I think the Lakers and the Mavs are playing in L.A., February 25th. And then they go plaque to Dallas April 9th. So the Lakers could be in the midst of like a late season run playing in Dallas as Lucas return, which is going to be one of the wildest player returns I think we've ever had, considering it's going to be, you know, anything could happen, but the Lakers could be on a run by that point, and they could be competing for postseason. And not to mention, these teams could also theoretically play in the postseason this year,

which would be nuts. Yeah. What is his name for LeBron James as well, who is now in line to be Luca's teammate, which it always seems like there had been a bit of a fondness between the two of them. I think there'd always been kind of whispers that Luca wanted to eventually get to L.A. or that LeBron,

when he was flirting with the idea of going somewhere elsewhere, I don't know how seriously he ever took it. Like, there was always that like, oh, he might join Kyrie in Dallas with Luca because he likes both of those guys as opposed to those guys joining him in L.A. Yeah, but like at the,

I mean, he's 40 years old at this point. He really doesn't have much of a run to go. At the very least, this just makes things confusing for the immediate for the Lakers. I mean, Luca is literally not even playing. I would assume at this point they're they'll probably just try to make do with this season

and go from there. I think for the Lakers side of this, this is more about the future of the Lakers than it is for the present with LeBron. If I'm LeBron, like, what the hell is going on here? You just traded my probably best friend teammate that I've had throughout my career outside of maybe Dwayne Wade. Are we in for LeBron James

potentially wanting out after this? So there's a ton of questions as a result of this. I'm curious on the LeBron angle, right? because we all know LeBron as like the showman number one. He's the greatest player of his generation. And we've always kind of wanted him to, you know, me and Roger talk about this on ruins all the time. Like we always wanted, in a perfect scenario,

Anthony Davis to take the mantle as the number one option on the Lakers, right? Like they take the baton, right? And LeBron has always talked about, you know, Anthony Davis taking the baton back in his Cleveland days, Kyrie taking the baton. But like, I don't always think he never surrounded his player itself. with the player that could actually do it. And a lot of that has to do with the fact that he's LeBron James.

And now he has Luca, who is de facto number one, because let's be real, at this stage of his career, both of their careers, Luca is a better player. Let's not get it twisted. How will LeBron deal with the fact that he is a number two? And not only is he a number two in this scenario in terms of talent, he had a whole plan of at some point retiring in the Lakers jersey and all the glory that comes with that, right?

You put a lucid dants in there. It's like, I bet, by LeBron, we got to go get these, we got to go get these titles now, right? It's a different type of two timeline thing. That's what I'm thinking. Like, it's going to be a bit of an, I would think, an identity crisis for a guy like LeBron James who loves the theater of the game,

but also loves the mythology of himself. And now you kind of throw this big, super duper star wrench into it. That's going to be a fascinating thing to watch because he is somebody that always, wants to be in control of his own narrative. And this is the, this might be the biggest test. And I'm not saying this hyperbole. This might be the biggest test of his career or one of them. Yeah. At least in this late stage of just having that type of identity crisis. How about this? Who's playing center for the Los Angeles Lakers after this trade? Because right now

LeBron James, it's basically LeBron James. They started Jackson Hayes tonight against the Knicks. A game that they won without Anthony Davis. We should know. LeBron always plays well in Madison Square Garden. He's a lot of history there. And we all. know that story. But other than Hayes, there really isn't a center that you would really trust in a high leverage situation. To be fair, though, there's, which also makes it really another reason why it's this happy deal over to Lakers, like, they still got, what, a few more days till the trade deadline.

Like, they can still go make a move and get a center. I'll be it might not be an elite center, but they can go get a functioning NBA center by then. I don't know if that, that's not going to put them over the top. but like another reason to get this done on February 1st, which is another reason why this is nuts. This is just nuts. Yeah. Yeah, the trade deadlines on Thursday.

