Luka Gets Traded to the Lakers… What??? | With Ryen Russillo and Rob Mahoney

Summary

Summary of "The Bill Simmons Podcast - Luka Gets Traded to the Lakers… What???"

Episode: Luka Gets Traded to the Lakers… What??? | With Ryen Russillo and Rob Mahoney
Release Date: February 2, 2025

Introduction

In this landmark episode of The Bill Simmons Podcast, host Bill Simmons, along with regular contributors Rob Mahoney and Ryan Rosillo, delve into the most shocking NBA trade since the inception of the Mavericks franchise: the trade of Luka Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers. The unexpected move has left the NBA community in disbelief, prompting immediate and intense analysis from the trio.

The Shock of the Trade

The episode kicks off with the revelation of Luka Doncic being traded to the Lakers, a move that none of the hosts anticipated.

Bill Simmons [00:56]: "All of a sudden, Luka Doncic got traded to the Los Angeles Lakers. Holy shit."

Rob Mahoney expresses his astonishment, highlighting how blindsided he was by the news:

Rob Mahoney [03:02]: "I'm completely blindsided by this as apparently as most of the league, including many of the players in it."

Ryan Rosillo adds to the disbelief, noting that even those closely following the Mavericks had no inkling of Doncic being on the trading block:

Ryan Rosillo [03:20]: "This is real. Like, Shams had to say, I'm not hacked above it."

Verifying the Trade

Initially, there was skepticism about the authenticity of the trade announcement. Bill Simmons recounts how he suspected the tweet was a prank or a hacked account:

Bill Simmons [04:14]: "He had to have been hacked because if you're actually making a trade of Luka Doncic and Anthony Davis, the Lakers would be giving up more stuff."

However, as confirmations started appearing on Twitter and through insider communications, the reality of the trade became undeniable.

Analyzing the Trade's Shock Value

Rob Mahoney emphasizes the unprecedented nature of the trade, especially considering Doncic's status as a superstar not yet in his prime:

Rob Mahoney [05:17]: "This is almost a totally different level than any of those things, I think, just because of the pure shock value."

Ryan Rosillo questions the Mavericks' decision-making process, particularly why they didn't explore other trading options to maximize their return:

Ryan Rosillo [06:11]: "Why wouldn't they have shopped them to at least, like, three, four teams?"

Speculations on Dallas Mavericks' Motives

The discussion shifts to understanding why the Mavericks would trade Doncic without extracting substantial value in return. Bill Simmons points out that based on his trade value rankings, Luka's worth should have significantly overshadowed the assets received in return.

Bill Simmons [05:46]: "As great as Davis is, there's Luka, sga, Jokic, Giannis Tatum, and now we're starting to drop a little bit to some other next level of person."

Rob Mahoney speculates that Dallas might have been anticipating contract negotiations and Doncic’s future potential demands, potentially prefacing the trade to secure assets before Doncic's value diminished.

Rob Mahoney [05:44]: "Unless it was to, like you guys said, like, Luka going, hey, look, I'm here, that's the only place I want to go."

The Lakers' Strategic Move

The Lakers have a storied history of acquiring and nurturing superstars, and acquiring Doncic fits into their legacy of reinvention and strategic superstar acquisitions.

Bill Simmons [04:51]: "From Wilt Chamberlain in the late 60s, Kareem in the 70s, Magic Johnson in the 80s, Shaq and Kobe in the 90s, and now LeBron and Doncic."

The hosts discuss how Doncic and LeBron James will coexist, pondering the on-court dynamics and off-court synergy:

Bill Simmons [22:17]: "Luka, LeBron, and Austin Reeves, all at the same time."

Financial and Contractual Implications

The trade's financial aspects are scrutinized, particularly why the Lakers didn't include more substantial assets or swaps in the deal.

Bill Simmons [07:46]: "They’re trading Luka for Anthony Davis, and giving back Max Christie and a 2029 first-round pick."

Ryan Rosillo criticizes the lack of supplementary assets, making the trade appear lopsided:

Ryan Rosillo [39:14]: "It's like, this trade would always have a couple swaps in it."

The hosts debate whether Dallas truly had no other options or if there were deeper financial or strategic motivations at play.

Impact on the Mavericks and Fanbase

Rob Mahoney and Ryan Rosillo explore the repercussions of the trade on the Mavericks' future and their fanbase, who are likely devastated by the sudden departure of Doncic.

Rob Mahoney [37:43]: "There's no consoling a fan of a team like that in a situation like this."

Future Outlook and Potential Moves

The podcast delves into potential future moves, including the possibility of LeBron James being traded or stepping aside, further altering the NBA landscape.

Bill Simmons [41:56]: "What if LeBron wants to move now? What happens?"

Rob Mahoney and Ryan Rosillo express uncertainty about how the Lakers will build around Doncic and LeBron, considering their age and the need for additional supporting talent.

The "F*** the Lakers" Factor

Bill Simmons introduces the concept of the "Fuck the Lakers" (FU) factor, highlighting how Doncic's addition magnifies the competitive edge of the Lakers and intensifies rivalries across the league.

Bill Simmons [12:55]: "As soon as the guy has the ball in his hands, it's that with his passing and his size."

Rob Mahoney concurs, emphasizing Doncic's unique ability to elevate the entire team's performance.

Historical Comparisons

Bill Simmons compares this trade to historical NBA trades involving legendary players, reinforcing its unprecedented impact.

Bill Simmons [15:56]: "This is a holy fuck trade."

The hosts reflect on past monumental trades, such as those involving Paul George and Kawhi Leonard, but underscore that trading a player of Doncic's caliber without his consent is unparalleled.

Conclusion

Bill Simmons wraps up the episode by underscoring the trade's magnitude and its far-reaching implications for both the Mavericks and the Lakers.

Bill Simmons [53:37]: "This is one of the biggest mistakes I can ever remember an NBA franchise making."

Rob Mahoney and Ryan Rosillo express a mixture of disbelief and anticipation, eager to see how the trade will influence future NBA seasons.

Notable Quotes

• Bill Simmons:

  • [00:56]: "All of a sudden, Luka Doncic got traded to the Los Angeles Lakers. Holy shit."
  • [15:56]: "This is a holy fuck trade."
  • [53:37]: "This is one of the biggest mistakes I can ever remember an NBA franchise making."

• Rob Mahoney:

  • [03:02]: "I'm completely blindsided by this as apparently as most of the league, including many of the players in it."
  • [05:17]: "This is almost a totally different level than any of those things, I think, just because of the pure shock value."

• Ryan Rosillo:

  • [06:11]: "Why wouldn't they have shopped them to at least, like, three, four teams?"
  • [39:14]: "It's like, this trade would always have a couple swaps in it."

Final Thoughts

The episode concludes with the hosts expressing their ongoing disbelief and setting the stage for future discussions as the NBA ecosystem adjusts to one of its most shocking trades. They acknowledge that the ramifications of trading Luka Doncic to the Lakers will resonate throughout the league for years to come, fundamentally altering team dynamics, player relationships, and the competitive balance of the NBA.

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This comprehensive summary captures the essence and key points of the podcast episode, providing a structured and detailed overview for those who haven't listened to the full episode.