So that's on the 6th. So they have five days to figure things out from here. I just have to imagine that the Lakers saw an opportunity to get into the Luca Dantz's business, Luca Dantzic business as soon as possible. And they just took it burdened hand and then decided to figure everything out later, including LeBron James, like what his future is with the organization, whether or not he's even going to appreciate this sort of move. Because as Dave McMiniman reported for ESPN on Twitter,

that like LeBron apparently was still reeling from this when he talked to him. He was at dinner. He found out like everybody else from this. And so that domino still has to fall. I think it's pretty telling that Anthony Davis, before this all happened last week at some point, did a very public kind of show of power in that theater set up with Sham Sera. basically like, oh, they need to trade for a center.

I would prefer it if I played power forward. You should play next to a center. I wonder if that comes into play where they're just kind of like they're done with the clutch, LeBron, 80 thing. I was just about to bring that up. And they're just like, let's turn the page. But I will say this, like going from clutch like ruling things to now Luca, Luca is a different animal, but he still had a lot of control.

And based on what people say behind the scenes, like, Part of the issue with Luca is like he wields so much power that you really couldn't say anything to him in Dallas. So it's almost like you're just swapping one issue for another one in that regard. Well, I got a couple things on this. And I'm glad you brought the clutch angle on this because there have been good and bad things about the influence of clutch. The good thing is like, you know, you brought LeBron James to Los Angeles and you had to kind of like bear the brunt of that. But the other part of the exertion of control is just, just like you didn't have to pay AD when you did.

You know what I mean? You didn't have to give them that big deal, but you also had to because you had to satisfy the clutch of all of this, right? But I think one other thing that you see, and you've seen throughout this time with LeBron in Los Angeles, is the Lakers and maybe the Knicks, probably the heat because he dealt with this, are like the only franchises that really just match LeBron's energy

in terms of influence. Like LeBron, for every other franchise can be like, I'm LeBron, what are you going to do? The Lakers are like, well, we're the Lakers. So, you know, like, we, okay, like you are one of 20 great players in our, in our whole ecosystem that we've had since we've been in inception, right? And you are trying to build on our legacy. Like, it's fine if whatever you do, you, like, I don't even think LeBron is like a top 20 beloved Laker at this point, right? Like, I don't even think he's there. I think the same thing is going to happen with Luca,

where he's coming into this ecosystem that is not Dallas, right? Like, the Lakers are, you have to prove to us that you are worthy of being in this immortality, right? Like, that's the propaganda that they use. So I think while Luca will exert some level of influence, like he's still for that fan base, and you lived in Los Angeles, like, for that fan base in that city, you're going to have to do more than exert power because LeBron's been doing it for however many years. And I don't think the Los Angeles is still, like,

like come around to him all the way fully. You got to win titles. And that's the most important thing. Yeah, the Lakers legacy, practically since Kobe left as a player, has been pretty muddled because they underwent like one of the biggest tanking, like, stealth thanking jobs in like recent NBA history, not just for the franchise itself, which hadn't previously gone through, uh, that sort of run of, of not winning as many games and basically being at the top the lottery year and year and year out. I believe they had the second pick overall three years in a row.

It just, they went to LeBron in part to save what they couldn't themselves. And so they turned things over to LeBron for a reason. And LeBron curiously has stayed around longer than he ever has with a different franchise. I think part of that is just he likes being in L.A. He clearly has roots there. His family has roots there. Now his kids have both gone, both of his sons gone to Sierra Canyon and played. And obviously he has production companies and all that. And you're starting to see the signs of the sort of clashes that happened on his way out of Cleveland and in Miami. But if anything, I wonder if it's almost compounded by the fact that he's gone past the years that he ever went with those franchises. And so maybe that's been mounting over time. I think you're right, though.

I think like Jeannie, who has been with the franchise practically got decades and decades at this point, probably sees it as like her father's franchise, sees, knows the past of it, wants to reclaim that, wants to recreate, reclaim like sort of power within the structure. But at the same time, like, it's just not how the NBA works, you know, like, more than more than ever. Yeah, like, franchise players sort of run franchises in a way that they didn't before. Yeah. And another thing, like, the Lakers for all their glory in, you know, and just like what they are, they're still like a family run business. It's, it hasn't been taken over like by, venture capitalists or just like this new money, these oligarch money that we're seeing influx into NBA teams, right? And I got to wonder, like, that's why they, you know, they got a LeBron. But like, I feel like in that regard,

Lucas provided them a lifeline in the things that they want to do, right? They want to get players to attract other players, right? That's just the Laker Way. So I do wonder, I mean, the Mavericks gave them such a gift because they were so,

this team was really dreading the fact that LeBron was about to retire and they were going to be stuck with AD, which is like a real thing, which is why I think they were so, it seems wild, but like they were so ready to just give him up, you know, at the first sign of like a big, somebody dangled in there, right? And like, Luca is the perfect person to be able to take this franchise into the next era. And maybe, and I'm obviously, this is not any insider information,

but maybe like save what the ownership is right now, right? Because now, like, Jeannie is overseeing the team with Luca Dodgers as opposed to going through a. another rebuild and, you know, playing with some version of like what Nick Young was in 2014 as your top player, right? Like they didn't want that. This is a real big lifeline, I think, in ways that we can't even see fully right now within that organization. Yeah, the Lakers have just everything to figure out from here. And so I have to imagine they just got Luca and they decided we got him.

I have to assume he's going to resign when his contract comes up. And we're going to figure out from there. What happened with LeBron, which is exactly what happened with LeBron in 2018. We're really, we really don't know what they're doing, but we got LeBron, so we'll figure it out.

100%. I think it's a really good comp. The difference being that they just had a bunch of those second round, those number two picks just stacked up in order to trade them for Anthony Davis. And even then, it was Anthony Davis and LeBron, and they figured everything out from there.

This is going to be Luca, LeBron. If he decides to stick around, LeBron is a player option for next year. We should mention that seems like just a giant domino that we need to figure out before the trade deadline. But then it's like, Austin Reeves, you know, they didn't give up a lot of bigs. There's so much to figure out from the Lakers side of things.

But like, does LeBron ask for a trade, though? Like, I don't know. Like, does LeBron X for a trade? I don't think so. I really don't think he would want to uproot like that. But also, like, again, he's processing this with still a few more days to the trade deadline. Does he like, hey, man?

And then do the Lakers be like, you know what? That's dope. Thank you for doing that. So we'd have to take, we could just take this salary off our books already. And then we can just get this bill, this rebuilder. around Luca ASAP. I mean, Steph Curry needs a running mate.

Who better than to finish out this run? And don't trade for Jimmy, trade for LeBron James. I mean, we've all kind of been silently doing fan fiction about that ever since the team USA run. Like,

that seems legitimately in this play right now, but I guess we got to wait to see how LeBron feels about this. I'll say this for the Mavericks, though. I think there are definitely things to figure out with the MAVs. They got a lot of talent.

on that roster. I think Kyrie Irvin's health is definitely a red flag. Apparently he has a bulging disc that he's been playing through this year and he's getting older. And so we'll see. And like you went from a team where there's two just dominant, like historically dominant ball handlers just feeding the rest of the roster. Now you're down to one in Spencer Dinwiddie.

I got to say, man, not only did they get Anthony Davis in this trade, but they got Max Christie. Like this team is incredibly deep right now. And so if all parties are healthy, and engaged in this, and we'll see about Anthony Davis's level of engagement, kind of like the Mavericks right now, just for this season. Maybe, I don't know if it's Luca Donchish Price, but like, Mavericks are pretty interesting.

What do you think about them? I do think they're interesting. I do they think they're deep on paper. I just, I don't know if Kyrie and AD are the ones to be able to take this team to where they, I don't, like, I don't believe Nico Harrison's statement that, like, this is a we're doing this for titles that doesn't make any sense considering the fact that they with this roster they had a chance to win a title eight months ago you know what i mean like i don't and i we've seen a lot of ad to know kind of what he is in postseason now he had a great postseason in