Transcript

[Bill Simmons]

Coming up, the most shocking NBA trade, at least since I've been alive. It's next. It's the Bill Simmons podcast, presented by FanDuel. Super Bowl 59 is here and you can bet on America's number one game with America's number one sportsbook any way you want. Fun markets, who have the most yards. Tons of same game parlays, offensive titties in the next drive. So much more. It's the most fun thing about the super bowl for me, other than watching the game. I love the super bowl props. You can also check out their super bowl squares. Pick your own numbers and make your pick for a kick of Destiny 3 between the Manning brothers. I'm picking Peyton Manning every time because Eli Manning took two Super Bowls from me. So he can screw off. When you win, you'll get paid instantly. Download the app today and bet the big game with FanDuel. An official sportsbook partner of Super Bowl 59. The Ringer is committed to responsible gaming. Please visit rg-help.com to learn more about the resources and helplines available and listen to the end of this episode for additional details. Must be 21 plus in President select states. GAM problem. Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit rg-help.com this episode is brought to you by Vrbo Private Vacation Rentals. With Vrbo, you always get the whole house so you and your fellow fans can cheer on your team in peace. What's worse than watching a game with somebody who's not rooting for the same team you're rooting for nothing. But that's why if you book a vacation house with vrbo, you know all the people in your house, they'll be friends, they'll be family. Ideally, they'll be the ones who also root for my teams. Plan a winning vacation. Make it a vrbo. We're also brought to you by the Ringer Podcast Network. I have new rewatchables coming for you Monday night. I have new BS podcasts coming for you Sunday night. Cause cousin Sal and I are still gonna do our super bowl props. Pod. This is a special Saturday night emergency podcast. I did not wanna work on a Saturday night. I was hanging out with my wife. All of a sudden, Luka Doncic got traded to the Los Angeles Lakers. Holy shit. Rob Mahoney, Ryan Rosillo, myself. We just hopped on. We banged out an emergency podcast as fast as we possibly could. You can watch this as well on the Bill Simmons YouTube channel. Here's the pod. Let's bring in our friends who Also can't believe Luka Dacic is the Los Angeles Laker from Pearl Jam. The most shocking trade, I think, in the history of the NBA, at least from a shock value. Oh, my God, is this real? Has Shams been hacked? What? What? What is happening? Rob Mahoney is here. Ryan Rossillo is here. It took me about 10 minutes to figure out was this real? And then Shams, obviously he had to retweet. No, no, this is real. Mahoney, you follow Dallas pretty closely. Was there any sign whatsoever that Luka was on the block?

[Rob Mahoney]

Not like this. At least that I heard. You hear burbling with players of his caliber all the time of like, oh, if it ever got to the point, then maybe the Lakers or a team like that would be consulted if it ever reached a certain threshold. But this is. I'm completely blindsided by this as apparently as most of the league, including many of the players in it.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Rosello. I couldn't believe it. I mean, I was getting texts and then I was like checking with people and then with Bobby Marks was like, hey, this is real. Like, Shams had to say, I'm not hacked above it. And then Bobby Marks above that had to be like, this is real. Because the headline of it is that it makes no fucking sense at all. And whatever we're, you know, we're going to go all over the place and try to figure it out. But, like, you have traded, at worst the third best player in the NBA and when he's right, probably the second best guy, and you've traded him at this age and you've completely reset the Lakers in a way that is basically impossible. So it doesn't make any sense at all.

[Bill Simmons]

So my. Here, here's my cycle. As I went through it, somebody forwarded me the tweet. I thought it was one of those NBA Sentel. Oh, no. Oh, somebody's messing around. Then you click on it.

[Ryan Rosillo]

They would have had Ronnie in it.

[Bill Simmons]

Right, True. So then you click on it. It's Sean's actual account. Then the next thing is, well, this. He had to have been hacked because if you're actually making a trade of Luka Doncic and Anthony Davis, the Lakers would be giving up more stuff. It wouldn't just be the 2029 first. And that's it. I would have been a 2031 first. There would have been pick swaps. And then over the next 10 minutes, it just started to seem like it was real. And that's when I think probably all of us were getting the text you start going on Twitter, there's confirmation stuff on Twitter, and it's like, I guess that's it. I guess the Lakers just basically hijacked Luka, Doncic. Rob. Here's this team that over and over again has found ways to reinvent itself over the last 60 years, really going back to when they were able to get Wilt Chamberlain in the end of the, you know, the late 60s, and then Kareem in the 70s, and they pull up Magic Johnson in the 80s. Shaq and Kobe show up in the 90s, and this just Pau Gasol in 2008, LeBron miraculously out of nowhere in 18, and then this.

[Rob Mahoney]

This is almost a totally different level than any of those things, I think, just because of the pure shock value, because it is a superstar not even yet in his prime, and we're already starting to see the information filter out from Dallas about why this could have possibly happened. I. I'm. I am as stunned as anybody, and I don't think there is any justifiable explanation for trading a player as good as Luka right now unless he. He has come to the maps and said, I don't want to be here anymore.

[Bill Simmons]

All right, so he had a year and a half left in his deal.

[Rob Mahoney]

Yes.

[Bill Simmons]

And there maybe there were discussions behind the scene that. That I'm out of here after my contract's up at the end of 26. So if you can get something for me now. But that raises the biggest question. This whole thing. If you're going to trade Luka, why not shop them? What can you get for them? Why not actually try to really come through? I don't. Do you get that part, Priscilla? Why wouldn't they have shopped them to at least, like, three, four teams?

[Ryan Rosillo]

It doesn't make any sense. I mean, I'm texting with teams right now, and hopefully I'll get some responses here throughout the show. On just. Did you know that he was available? I'll never forget, like, teams reaching out just to be pissed off. It's not like they wanted to talk to me that bad when Gasol was traded there.

[Bill Simmons]

Yeah.

[Ryan Rosillo]

All right. And I know people have debated about whether or not he was available and all this kind of different stuff, but, like, when the actual trade went through, there were other teams being like, we, we. We had no idea that it was, like, coming to this point. And, you know, it's. It's not just because it's the Lakers thing. There was a lot of stuff going on at the time that you could kind of read the tea leaves of, like, how it all came together. But this is not enough of a haul. Like, if you were shopping them, you would do better than that. So unless it was to, like you guys said, like, Luka going, hey, look, I'm. That's the only place I want to go. But, you know, we didn't even go through the cycle. We didn't even go through all the stuff that we're used to. Like, oh, this guy already wants it. So even if he wanted out, then it's like, so what was the hurry if this is the return? And on top of everything else, like, look, I don't think Dallas is a very good matchup against Boston. That's a good basketball team. And if everybody's healthy and what they've done and drafting lively, the Gafford Washington stuff. Kyrie. Which, by the way, like, does the Kyrie alarm start going off here? Like, are we back on the clock for, like, where. What he's thinking about next? Cause he was finally, like, basketball happy again here for a year and a half. So, yeah, my point would be, okay, so say Luca, because we'll find out more about this stuff. And I wonder if there's like, a Dallas hit piece coming. Like, the old Boston stuff used to happen with a guy in the Red Sox would go somewhere else and then.

[Bill Simmons]

Oh, the old two days later Red Sox.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Yeah, the Brian Kirk, now you tell us deal. So I don't know if that's coming, but I just. My overall thing. I'm sorry, I'm going long here. It's just that. Okay, fine. If Luca was forcing your hand, why not just play it out this season if you're healthy? The west is not as deep. As good as OKC is all the depth behind. It's not what we thought it would be this summer. You just made the NBA Finals. He's 25 years old. He's 26 in February. You have him under contract. The year after that, there's a player option. Like, you would have done better. Like, this deal was not. So, like, oh, we have to do this right now. We're talking about AD the 29. What is.

[Bill Simmons]

And they got. They got rid of, I guess, some Cleaver Markif Morris money.

[Rob Mahoney]

Sure.

[Bill Simmons]

I actually thought Max Christie was just having him thrown in there. I'm like, max Christie's not, like, nothing.

[Ryan Rosillo]

No, he was pretty good, by the way. Yeah. Yeah.

[Bill Simmons]

But so I mentioned, right? I did my trade value rankings, and I put up the thing on Thursday and I had Luka a big thing for Me was trying to decide whether I should move SGA ahead against Luka and I didn't feel great about it, but Luka's been hurt. Luka had the year and a half left in his deal and I was just like, I just think SGA seems like slightly more untradable to me, but I had Luka fourth at Davis 11th. Davis is 31, so he's six years older. Davis already just got hurt a week ago. He's been up and down the whole time. And I just think these are two different classes of players. As great as Davis is, there's Luka, sga, Jokic, Giannis Tatum, and now we're starting to drop a little bit to some other next level of person. You can win the finals with Luka as your best guy if you can put the right people around him. So I guess the questions that we're going to have Rob coming out of this are, was the Luka Dallas situation worse than leaked out? Did Luca tell them, I'm going to the Lakers in a year and a half so just trade me there now? If you trade me anywhere else, I'm still going to go to the Lakers and we'll tell the team that's about to trade. Was there more gamesmanship behind the scenes or was this Dallas and the Lakers just stealth going, hey, what about did this trade? And like neither side had any idea.