2020 but he gets injured like it's something that and he has always been a number two in this regard you were expecting him once again to be a number one type player because on paper he is better than kairie i don't i don't expect him to do that necessarily i've seen him enough of him to not expect that. Now, Kyrie is a really great player, but we've seen him, and what he has done, and the type of success that he has had along certain types of guys. Now, he's been great when he was alongside LeBron, right? He was good in spurts, got injured in Boston, but that scene was stacked already. Brooklyn, you kind of saw where, like, you know, if he was going to be 1A, 1B, that was kind of his audition, and we saw what happened with that,

right and he was a great number two to i mean to uh luca i don't see him like if those two guys ad and kairie or your one a one b i don't think that your ceiling is a title i just don't i don't think that i can't i can't think that i think it depends on how the maves look at anthony davis if they're just saying like we lost derrick lively for a bit of a run here you're just going to work in a center rotation with Daniel Gafford. You'll obviously start, but we're going to be the Mavs that we've always been just with Anthony Davis. I don't think that would behoove them because I think Anthony Davis is just way too good for that sort of setup. And then you get into all the sort of complications of like what can they actually put in on the fly? Like can they really just completely

change the face of the franchise in the midst of the season in February? It seems unlikely at best. But the one thing I will say is Anthony Davis has been due to be a featured player for a very long time now. And part of that is his issue. I obviously covered him in New Orleans. And I thought it behooved him, honestly, to go be under LeBron's wing just to be the best talent on the team, but not necessarily be the most important player. Because I don't think he's like a very loud leader type. I think he's the guy you want as a number two. But like, talent wise, he's incredible.

Like he's been better than ever. But that's been the AD conundrum for his whole career, right? Like I feel like his whole career has been waiting for him to be a number one and he never really did it. Right. Like I think that if you go back to, and I know you worked at the worldwide leader. Like when I was when I was in college, it was literally every preseason, is this the year that AD is going to win an MVP? And every time in spring, he ain't even close. Or maybe he was close in some years.

But, you know, like it was a recurring thing every single year. And I feel like that's just it. And maybe this is Raja just influencing me because it's literally what he says every time I try to pay AD a compliment. But I feel like he's at this point. What is he 32 years old? At that point, he's kind of is who he is right now. Like he's going to give you that random like 43 and 23 and like look like Wilk for a night against Charlotte, right? And he's like he did two years ago against the Wizards, but he's also going to disappear for some games in games where you need your franchise guy.

And then we saw last year in the finals, like at the biggest days, Kyrie kind of fall off a cliff, right? Like, that's what we're, that's what we're trusting to, to get your team deep into the postseason. Like, that's why I'm not, I got to see it. I can't, I can't trust that they're going to be really good. Yeah, I'll say this for AD. I think the past two seasons, he's been healthier than perhaps people have been willing

to give him credit. Like last season, 76 games, he gets still gets dinged. every now and then. But I almost feel like he's taking it personally the past two seasons. He almost played through a lot of the things earlier in his career. He probably didn't. And so he has been more available. The issue has that he just doesn't have the requisite help in order to fill in the gaps

and maybe take a little bit more off of his plate. In L.A., the past two seasons, he's basically been the defense the entire time. Like, it's basically poor defenders, one through four, and he's cleaning up everything. to the point where he's been in the playoffs the past two years, it just seems like he's the last hope. With everything, yeah, he's just been run down. And not only is he tired, it's, it's, hey, you know, you're going to play tonight, you're going to play yoghits in altitude.

Right, right. And the one thing the Mavs have going for them is they are pretty deep and pretty deep in the front court. I think it's a open question of how they're going to play him. I wonder if the Mavs will want to do him a solid and play him more at four than he has in the past, almost like a nod to that interview with Shams where it's like, oh, I want to play the four, I want to play for. Maybe they'll give him that opportunity, which I don't think would be in his benefit because PJ Washington is honestly like the perfect four to play next to him.

But if he buys in, says, I am the center here. Not only do I have stretch players all around the floor, PJ Washington, Najee Marshall, Max Christie, Clay Thompson, Kyrie Irving to set me up. I have the perfect context to just make my game and enhance it. You also have Daniel Gafford coming off the bench. One of the best backup centers in the league to spell you. So you only have to play 30 minutes, not 40 minutes in these random games just to win a game in February. And when Derek lively comes back, he's also awesome. I doubt they'll trade one of those guys before the trade deadline just because Lively's hurt.