[Rob Mahoney]

I'm already scared of the galaxy braining effect of what is going to happen as a result of this. Because it does make you want to believe in a conspiracy theory, the fact that this has been buttoned up clearly to the point that it shocked the entire league, shocked the basketball landscape. I, I am, I am stunned that it got to this point. I am. You know, even if you consider the trade value that you just laid out, Bill, none of those other guys are going to be available. None of those other guys are going to be on the market. So if you are going to trade Luca, it's going to be for someone in that next class, the Anthony Davis class of player. But you would think there would be more to it than this. You would think that there would be more supplementary pieces involved. And that's where all of this seems to have come together so fast. And I'm with you, Rizzil. Like the acceleration from whatever instigating event, whether it was Luca coming to the Mavs or otherwise, from there to here, I don't understand why that period of time was fast tracked to the degree that it was. We still have days left before the.

[Bill Simmons]

Deadline Our friend Mark Stein is reporting Luka Doncic did not request a. Traders did this on their own accord. So do you think Luca was just home? Like, he. He was watching Night Agent Season two and it was like the phone rang. Nico Harrison. I have some bad news. We've traded to the Lakers. Like, I wonder if he was blindsided by this. I just refuse to believe in this league that is so beholden the players and player relationships that a superstar would be blindsided. He had to have had some idea, right?

[Ryan Rosillo]

Priscilla, I'm so confused by this. No, you think there had to have been something. What would have motivated them to want to get rid. Like, even if we play out well, you know, he does get hurt. He doesn't take care of his body. He comes in out of shape. You know, there's all this stuff with him. It's like, dude, okay, fine. And he still might be the second best player in the world. You know, I would. I would have. I actually have like, a bit of a line of like, Jokic, which I don't think is really obtainable at this point for any other player. And then it kind of goes back and forth between Giannis and Luka. And then I do have SGA fourth. You know, even with the numbers, I just think that there's. There's a slightly different ceiling with some of those guys. Maybe just because I've seen Luka do it in the playoffs, where it's like, there's really nothing to do with that guy. Once he just decides he's going to drive and go slow and get you on his hip. It's seriously. I've called it, like the best look that you'll get in basketball. Like, if you just sort it all out and go, I need the best look that I feel just the best about. As soon as the guy has the ball in his hands, it's that with his passing and his size. So, like, even if. Cause somebody will do it, like, somebody will do the. Well, you know, they were worried about how he was going to be later on his career. Okay, worry about that when he's 30 and you have to worry about the extension, right?

[Bill Simmons]

He's not even in his prime yet, by. By NBA standards, which is usually 27, 28.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Bobby Marks, you know, points out astutely that he was in line for a massive extension this summer for five years. 345 million. And, you know, as I started thinking, okay, but I mean, as the cap goes up like that now looks like Jaylen Brown's deal was the deal where you're like, that's. That's insane. It's also Jaylen Brown and not Luca, but, you know, like, every year we go through the cycle of deals where you're thinking you're paying 200 million for that guy, and it's like, dude, in two, these guys are beginning three, 350 million. Now, Bobby says he's not going to be eligible for that now. So that changes up some things. The only thing I was thinking was, you know, I always thought the Cuban ownership thing was really weird, that this is somebody that has enjoyed being an owner in sports more than any person maybe in any sport. This is somebody who nine years ago said, you know, what is it? Pigs get fed and hogs get slaughtered when he talked about the NFL. And granted, he was basically pumping up his own product, like going on tv, talking about a position you have in a company when you own all their stock, but he was basically dogging the NFL's future while he was propping up the NBA's future. All right, and that was nine years ago where he was like, it's going to happen. It's going. And it hasn't happened. Okay, that's fine. But is there anything to this that it was still very. Remember too, like, oh, yeah, we don't know the team anymore, but we're still going to run it. You're like, oh, yeah, right. Because that's what billionaires love to do, is buy things and let other people make all these decisions.

[Bill Simmons]

But I. So you think it was the new owners potentially not wanting to pay the 350?

[Ryan Rosillo]

I don't know. I don't know. I'm so shocked by this, guys, that, like, it crossed my mind, could it be any new owner thing where. But apparently people really, like. Like think that this group is. They're not going to screw around with it. So, you know, hold on, hold on. Buy one of these teams anymore.

[Bill Simmons]

So 350, I didn't see. I didn't think he was in, like, the greatest shape this year. Would you agree, Rob?

[Rob Mahoney]

Agree.

[Bill Simmons]

Wouldn't say he was.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Guys, who cares?

[Rob Mahoney]

No, I know.

[Bill Simmons]

I'm just trying to figure out from their perspective they're worried about, hey, what's going on with this dude? He's. He doesn't seem like the light bulb's going off. He's. We're hearing rumors maybe he wants to leave unless we give him the 350 million. Should we do it? With all that said, I'm raising my hand for the people listening. I just would never trade him. Never I, I, I, I just wouldn't like, I would trade him for Wemby, I would trade him for Jokic, I would trade him for sga and that's it. There's no other player. Unless I'm also getting like five, six first round picks. And when you think this is a league where Mikhail Bridges went for five first rounders, or a couple years ago KD went for, what was that, four first rounders, two swaps, Mikhail Bridges and Cam Johnson, this just isn't enough for Luca. And I think that's why, like David Aldridge tweeted, he's been covering the NBA 37 years. Nothing that happens, deals, free agent, signings, coach hiring, fires, rises to the level of, as the great Ben Bradley used to call them, holy shit stories. This is a holy shit trade. I think it's bigger than that. The only thing I can think of.

[Ryan Rosillo]

What would that be called?

[Bill Simmons]

I think it's a holy fucking shit trade. Well, the only thing I can think of is that night when all hell broke loose and Paul, George and Kawhi ended up on the Quippers. But at least then we were on kind of call that week. We knew something was happening. We were waiting to see where Kawhi was going to go.

[Ryan Rosillo]

We were trying to figure out where Kawhi's kids were registered at school. Like we were on call.

[Bill Simmons]

Yeah, we were on call like doctors. This is a Saturday night. The lakers just played. LeBron looked fantastic against the Knicks. Davis was supposed to come back in a couple days. There was no sign whatsoever. And we all thought Shams got hacked. So as far as, since we've all been working together, it's the most shocking NBA trade. But I'd have to go through history. I can't imagine a bigger one.

[Rob Mahoney]

Well, and in that case with Paul, George and Kawhi, like Kawhi was on the market. So there were the precursors. There's no market for Luka Doncic. I was under the impression, frankly, with the way the NBA has been operating over the last five or 10 years, that a player of this caliber would just never be traded again without a demand or request of some kind on their part, and if that really is what happened, that this is entirely preemptive by the Mavs. Granted, maybe they are reading the tea leaves about the extension. Maybe they are forecasting and saying, you know, a year and a half from now, we're going to have to deal with this in a way that doesn't look good for us. Every other team in these instances holds on Too long and ends up driving down some of the value in a potential trade. The fact that the Mavs jumped the line on that market and still came away with what feels to be such low value for a player of Luka's caliber. Why, why were you preempting it? Like, why are you getting ahead of yourself and doing something that no other team is willing to do? In part because no other team pretty much has a player as good as Luka.

[Bill Simmons]

Well, and you're also. Now you have this team that's built around Kyrie, who was 2010 draft, 2011 draft. So he's in his early 30s. Davis was 2012 draft, he's 31. So you had this older team that's kind of built to win right now, but it doesn't have the, the long term ceiling. I don't think of what they had before. So Bobby Marks said Luca was in line for 5 for 3,45 this summer. He was super max eligible. Being on the same team, that's out the window now. Cause he got traded. So this actually cost him money. Rosillo, can we, can we. I'm still wrapping my head around this. Can we talk about the Dallas piece of this? Does Dallas think this made their team better?