So you need to back up. And so I don't know, this is shaping up the Mavs to be like the perfect team. 480 to be that guy. Is he that guy? I'm not sure, but I honestly can't wait to see him in this different context. With all everything that you said, which was correct, do they, do they beat like, do they beat OKC? Do they beat? Do they get to the, do they get to the finals? Well, apparently the Mavs can be OKC without virtually anybody on the roster because they beat them three times this year, which is PJ Washington running them over. Well, I do think that that's one thing you should talk about. To your question, no, I don't think they would be OKC.

Casey, if only because like these sort of teams that build on the fly, like we haven't really seen anything like that really come together. I think Brooklyn, when they brought in Hardin, was the only sort of comp. And like that team was very, very good. The problem was that they were always injured and they couldn't get those guys in the court at the same time. Like, like, like, I can go for, I mean, you probably have gone like Lakers centric on here, but like when Powell came in, oh, eight, like that was seamless. They went to the finals. I don't, is there another guy of that, you know, like another guy that seamlessly fit that, that, that well? since. Mid season, by the way.

Like, we're talking about midseason. Yeah. I mean, Seacom obviously helped bring the Pacers to the Eastern Conference finals last year, but like this was ravaged by injuries, so that's a little bit of a misnomer there. I'll say this with the Mavs.

The one thing they do, they had, and now they have an abundance is size. And you look at a team like, okay, see, they're still not as big and not as tough as I think a lot of people want them to be. And maybe Denver, but that's really it. And so they do have kind of a counter move. So a lot of the teams that are populating the West. And the one thing I'll say about the West is like, I assume, OK, C, we'll get to the Western Conference Finals. I assume they'll get to the NBA finals.

I pick them before the season. They have been close to historically great at this point. They have a plus 12.3 point differential. I think the last time I looked this up, that's the best since the NBA merger. So second best, all time NBA history. So, like, Like, they could be just a juggernaut that no one's going to eat. As long as they don't play against the Mavericks or the Warriors. That's the thing. After that, who's the second best team in the West? Like, by record, you would say the Rockets, but like, I don't think they're going to go very far in the playoffs.

Like, maybe Memphis, maybe there's like, Yonkish. Yolkis is the institutional pick. Yeah, you're right. It's wide open. It's open. One other question, and I wanted to ask you was like, what do you think this says about, we talk about the Lakers side of a leadership side in their future? What do you think this says about the MAV's front office right now, right? Like, Nico Harrison is in charge, but it's under new ownership, right?

Like, I don't know if this deal gets done if Mark Cuban is the principal owner of this team. Like, I don't think this happens. What do you think this says about where the Mavericks are? This is definitely a new era of Mav's thing. And I think Mark Cuban said earlier, like, he doesn't know. I think he mused about, like, I don't know if he knows how long he's going to stay on at this point, right? Like, I don't know what does this mean for his? future with the team, right?

He has a limited ownership stake. He, I don't know if he has basketball. He clearly doesn't have basketball decision making because if he did, I'm telling you, Luca, would not have made this move. But what do you think this says about the Mavericks and where they are from a front office team? I think you're right. I think it indicates that they're turning a page to a different era.

And maybe there were signs of that last year and we just didn't pick up on them because all it was was to really build the best possible team for Luca to get them where they went, which was the NBA finals. Luca plus stuff is still a recipe for success, no matter where he's going to be. I think like maybe we should have took note more of that Nico Harrison was more willing to shoot from the hip last trade deadline by going out and getting both Daniel Gafford and PJ Washington, really dealing most of, if not all of the picks that they had available to do so in order to just make the best possible version of the team that they had right this second, right?

And it seems like they're kind of doing the same again. at the very least, they're thinking more immediately than they are long term, which is, as we said at the top of the pod, it's completely different how teams look at this. And to be honest, like, I don't know if it will work out, but I kind of like it. You know, this does feel a little bit more old school where, like, players got traded for players. This isn't like 9,000 picks that you have to just, like, track down the protections and like, oh, like, going to the next year's draft, like, it's like five teams are actually going to draft a player. And so like to see as a superstar, traded for a superstar. Let's line these guys up and let's fucking go.

I kind of like it. It's balzy. I like that part of it too, bro, is like, man, especially with this Jimmy Butler stuff. Like, and I don't know how it is for you on group chat, but like on the real ones, it's like as a trade deadline comes up, it's like, what did Jimmy Butler do on his Instagram? Like, I'm just kind of like, I'm over that part of what the NBA is. It's fucking will and deal, dude. Like, you know what I'm saying?

Like, let's, yeah. It seemed like, especially in a league where there's just so much posturing. There's just so much, you know, innuendo. Like, I missed the nights of like a just, I don't know the last time we've had like a trade this fucking crazy in the middle of the night, but like, let's have more of this, kind of, I think. Yeah, I mean, just like something that we didn't know was going to happen or even might happen. Like, there were no inklings to this. The last thing that I can think of where I've just been completely blindsided by something like this was Kauai to the clippers and bringing Paul George with him. That was like it all happened

at once. And it was the middle of the night. I remember it was like 10 or 11 Pacific time. People were that summer league. Speaking of bars. There was the earthquake that happened that shut down the Zion debut. That one was a mess. I guess like the hardened trade to Houston was another one that no one saw coming. They kind of did that under the cover of darkness. But I think also you could make an argument for the Hardin one was like if you kind of you didn't see it coming when it happened like him going to Houston but like you can make a case that this

was probably like it was a fork in the row moment I would say more like the Kauai PG thing was like oh shit it was just yes that was an old shit this is this is one of the most wild circumstances that I can ever remember I mean we didn't even talk about the fact that like

maps fans love Luca. Not only has he been just their moon and stars for so long. He literally took the baton from Dirk, got the dirt send off. There's like, there's like the whole Euro thing, the continuation there. Like, they have to be. I know I'm not the only one on this call that feels this way. I thought Luca was going to end his career in Dallas. Like I really did think he was going. For the simple fact that like, Dallas is a, players love playing in Dallas for one. For two,

you don't got to like, people talk shit. about like being Luca not coming into camp in shape. You talk to anybody from Dallas, they're not tripping, they got Luca Dodgers. You know, they'll play his way in his shape. I know a lot of Mavs fans who really don't care. Right? The media market is chill.

He can do whatever he wants. He thinks he lived down the street from Cuban. Like, nobody's going to bother him other than this year. I'm sorry that that shit happened to Luca. But like, like, it seemed like a market that was like a match made in heaven for him. And now it's another thing.

that is interesting. One, I want to give space to the fact that, like, I'm sure a part of, a large part of Dallas feels like they get their heart ripped out. But I'm going to be interested to see, like, how Luca fares with this L.A. spotlight. And not just the L.A. spotlight, the L.A. Lakers spotlight, which is, like, every day. You think that you, like, you get asked a couple questions about your weight once or twice a year. This is going to be every game. I don't know how he's going to deal with that.

But that's going to be an interesting part too. But I do want to give space to the fact that like Dallas just, there are kids right now probably just like crying because their favorite player just got taken away. If they're up. Yeah. Saturday night, they might be up. But you're right, though. I think it's going to be a fascinating turning of the page for the Lakers.

I mean, we didn't even talk about the JJ Reddick sort of wrinkles of this. I know that like they've at the very least done podcasts together. And so like we're just adding another. podcast guests and onto the resume. You talk about a guy that just came up. I know. I mean, I don't know what this is considered. I guess it's more of like came to the,

like fell to the middle now because they're not going to be, I don't think they'll be very good for the rest of the season because there's a lot to figure out. But the one thing we, I will say this, the Lakers kind of gave hints and foreshadowed the fact that like they wanted to build their young core. And that is why they hired JJ Reg.

There was a lot of talk about like, Oh, he will coach them up to a point where we need them to be. We can't just keep trading all these draft picks, yada, yada, yada. He really needs to do wonders with these guys. And I will say he's done a reasonably good job at this point. Awesome Reeves, for instance, has played very well. Max Christie, totally solid starting 3&D sort of talent, very athletic. I like him and I like him on the on the maps.