[Ryan Rosillo]

I don't understand it. I mean, I'm still reading stuff like. Shams has another post here that says, quote, the Mavericks approached the Lakers recently and offered Luka Doncic. Sources tell ESPN Lakers brass met and believe the 25 year old Doncic has the ability to be the face of the franchise for the next decade while giving Anthony Davis a win. Now move in Dallas. The best is like the last sentence. Like, hey, say something nice about. Something nice about Anthony Davis on the way out of here. I love the idea that they got the call and then we're like, all right, let's kick around some thoughts. You know, how many opposed? You know, you know, they must have thought that they were getting fucked with when that call first happens. But yeah, on the Dallas side, you're right.

[Bill Simmons]

Well, don't you think they. If you get that call and you're almost like, am I being pranked? Is my phone tapped? Are they trying to, like, they can't, they can't possibly be actually trying to trade Luka Doncic to us or what's wrong with them?

[Rob Mahoney]

Like, what happened to Luca that they would even want to trade him in the first place?

[Bill Simmons]

It's like the put when Paul Pierce dropped to 10 in the 98 draft and he hit around like pick six and all the Celtics Were like, what happened is he.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Is.

[Bill Simmons]

He was like, why is he dropping Rosello? How about this? Dave McBennamin just tweeted. LeBron learned of the Davis Doncic trade after the Knicks game. He was out to dinner with his family. Sources close to James told ESPN he was surprised by the news as processing it, had no idea it was in the works. Sources said. I actually believe that because I think if any of this even came close to leaking out beyond the immediate people that were involved in it, I think it would have leaked out. That's one of the shocking things about this, is that none of this leaked out.

[Ryan Rosillo]

No, I mean, it can happen. But that also, I think speaks to the speed of what this was. Because if it. If they had reached out, say, two weeks ago, I think eventually somebody figures it out. I would say, though, like, if Clutch knew, because granted, Davis is their client in this, they. I don't think that they would have leaked. Like, what would have been the purpose? Like, you wouldn't want anyone to even know about any of this stuff because.

[Bill Simmons]

They would have told LeBron. They tell LeBron and then you don't know what happens if you tell. But what if LeBron doesn't want the trade to happen?

[Rob Mahoney]

Sure.

[Bill Simmons]

If you're LeBron, it's like, I mean, that. That's. There's so many pieces to talk about this, but now we have LeBron James and Luka Dacic on the same team. Luka's had the best. I don't what, seven year start to a career that any player has had since LeBron. He's been on all the same. And now they're going to be on the same team, which is like. Like that has only happened a couple times in the history of the league where it's like, hey, Wilt's now going to be on the team with El J Baylor and Jerry West. You know, like, we just don't have superstar, super duper star pairings out of nowhere like this. And I honestly don't know how they fit. I think it's a pretty weird fit, the two of them.

[Ryan Rosillo]

You know what, though? Like, that used to be something I used to always think about when they would say, Chris, Paul and LeBron really want to play with each other. And when they were at their peaks, I always thought it was a little stupid because I just felt like it was redundant. It was taking away what both of their greatness was. It was just setting everything up and reading it. And when they were both in their primes, I'm like, why Would they? Actually, I don't even know that. That makes a ton of sen. Now, when you watch the Lakers and you think about their best possessions, like, they were so good tonight, man, their spacing and the way LeBron was reading everything. But a lot of times, like Austin Reeves, now post Angelo Russell is tasked with having to figure out a way to set up their offense because I think he's. He just has the energy to do it. LeBron doesn't have the energy to play point guard the entire time. And then on the other side of it, as good as Reeves has been, he's the number one hunt target for the other team's best player, and they're trying to get him into every single switch. So it's just an exhausting role for Reeves to have all that stuff. And it was the best version of him based on who they had. But now with Luca, like, at this stage, at 40 for LeBron, this is great for him, this is. This is fine. Now we could talk about their defense, because they were always trying to figure out their defense.

[Bill Simmons]

Luca, LeBron and Austin Reeves, all at the same time. Three of your five guys and no.

[Rob Mahoney]

Anthony Davis, no ring protection.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Jackson Hayes is still out right now on the East Coast. He's like, extension, baby.

[Bill Simmons]

Jackson Hayes is like, finally.

[Ryan Rosillo]

You know what it is, though? It. It. It kind of. I mean, is it worth. Is it worth going, like, you know, immediately unless there's some more moves? They are kind of a weird team. And the Lakers and ownership, like, fuck it, who cares? Yeah, of course they said who cares? Because now we have arguably the second best player in the world at 25 years old. No, you do this every time you do questions asked, but you don't even.

[Bill Simmons]

You don't even blink.

[Ryan Rosillo]

It could play out for a team that's been playing better. And again, you don't make decisions based on how a team's playing for two weeks. But it could play out that it becomes more of a reset year than a. What if we get lucky in the right playoff matchups, and next thing you know, we're in the Western Conference finals. Even though I think that that was still unlikely going up against some of these other teams I like better in the West. I don't know that we could completely write it off. This is.

[Bill Simmons]

No, because they also might have another trade for some. For some sort of reproductive.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Well, they need a big. They need somebody.

[Bill Simmons]

I'll say this, man.

[Ryan Rosillo]

I. I don't think that's Valentunas as far as room protection.

[Rob Mahoney]

That. That's not what you want.

[Bill Simmons]

No, but maybe it's like a Robert Williams. Well, I don't know if he would be able to stay in the court, but it's that kind of level, like the 10, $11 million center who can stay near the rim. I'll say this, this team would like. I'm just, it's breaking my brain thinking about it. But LeBron, the way he's looked tonight and a couple of the games recently where he's, he's really, really, really, really good and efficient in some of the choices he's making and the way they were spreading the floor for him like he was just annihilated the Knicks tonight. And then you think about that with Luca and those guys spread out, playing off each other with the offense spread like it's, it's not nothing, Rob. I'm looking at the Laker odds right now in FanDuel. They have the six best odds now to win the title at 21 to 1. So people are wagering on this, Rob.

[Rob Mahoney]

They still need a lot of work in terms of that front court. They, I mean, just as we said, playable bodies. The Christian Coloco, Jackson Hayes thing, that is, that's not going to get it done. These are small potatoes problems in the scope of when you bring in Luka Doncic. I, I, ultimately having two supercomputers on the court is just going to give the Lakers something that literally no other team in the league has. And the selective deployment of LeBron that we've been talking about where he can now pick his spots at a level that he's never been able to before. And he was someone who played with Prime Dwyane Wade. And so that in itself puts them in such a unique space that is frankly unquantifiable in terms of what the title race is. I will rule nothing out at this point. Like Lakers exceptionalism clearly is the thing that exists and we need to acknowledge that they can move the pieces around the board in ways that no other team can. There are big markets. Dallas is one of the biggest markets in the league. There are massive markets that operate in their own ways. And then there is the Lakers in their own zone of existence making shit like that this happen on a regular.

[Bill Simmons]

Basis from a hunting the, the weak link on the other team standpoint, this is kind of a nightmare now with, with Luca and LeBron, if they can actually figure it out, how to kind of balance that. And there's, there's always going to be somebody who like, oh, you're going to. That's who you're going to have on him. Oh, cool. And if they can figure that they still need some rim protection, I. Rosillo.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Yeah, but we both know, like, we don't even need to say it, but maybe we just say it one more time. Like, I think the point is, is even if they feel like they can't fix themselves, none of it matters.

[Bill Simmons]

You still do it, right? Yeah. So, Rosello, here's the question for you. What else would you have thrown into this trade from the Lakers side before you said yes? If you were Dallas, the trade they already made, if you were the Dallas gm, what more would you have had to get?

[Ryan Rosillo]

Nothing. There would have. There would not have been a trade. I would have gone to a different team. I would have asked for all their picks. I would have said, san Antonio, you're going to give me all your picks. I'm even just make up some shit. And I'm getting Castle and I'm getting Vesel and, you know, I'm getting. I'm getting at least one really good young player that profiles to be a difference maker, which still, like, sometimes we fall in love with these guys so much that you're like, you can go back. It's kind of like the JJ Hickson, Amari Stoudemire thing. Granted, Amari ended up being hurt a little bit. It was like, you know, he'd love that Amari, but. But, you know, we can't put J.J. hickson in the deal. And yeah, you know, it just happens time and time again. And I'll admit, even like right now, when I think about the Fox, Castle stuff, I'll be like, oh, man, Castle, there's something to him. But then, you know, that's where you can start making some mistakes. So as far as like, what would the Lakers need to keep adding for me to say yes, if the core of this is Anthony Davis, who last year was fantastic.

[Rob Mahoney]

All right.

[Ryan Rosillo]

But it was the first all star team he had made in three years. He played 76 games. Before that, he'd played 56, 40, 36, 62, and 56. So it was his first 70 game season since 2018. And as much as we love what he is, and he's already got the ring and he was so good last year, you're like, I gotta. I'm. I'm trading for him. I'm trading for Anthony Davis. So if Anthony Davis is the main piece, I'm getting back. Because I guess they can argue, hey, we're just different. But now we're competing. And Luca wasn't even playing and we get some bad news that it might take another month and things were getting a little weird. Okay, fine. So I guess you're not resetting it the way we would normally expect a franchise and roster to have to reset on moving on from somebody like this. But it's. What's. What's more likely. Davis just ages. Really well, the next four years.

[Bill Simmons]

No, I. I feel like we're at the tail end of the prime with him. Yeah, for me, like, if you, if you, if somebody tasked us not knowing this trade was going to happen. Make up. Make up a Dallas Lakers trade.

[Rob Mahoney]

Yeah.

[Bill Simmons]

Reeves would have to be in it. It would have to be Davis and Reeves or Dalton. I would assume he's untouchable.

[Rob Mahoney]

Don connect. Untouchable.

[Bill Simmons]

The 29 pick and the 31 pick. I would have wanted swaps and 28 and 30. I'm sticking you with the worst contract I have in my team. You're taking that too?

[Ryan Rosillo]

Like we're going to deal. No, it's a Vando deal.

[Bill Simmons]

Right now.

[Ryan Rosillo]

I'd have to have all the math in front of me here. Once Davis and the other stuff is included, then maybe it doesn't work or whatever. But like Vandos I. Every five minutes. I still can't believe it happened.

[Bill Simmons]

So Windhorst, I guess, was on ESPN saying that the clip notes are the Lakers were the only offer that Dallas had in their pocket. He didn't think Dallas could get all they could get from la and that Dallas was hesitant to offer Luka the supermax this summer. I have no idea why Dallas was hesitant to offer Luka the supermax this summer unless they. Even if they had some sort of crazy insights to his terrible diet habits, some sort of physical issues that maybe they're only aware of. I still would offer him the supermax. He's. Luka Doncic made the finals last year, no doubt. So I don't, I don't. I. I just don't.

[Ryan Rosillo]

He could have been smoking cigarettes, Bill. He could have been smoking cigarettes, bringing the ball up the fucking court, and I would still be like, when can we sign you to the supermax? By the way, I've heard from multiple teams that I sent texts to in the beginning of this thing, not one team even thought. They were like completely shocked. Totally off the radar. People did not know that he was even available now.

[Bill Simmons]

So this is.

[Ryan Rosillo]

A sequel.

[Bill Simmons]

But it's like the Dennis. It's so much worse where the budget is way bigger. It's like this is not little indie.

[Ryan Rosillo]

High School Gladiator two.

[Bill Simmons]

Yeah, this is a big budget. I, as you guys know, I kind of hate the Lakers. This is.

[Ryan Rosillo]

You're fair though. You're fair about it.

[Bill Simmons]

Bill. Bill. Boston fans infuriated. How dare they get Luka Thatch. What the fuck? And then what if he gets in like awesome shape in a year and now they're like, reset. I felt like the Lakers were, you know, they weren't real title contenders. They were just delusional enough to think they could be title contenders and they weren't. They were headed the wrong direction. And now this is, this has saved them because Dallas didn't feel like Luka Dacic was worth $340 million over five years in a league where everybody is getting 300 million for five years.

[Rob Mahoney]

Now, if that part is true, this is just going to go down as one of the biggest self inflicted wounds in NBA history. The fact that that's where they balked, that's where the line is inexplicable shit.

[Bill Simmons]

I think I'm trying to think of.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Do you think you'll wake up tomorrow, Bill, though? I'm sorry to interrupt you, but like when something like this happens where everybody is going, you've got to be. And again, guys that work in the league are texting me going, I can't believe this. Just like we can't believe it. Is there a moment three days from now where you think you'll understand more?

[Bill Simmons]

There's two things I'm not going to understand. One, how is this the trade? I'm just going to trust my blink reaction to reading it and thinking it was Shams getting hacked. Because the trade seemed so lopsided. I just couldn't. I was like, ah, they fucked that up when they hacked Shams. That's one. And then two. How do you not chop them? You have this incredible asset. You basically, you have an open house for the best house in your neighborhood. And the first person walks in and makes you not. They're like, done, done. Cancel, Cancel everyone else who came in. I'm done. Wait, wait. I think we could get more. Nope, nope. That was the first offer. We got it. I just don't understand that. It's just bad business.

[Rob Mahoney]

But he's not even the house, he's the neighborhood. This isn't an asset. This is not a tradable player.

[Bill Simmons]

No, it's not. Unless it's for Jokic or Wembanyama or sga.

[Rob Mahoney]

Even then you would have to really think about it. That's how good Luka is.

[Bill Simmons]

So I guess Tatum's more untradable than Luka Brasilo. It's one of my lessons tonight. I don't think the Celtics do this trade, big money for themselves. So everyone you're hearing from is like, we had no idea he was available.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Again, I'm not talking to 29 teams here. I'm not that cool to get 29 texts back. Or I guess I would ask for 28 texts back, but yeah, multiple, multiple teams. What do we got?

[Bill Simmons]

Another Tim McMahon. We missed this one. The Mavs had major concerns about moving forward Luka Doncic due to his constant conditioning issues and limited commitment of another supermax contract extension. So we're going to get the. Now they tell a story Monday about the war behind the scenes to keep Luka in shape. That whole thing.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Yeah, but we all knew this stuff and none of it mattered. And they still made the finals in the Western Conference finals two years before that. So if you're going to say like, hey, if he were 32 and available for whatever the most it was and you're trading for 31 year old AD and you know it's run its course and he's been there a decade plus, okay, fine. All right, so say all of it because you're right, it's all going to happen. What's the problem with shopping them? There's nothing that tells me this would be the best deal. If you called 28 GMs and said it's real, you have a. You have 48 hours put together your best offer. And by the way, you'd leak it. You'd leak it so that everybody knew that everybody knew that it was serious. So that when it's leaked to say, a Brian Windhorst, right, who he'll probably go, I can't believe this is happening. Don't burn me on this. He would have to have the relationship with Nico or somebody with that team. You know, that's how this stuff works. And then all of a sudden, like Windhorse is getting calls from teams saying, is this serious? Like, what do you think they're doing? And then Windhorse is almost like in that position because that's kind of like, Woj was so powerful, man. Woj was so powerful that people be checking in on him, going like, what's going on over there in Dallas? And then would you be telling him the truth? But you would be doing that. You'd be planting that seed so that everybody knew because this guy is now available. So put in your final bids because we're serious about this and Then you start bidding against things you don't need. You know what I mean? Like when there's those blind bids for Daisuke Matsuzaku had the mysterious gyro ball, Remember? Like, they were blind bids. Yeah. And so you didn't know. You're like, should we offer 15 or 51 million? And you're like, well, I. You know, it's. I don't want to lose this guy. So you're almost bidding against yourself a little bit. So even if all that stuff, which it's going to come out the negative, Luca, he was all of these things. We wanted to get in front of it. You don't want to get this in front of it. You don't want to get so in front of it that the rest of the league doesn't know that he's available. So, I mean, to me, this is like, fireable shit. And that's why I wonder, like, did ownership get involved in some level? But from what I've heard, it wouldn't make sense. Like, who's buying a team now that's scared off from a supermax? Especially when it's somebody like this.