They needed more wing depth there. But you really got to make a lot of chicken salad here, you know, out of some guys. unless they get some other talent in there, but like he needs to be drawing up the most beautiful ATOs in NBA history in order to work this. Because this season is going to be highly complicated and probably, I mean,

let me ask you this. Where do you see both teams at the end of the season? Like, do you think the Lakers can still make a play-in in this regard? I don't, I don't think so. But the other thing is this, though. If there was ever a team that or ever a player that can, a singular player that can bring up a team like that,

it would be, I would say it would be Luca Dantzich, right? Because he is the prime type of guy that has dragged teams that have no, similar to how like LeBron was in his early career, a guy that can drag a team to a place that they're not supposed to be. Right. So I don't know how his health is going to be, but if there was a guy that could do it,

I think that he could do it. Now, like, I don't know how, and I would imagine that, like, JJ has no other choice, but to give the keys to Luca Dodgers for the offense. So, like, he's going to have the ball in his hands. Probably going to be some sort of variation what he was playing in Dallas or ain't nobody else to pass the ball to other than LeBron James. And maybe LeBron buys in and they get into a play in and maybe they make some noise. You know, who knows?

Who knows? When you're saying the names, it's just like they don't connect at this point. I told you. It's a 2K. that we weren't supposed to make. And then Dallas, I think Dallas, I'd say get to the second round or something.

I don't think they get to the final. I just don't, like, I just don't trust the, while I trust the depth, I don't trust, like, the top heavy guys to make it happen, the guys that you need to get to there,

to get you, I don't trust it. I think you're right. I think we'll see about LeBron. That's a huge domino. know that we still need to figure out. Assuming that he is going to buy in and just kind of go along with this, which would be honestly weird. This is the guy who was like opting out and forcing teams to do whatever he wanted for year after year after year for most of our adult lives at this

point. But let's just assume he's back. I think the Lakers can still make the play in because Luca plus LeBron plus stuff is just going to be able to manufacture wins. Luca assuming that he's healthy. So we're already talking about nine different ifs at this point. I'll say this and this might be bold. as we're recording said, 10.40 p.m. Pacific on a Saturday night. I think they could still make a Western conference finals if they all buy in. If AD is locked into the blueprint, if they play him more at center rather than the right side of the bracket. Right side of the bracket.

I think their size is still a force. I think they're still deep in the type of two-way players that you need in order to win in this league. I just like the roster. If Kyrie's healthy, I think it makes sense. And as we've seen, like the top of the, West is just a little soft. Like even Memphis,

John, Morant just like hasn't been right this entire season and keep missing games, but also like when he's played hasn't been the type of jaw in like two months at this point. I think short term

Dallas wins, but long term like the Lakers win this deal. Could be. Do you like, so you like this more for the Lakers than the maps? Well, I mean, I think the Lakers have more of a ceiling.

Like in five years, I think the Lakers have definitely have more of a ceiling. to work with on this. And I mean, you got a guy that's 25 years old that is already being proclaimed as one of the best of his generation. Like, like, and that's gonna, Luca, maybe not this, like, right now

at this very instance is going to do it. But like, players are gonna wanna play in Los Angeles because they wanna play with Luca. And they want, like, whenever you have a singular star like that, people are gonna wanna play with them. And on top of the fact, people wanna be Lakers. Like, it's cool being a Laker if you're gonna play in L.A. And so I think long term, I mean, the Lakers are going to do well with this.

I think that the city of Dallas is that's going to be another thing that I'm interested in, how they're going to welcome this team, you know, like, are they going to fall in love with this team? So we'll see. There's a lot of questions to be answered. I got to go to sleep then. So I don't know what you, I know you got to reconcile a lot of things on your end, too. We gave the street's 41 minutes. That's right.

You have to contemplate on your own right now. It's about 11 your time. All right. That was been a Ringer MBA show. I'm Logan Murdoch. That is Justin Barry. Good to see you, buddy.

I don't see you that much often anymore. You're my editor allegedly, but like I'll never see you. Technically, I'm more your manager and we have another editor on you. But you know, my...

I still don't... I don't see your ass. So anyways, yeah, I guess that is. We're into the delirious part, which means we need to get the hell up out of here. That has been another edition of the ringer. NBA show special edition.

Luca Donchis traded to the Lakers for AD. That's crazy. All right. Talk to you all soon. Bye.