[Bill Simmons]

Rob is shaking his head as violently as if it was the worst season finale of all time on the Prestige TV podcast. And him and Joanna were just like, I just can't believe they did that. I just can't believe it.

[Rob Mahoney]

It's just Presumed Innocent all over again. My brain is breaking.

[Ryan Rosillo]

It was a time machine.

[Rob Mahoney]

The thing that's really shaking me up, and we touched on it earlier, is there isn't even the plausible deniability of trading for things that are on a completely different timeline. Like, if you weren't trading for another player in his ostensible prime, and it was all of these picks, all of these swaps, you can at least understand an underlying logic. It would still be questionable. It would still be questionable. But here you have one pick, no swaps. Max Christie. Thank God. You know, you couldn't even get Jalen Hood Shafino out of Utah.

[Bill Simmons]

Rosilla. Remember I texted you today about the Utah.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Yeah.

[Bill Simmons]

And I was like, this. This set. But. So Utah made that weird trade today where they took P.J. tucker's contract and, well, they got the Clippers. And the Clippers. And it was like, yeah, man, this is a weird trade. And I texted Rossillo and I said this. My shit detector is going off. You do this kind of trade when there's another trade coming. And we were like, oh, I wonder if that's going to be John Collins. And P.J. tucker for Brandon Ingram, not realizing it was going to be Luka fucking Doncic as the, as the third team. But so I'm trying to think like if they had offered him to San Antonio and I would. And the three of us were running San Antonio. Yeah, we would have a two hour meeting and we would basically say, all right, how much. Like we could basically give up every single asset we have. And if we just end up with Luka and Wemby, we're probably good. So if they do they want Castle, Visell, seven first round picks? Like, yeah, let's, let's do it. Let's do. Oh, they want us to take a bad contract. Like whatever I had to do to just get Luka and Wemby on the same team, I would have done it. And the Lakers basically got it. It feels like 40 cents on the dollar. 41 cents on the dollar. Priscilla.

[Ryan Rosillo]

I just.

[Bill Simmons]

41 and a half, 42.

[Ryan Rosillo]

What do we not understand? What do we not understand about this?

[Bill Simmons]

Dallas is now under the luxury tax.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Cool.

[Bill Simmons]

So that happened.

[Rob Mahoney]

Congrats.

[Bill Simmons]

According to Bobby Marks, there's 628,000 under the luxury tax. What, what would you rob? You know, some Dallas fans, they're not.

[Rob Mahoney]

Doing well, by the way.

[Bill Simmons]

Yeah, I was gonna say what. I don't even know what, what would you say to a Dallas fan who thought Luka was going to be in their life for the next 15 years?

[Rob Mahoney]

There's no consoling a fan of a team like that in a situation like this. And, and, and as we said, there's no precedent to say, like, oh, look, it worked out okay for this other team and this other star. Like, they rebooted, they got things together.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Marcus all ended up being pretty good.

[Rob Mahoney]

Max Christie could be their. Marcus saw, you know, that's really what they're hoping for.

[Ryan Rosillo]

And he's further along than Mark was.

[Rob Mahoney]

We should say congratulations. Congratulations to Anthony Davis, who will be playing with a center, you know, Daniel Gafford for now, Derek Lively later. You get what you wish for. Congratulations to Anthony Davis. Yeah, there's no coming back from this. And I would say the polar extremes of a fan base that was able to hold on to Dirk for so long and had all of the hopes in the world that Luka could be that same kind of fixture within the franchise. Maybe that was always a bit of a stretch. Maybe no player in the modern NBA is that kind of thing anymore. But I think they all counted on him being around longer than this. And certainly if he did leave there being A little bit more ceremony to it. There being a little bit more of a bidding war to it and not just swept out the door in the night for Anthony Davison to pick in Max Christie.

[Bill Simmons]

It's one of the biggest mistakes. I feel very comfortable saying this right after the trade. It's one of the biggest mistakes I can ever remember an NBA franchise making. How is there no swap?

[Ryan Rosillo]

Yeah, how are there no swap? Every trade now it's like, oh, and by the way, we get two swaps.

[Bill Simmons]

And you're like, swaps and second round picks.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Yeah, there are swaps. There was a swap in a Houston deal where I was like, that's such a stupid swap. Like, it's already set in stone that it's not going to happen. But you wanted to be able to say, potentially, we have this other pick, because I think it was an in season deal. It. It may have been the hardened nets thing where the way the math worked on the swap was like, oh, we also get like the swap this year. And you're like, it was the net.

[Bill Simmons]

It was the Nets. Houston one.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Yeah.

[Bill Simmons]

Where it was like, yeah, we're going to swap. And we had. And there was no way.

[Ryan Rosillo]

There was. There was no way that was actually going to be in play that they would want to swap picks of them. But it just sounded better. Right. Because all of these trades get reported as like, and potentially up to five trade or five first round picks. How I don't like that part of it was one of the first things where I thought it was hacked. I was like, oh, the guy hacked him and wasn't smart enough to put in two swaps because this deal would always have a couple swaps in it.

[Bill Simmons]

So two things. Number one, this is where I have to go back to things I've written in the past and regurgitate them. The FU factor with Luca now is going to be unbelievable. And I think he's the wrong guy to challenge with an fu.

[Rob Mahoney]

Yeah.

[Bill Simmons]

I can't think of somebody in our lives from a basketball standpoint that I'm more excited about to have a fucking fire lit under his ass now. Like, really? You guys traded me? What happens if he really takes this serious? It was like, all right. And then I never felt like from a physical diet, the whole thing. It always felt like there was gonna be some year coming. We would joke about it on all of our podcasts. Oh, wait till the year when there's the video of Luca in August and he's fucking working out and he's jacked and you know, he's eating. He's eating grilled chicken and beets, pickles. Maybe that's going to happen. That's one. The other one is I. Is LeBron the next move here? No, because I had somebody that knows things was saying that they do this, they don't give LeBron a heads up. And then the next move is LeBron to Golden State.

[Rob Mahoney]

Wow.

[Bill Simmons]

And they're just basically out of the LeBron and ad business and rebooting.

[Ryan Rosillo]

What happens to Bronnie?

[Bill Simmons]

I think he's probably in the trade.

[Rob Mahoney]

Yeah.

[Bill Simmons]

I think he has to come. He had a lefty last Santa Cruz. He got one today.

[Ryan Rosillo]

He did.

[Bill Simmons]

I love in the teens again.

[Ryan Rosillo]

I love all the announcers. What if LeBron was like, LeBron has.

[Bill Simmons]

The no trade clause. But what if LeBron's like, all right, now I'm next. And that door was open, too. Or maybe he'll be like, this is great. I can't wait to play Luka Doncic.

[Ryan Rosillo]

And then Laker blows up the deal because he's like, I'm not paying tax on Bronnie's extension.

[Bill Simmons]

Yeah, can we stretch Bronnie for the next 18 years? Rousseau, what do you think about the Fu side of the Luca thing now?

[Ryan Rosillo]

Yeah, I mean, I think he's already.

[Bill Simmons]

A year in three years where he's just in awesome shape and just declaring war on the league.

[Ryan Rosillo]

I would hope so. I mean, just think how much scarier that would be. But I think he's always one of those guys. Jokic has a bit of this where you always think Jokic is spent, and it's just the way he carries himself for his 35 to 38 minutes a night. And, you know, granted, it's been cranked up what he's had to do, especially the beginning of the year with all the injuries. But Luka is somebody who forever throughout the game, he constantly looked like he's hurt. He's, you know, he's a bit theatrical with it. LeBron has been that way for a good chunk of his career. We were like, oh, no, is he going to get up? Is he going to get up? So maybe. But I, I, he's a pretty mad guy. I mean, he's probably one of the maddest players, and you would want that to translate in some of the off season stuff. I think there have been times too, in Dallas where I hear like, okay, we really expect him to kind of come in so pissed off. The problem is, like, what are you going to do? Like, he, it's not like he's putting up 30, and they're the 11 seed in the west, you know, so whatever his approach is, it's kind of hard to tell him, hey, you need to change this thing, Because I know that his. His background is that, you know, it's. He's just kind of different. Obviously, he's very different. His father's different. Like, it's a different kind of culture. And the way they kind of look at the profession of the whole thing. I don't know what the LeBron part of it is. I wonder, Rob, like, do you think. Do you think AD Feels like I'm out of this and this is cool, or I went to the one team that clutch wanted me to go to to be paired up with LeBron, win the title, and now granted, you know, the Lakers are just going to do this no matter what.

[Rob Mahoney]

Yeah.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Or, you know, is there a part of this where if LeBron's 35, they don't do it because they're worried about the relationship more with LeBron, but again, then they. Maybe they don't take his kid? I'm just kind of thinking about the clutch part of it. If Davis is thinking, hey, it's cool, whatever. I've always, you know, Dallas would be one of the five places I'd want to play. I have. I don't know if he has any relationship with Kyrie. They're going to say all the right things and all that kind of stuff.

[Bill Simmons]

Hold on, Rob, before you answer that. There was stuff on there about how AD and Nico Harrison had a really good relationship, and that was one of the reasons Dallas wanted to trade for him. Take that for what you will.

[Rob Mahoney]

The Nico Harrison part of this is fascinating, too, because he had done a pretty tremendous job overhauling roster over the last couple of years, like, even moved. I was highly skeptical when they traded for Kyrie in the first place. I didn't quite see the vision of that. It was just hit after hit after hit.

[Ryan Rosillo]

I think it's fair of everybody to be like, I don't know that I would want to trade for him. But at that point. Yeah, go ahead, go ahead.

[Rob Mahoney]

And at this point, if you are AD I agree that if you're a player of his stature, at his position that plays the way he does, if you look around the league, Dallas is a pretty good spot for AD to land, and the compliment of being the return for Luka Doncic is a pretty. Pretty strong endorsement of your game in and of itself. What's a little confusing to me as we kind of Juxtapose all of the pieces in this deal. Not only are the Mavs getting AD, they're getting this 2029 pick. But we just said that Luka Doncic is not only this level of playmaker, but this level of fuck you competitor.

[Bill Simmons]

Are you.

[Rob Mahoney]

You're betting that a Luka Doncic Lakers team isn't going to be that good in 2029? I. I think they're going to be pretty fucking good.

[Bill Simmons]

Yeah. That's a good point. Yeah. You would almost want the 2031 pick over the 29 pick. Or just get fucking both of them because you traded for Luka. Touch. Give me both picks. What picks do you have? I'm going to take all the remaining picks you have. I'm getting a slew of texts. And they're now moving as we're like 40 minutes after the trade, 45 minutes. Two camps are now emerging. The this league fixed it for the Lakers. This is fucking bullshit. You've got to investigate this. I'm getting those texts.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Are you doing that monologue on Tuesday's podcast?

[Bill Simmons]

I want to research it more and maybe talk to some lawyers. And then there's some clutch and AD and LeBron pushed the Lakers too far and they finally said, fuck it, we've had it. And that was why they didn't give them a heads up, any of that stuff. I actually believe that because I think when the. When there was those stories last week about. What was it a week or two weeks ago about we need some help. The roster.

[Ryan Rosillo]

I was. When they did that, I was.

[Bill Simmons]

Are you guys fucking serious? We're doing this again. You're doing that. We've got to improve the roster. Passive aggressive thing. Your roster is actually pretty good. So I wonder if maybe they're just trying to get out of this business completely. And plus they traded for Luka Doncic, so of course they're doing that.

[Rob Mahoney]

So they trade for Luka Doncic and the Lakers get to be the little guy standing up to big, bad, clutch.

[Bill Simmons]

The little $7 billion team standing up to the $15 billion agency.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Yeah. By the way, six months after they drafted his son and gave him a two year, $100 million extension. And so, like, you know, wow, you guys really told them. You get it, guys, if we want to compliment them, do you think Pelinka at some point, like, Nico was like, I need two first. And Pelinka had the balls to go, nah, I'll give you one.

[Bill Simmons]

He's like, what about a 2030 slap? He's like, nope, my Offer's my offer. My shitty offer stance, Right.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Cause the story about when the Celtics did that Nets deal, when it was all of their picks, like, it was like a real Christopher Columbus type moment with one of those trades. And I remember I was in Brooklyn for the draft because I was doing the draft for espn and I, I, I remember how confused I was at first. I was like, so they get this pick, but then they have the right to do this. And the story goes that they were like, hey, it's Prokorov. Just keep asking.

[Bill Simmons]

Right?

[Ryan Rosillo]

They'd agree.

[Bill Simmons]

And then that's how they got the 17 swap. That's how they got the Tatum pick. At the last second they were like, hey, we want that too.

[Ryan Rosillo]

And he's like, oh, that's fine.

[Bill Simmons]

That sounds good. I will give you that.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Some good broker offer.

[Bill Simmons]

Thank you. I've been working on my broker off. I knew it was going to come in handy. Yeah. So Dallas, Nico Harrison really values the center position, apparently values conditioning and doesn't value picks in the2030s. That's what we've learned.

[Rob Mahoney]

I'm just trying to think of how it would have hit me if someone would have told me a week ago, rob Pelinka is going to win executive of the year and what it would take to get us to that point. But I think it just happened.

[Bill Simmons]

I think it just happened. There's one other. Oh, Tim McMahon reporting that Luka was pushing 270 pounds.

[Rob Mahoney]

I don't care.

[Ryan Rosillo]

I don't give a shit. 370. Yeah.

[Bill Simmons]

Rossillo, can we talk about Hood? Schiffino's fit with the Jazz. How do you see him playing off of John Collins and some of their base?

[Rob Mahoney]

How are he and sense of all going to play together?

[Ryan Rosillo]

Yeah, I just don't want my guy Will Hardy to retire this year if there's another on ball dominant dude while Markkanen's standing off to the side. The number of times I like Keonte George, but the number of times I'll see him dribble in and then not get the angle and then be like, all right, let me just reset this. Like Trey Young watches that film is like, dude, you're gonna move the ball a little bit, right? He'll go in. Granted, doesn't happen all the time anyway. Nobody wants a Jazz breakdown at this point. I, I think you wait your whole life to have a player like this, a franchise wait. I agree. You know, you hope to have. You know, there's some teams that are spoiled. Your team, Bill, the Lakers are spoiled Chicago certainly had that one guy. I'm not saying Luke is MJ or any of that kind of stuff. And LeBron's had some different stops as a more modern version of what we're used to in the NBA. But you hope, you know, as an owner or a city, you get somebody that makes you think anything is possible if you have the right pieces around you.

[Bill Simmons]

Like what happened last year.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Yep. Yeah. Right. And you know, the fact that he turns 26.

[Bill Simmons]

Yeah. You're talking about somebody who has a chance to go down as one of the 15 best players of all time. We. We haven't seen anything yet that would make me think that's not still in play. And he's hit every sort of statistical benchmark you'd want. He's made the Finals already, which is a huge piece of. When you're talking about the greatest guys ever did, they actually have a moment where they got to the big stage pretty early in their career. He did that. We know that players peak 26, 27, 28. He's not even those ages yet. And now he's going to be playing for the Lakers. He's going to be a huge star. He's going to love it here. He's going to be a big celebrity in a city of celebrities. And he's playing for. You know, this is the most famous franchise that we have in the NBA, has been the most successful because the Celtics have won a couple more titles. I don't count the Minnesota ones, but this is the most famous franchise in the NBA. It is. They've been the most famous franchise for 60 years. Celebrity fans, they keep winning. They're relevant every single decade. And they pulled it off again. I just can't believe it.

[Ryan Rosillo]

How many is this? So it's Wilt, it's Kareem, it's Shaq, it's Lebron, it's Luca. Am I missing anybody that's kind of outright.

[Bill Simmons]

And they look out with the magic tree. That was ridiculous. But it's a trade.

[Ryan Rosillo]

But he's.

[Bill Simmons]

I'm saying, like, yeah, yeah. Kobe. Like 12 teams passed on Kobe. But then especially, like, I'm talking about, like, acquisition. Yeah. Employer acquisitions. Gasol is a big one, and then Davis is the last one. So it's. They have.

[Ryan Rosillo]

So, you know. Say that again. So it's Wilt, it's Kareem, it's Shaq, it's Gasol, it's Lebron, it's Davis, and it's Luca.

[Bill Simmons]

Yeah. Just players they didn't draft that sucked into their Franchise. Yeah, because people love living in Los Angeles, including me and Rossillo.

[Ryan Rosillo]

All right, no one traded for me.

[Bill Simmons]

So just one. One. The only thing we didn't really cover is a Lakers team that will have Rui Hachimura, LeBron James, we think, unless he's the next piece of this Austin Reeves, Jackson Hayes, Finney Smith, Vanderbilt, Gabe Vincent connect. And Luka when he comes back. And I assume they'll trade for some sort of big Rob.

[Rob Mahoney]

Yeah. And I think I don't want to.

[Bill Simmons]

See that team in a playoff series. Sorry, I don't.

[Rob Mahoney]

I don't care who is on Luca's team. I wouldn't want to play against him in a playoff series. And this is part of this formula too, is not only is Luka one of the best players in the world, he's uniquely capable of lifting up minimum salary guys, mid salary guys. All the players that are going to be essential in an apron luxury, like luxury era, luxury tax era. He's the player that makes those pieces work, that makes a Christian Coloco viable. Right. That will make Jackson Hayes viable. That will allow you to find like he broadens the range of the supporting talent you can put around him to make it make sense. And so, yeah, if it is LeBron and Luka and Rui and Austin Reaves and whoever you can buttress around that, it's going to be competitive, it's going to be formidable because Luka Doncic is a part of it.

[Bill Simmons]

And it's, I would say, one of the biggest gambles in the history of the league. The Mavericks, who basically seem like they just wanted to get out of the Luka Doncic business, which was frightening enough a decision to make, but then on top of it to not shop him. I think it's going to be something that if it works out the way I think the three of us might think it's going to work out, that we'll be talking about for the rest of the time we talk about basketball. Like remember when the Mavericks did that? Remember when they just didn't shop Luca at all? They. They traded him for 28 cents to the dollar. It's an amazing trade. I think we hit everything. Anything else, Priscilla?

[Ryan Rosillo]

Yeah. I just want to follow up Rob's point though a little bit on like what's possible around it, you know, long term and how he raises your floor so much. I always think there's these conference finals runs with teams that are really fluky can actually cause more damage to the team in believing there's something that they're Not. And maybe a couple years ago you could have made that case for Dallas, but they turned the team over. They're better. They make it to the NBA Finals. And we know it's primarily because of Luca. But if you look at like that team that played against the warriors and lost in five games a couple years ago, like, look at the shot attempts. Luka took. 118. Here are the next shot attempt leaders. Jalen Brunson, who was not even close to like, I can't even say half formed, like, not even fully formed. Jalen Brunson, Din Witty, Dorian, Finney Smith, Reggie Bullock, Maxi Kleba, Bertons, like, those are the guys taking shots against the warriors. And that's the team that he had in the Western Conference finals. So I'm totally with you on how he raises it, but I do wonder how much of it is kind of like feeling each other out, knowing that you kind of have to stay glued to your spot for Luca on those drives because he's going to make the pass to the last possible second. I mean, that's stuff that basketball players can figure out pretty quickly. Like, don't reset and move from your spot because he's going to find you. But defensively, yeah, I mean there's still, there are. This is a. No one's going to sit here and go like, oh, I don't like him now defensively in playoffs. That's not. What this is about is you have a face of the franchise that this special for the next seven years probably because, hell, as much as we could worry about his conditioning, if he's this good already, right, he's already played at, at the body type of the guy that ages later on. So I can't believe it. I. I can't. I, I just, I know I've already said it a million times. I don't know how you run a basketball team and you don't let the world know that he's available.

[Bill Simmons]

And then for the Lakers, when you're looking at the tail end of this LeBron thing, God only knows how many more years he's going to play. But when you think you gotta keep the building filled, you got some, the most expensive seats in the league, you got all those suites and it's like, well, what are you going to do? Are people be coming to see Anthony Davis and Austin Reaves? And now you have Luka, who other than Ohtani is now the biggest, and LeBron obviously, but LeBron's on the tail end. But now you have Luca, who has a chance to be the biggest star in the city and your other option was Austin Reeves. Rob seems kind of like sneaky, devastated. You just know too many Dallas Mavericks fans are you just gonna be a lot of hugs in your future. A lot of like zooms where you're just telling people it's okay.

[Rob Mahoney]

A lot of just nodding acknowledgement with people who are in deep existential pain. And you just have to be there for them in the way that you can. You have to listen, you have to feel everything that they're feeling. Honestly, for everything that Dallas is going through, I am in utter disbelief of exactly what you just laid out, which is the expedience of the Lakers reset. I just, I. I had taken it into account that whenever the LeBron era or the AD era or the combined era coasted out, it would take a couple years at least before they could find their next Shaq, their next Kareem, or maybe never do it. Yeah, maybe. Maybe this would be the one time where it would actually take a significant window before the next superstar walked in the door. We really didn't even have to wait. The era didn't even end. Like, this is the smoothest transition of power that we've seen in recent NBA history. It is jarring on every possible basketball level. And an inexplicable trade for Dallas. And it just doesn't get better than this if you're the Lakers. It really doesn't.

[Ryan Rosillo]

I mean, think about it. They had a six year playoff drought before they won it, right?

[Bill Simmons]

One other thing I was thinking, I was just thinking back to my pyramid. Like the best guys ever. Some of them got traded, right? Like LeBron switched teams. Kareem got traded, Wilt got traded a couple times.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Moses.

[Bill Simmons]

Moses got traded, but really signed with Philly and then they traded him. Durant changed teams. You go through the top 20. KG got traded, but he decided where he was going. If you go through the top 25 players ever, none of them were blindsided by being traded. This is the first time somebody at least who has like top 25, top 30 all time talent, I'm going through like Barkley Cousy, I guess Barkley. But Barkley knew he was going to get traded that summer. Kawhi Leonard was demanding a trade that whole summer. Like this is the first time we've seen somebody with that kind of talent just been like, hey dude, you're out of here. Here's the number of the new gm. Call him, he'll tell you how to get your stuff. Like, this is just an unconscionable trade. I think it's a massive mistake, and I think it's an amazing day for the Lakers and I refuse to congratulate them. I can't believe this happened again. How does this happen? The Pau Gasol trade in this. How does this happen? Where there were no other bidders for a guy that nine teams wanted.

[Ryan Rosillo]

The pal one's easy to explain.

[Bill Simmons]

Is it incompetence?

[Ryan Rosillo]

Yeah, yeah. There was a lot of. I just remember the conversations at the time. You're like, oh, okay, yeah, just.

[Bill Simmons]

They trade him two weeks ahead.

[Ryan Rosillo]

I'm worried about Bill because you're going to have access to these people in your life that are going to start hammering. Kind of like the Chiefs get too many calls stuff.

[Bill Simmons]

The conspiracy stuff.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Yeah.

[Bill Simmons]

Gonna get me the browed up. You're right. I gotta be careful.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Right. Just be careful because I'm worried about your next episode. And if Kopitar signs an extension with the Kings, then you're gonna be like, oh, wait, this was all countrymen. They were all.

[Bill Simmons]

Oh, yeah, wow. All in it together, like a big Slovenian thing. Jesus, I didn't even think of that. Thank you to. Thank you to nephew Kaia, who I. I don't think was 100% sober tonight, but it's fine. I think he was functional enough to produce the pod. That's why he's a pro. Listen, it was the day off for all of us. Thank God my wife is doing dry February. I'd like to thank her that I wasn't drinking wine tonight, that I was able to do the podcast thanks to Rob Mahoney and Ryan Rossillo on very short notice. And I can't wait to find out more about why that Fuck the Straight happened. You could listen or you could watch this podcast, too, on the Bill Simmons YouTube channel. Guys, thank you. I really appreciate it.

[Rob Mahoney]

Thanks, bill.

[Bill Simmons]

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