← The Stephen A. Smith Show
The Stephen A. Smith Show
Stephen A's Take: Lakers’ Luka Doncic trade’s taking star power shine off of LeBron James
00:09:09
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- [00:00]
Stephen A. Smith
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- [00:30]
Julie Swearingen
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- [00:51]
Greg Rosenthal
Hair growth starts from the inside@nutrafol.com that's n u t r a f o.
- [00:58]
Daniel Jeremiah
L.Com I gotta get to this right now. You've been hearing me talk about a lot of politics and there's a lot of politics to get into, but not today. Not today. It's the beginning of super bowl week. I ain't even getting into that today. Today is all basketball, ladies and gentlemen, because the biggest trade maybe in history, in NBA history took place Saturday night. Luka Doncic, the superstar for the Dallas Mavericks, the league scoring champion last season, averaging 34 points a game. A guy's not only averaging 28 points per game this year, but has averaged 28 points per game throughout his career. This dude From Slovenia, this 67 point guard, one of the greatest players we have seen in our lifetimes. This global iconic brand from Slovenia was traded to the Los Angeles Lakers in favor of Anthony Davis. To be specific, the Dallas Mavericks traded Luka Doncic to the Lakers fellow all star Anthony Davis. It's the first time in NBA history that two reigning all NBA players were traded for each other mid season season. We'll get to the Dallas Mavericks and what this means for Anthony Davis in the franchise, but I want to start in Los Angeles where the Lakers have clearly placed their future in the hands of the 25 year old international superstar that is Luka Doncic. The move did not sit well with his father who spoke with Slovenian media Network Arena Sport 1 on Sunday. And look at this quote from the father of Luca Doncic, Sasa Doncic. Here's a portion of what he said to the outlet quote I understand there comes a moment when you disagree with a certain philosophy. You don't like this or that player. All good. I Get it? But I think the secrecy, or should I say from some individuals, maybe even hypocrisy, this hurts me personally because I think that Luca absolutely doesn't deserve this. End quote. Let's understand something, ladies and gentlemen. It smells. Now, I could have said that on national TV all morning, but we have to get the business of basketball out the way. You would imagine that this should not have happened. You don't see a 25 year old superstar get traded even before he's reached his prime. You just don't hear that now. Full disclosure, I've spoken to numerous folks from both sides, the Lakers and the Dallas Mavericks. And you hear stuff like Luka Doncic coming in camp, 30 pounds overweight, looking fat, looking lazy, looking sloppy, that kind of thing. You've heard that before. You think about Nico Harrison, the president of basketball operations and general manager for the Dallas Mavericks. This is a dude that played at West Point. He's got a military background as a Nike executive for 19 years, he worked with Jordan and Kobe and LeBron and Jason Kidd and. And others. He knows what champions are made of. And he knows what they've got to have inside of themselves in order to become champions. You ask anybody that worked with MJ or worked with Kobe, they'd tell you the same thing that Nico Harrison would probably tell you. Michael Jordan wins a championship. A week later, he's back in the gym. What's up? What we need to do to get better? No slippage. Everybody's shooting for me. Kobe Bryant wins championship, same attitude. He lose a championship. He doesn't wait a week. He's in the gym the next day. Luca, who knows where he was, clearly wasn't taking care of himself and having himself in peak condition, which is something he openly admitted. But one would imagine, with all of that being said, why do you do this? Because this is where it gets interesting, ladies and gentlemen. And this is where there is no escaping this reality. You're going to have critics out there looking at this trade and they saying, I have somebody who's a Hollywood superstar but knows his basketball. He presented this question, but he'll remain nameless because they don't want to. They don't want people to know who they are. But he asked this question. He says, stephen A. So let me get this straight. This brother averages 28 points per game for his career. In the regular season, only two people have averaged more points per game than he has in history. Wilt Chamberlain and Michael Jordan. In the postseason, there's only one player that has averaged more points per game than Luka Doncic. That person would be Michael Jordan. And you're trying to tell me, Stephen A. That this dude who is a global iconic superstar, a brand in and of his own self, this same dude who was averaging 28 a game, who's been All NBA first team five times in the first seven years of his career, this same dude who happens to be white gets traded and oh, Stephen A. Gets traded to the Lakers. Everybody and their mother gets wants to get traded to the Lakers. Southern California sunshine that weather the Laker brand and the kind of way that can magnify and proliferate your brand and allow it to explode. Everybody wants to go there and you're the Lakers and you get him and all you had to give up was Anthony Davis, a couple of players and a pick. They bring up the fact that Mikel Bridges, in order for the Knicks to get him, they had to give up five first round picks. They give up the assets that had to be surrendered to get Carl Anthony Towns. They give up the assets that had to be surrendered to give up Rudy. Get to get Rudy Go Bear. And their attitude is but you got Luka Doncic for less to be a Laker. It's very suspicious. Stephen A. It's very suspicious. I can't say they're lying. It is very suspicious. I would say, however, Anthony Davis is an all world player himself. He ain't box office like Luca, he ain't that global iconic brand like Luca, but He does average 25 and 12. He is one of the elite big men in the game of basketball. He, he does exponentially improve and increase their defensive prowess in Dallas. They are in better position to win a championship. They're a better team than the Los Angeles lakers even with LeBron and Luka Doncic as presently constructed in Los Angeles right now, all of those points are valid, but it still raises an eyebrow and makes you say how the hell did this happen? How the hell did this happen? How does Luka Donchi, remember Chris Paul was supposed to be a Laker with Kobe Bryant years ago. Then commissioner David Stern nixed it because they hadn't consulted with folks. It just seemed too Laker friendly and Stern wasn't having it. That is not what Adam Silver, his successors, commissioner of the NBA did with this particular deal. And I'm not saying he should have done anything. I'm just saying that there are people out there right now that are suspicious as hell. And yeah, he wasn't in the greatest of shape. Yeah, he needed to take better care of himself, conditioning wise. Yeah, he has his own medical team and, you know, whoever else he has, including his daddy and the level of control that they wanted to exercise, they weren't able to do that. And let's not forget the 5 year, 345 million he was due with the supermax coming up this year, this summer, and how it's punitive and the Mavs with new ownership, because I believe if this was Mark Cuban still owning the majority stake in the Dallas Mavericks, this doesn't happen. I don't believe Mark Cuban is moving Luka Dacic. Not the Mark Cuban I know. But the Adelson family now runs the Dallas Mavericks and they don't have to consult with Mark Cuban in order to make a deal like this. And so because of that, they chose to make this move because they think a little bit differently. Mark Cuban, I don't know about Mark Cuban being a liberal and them being Trump supporters. People been talking about that. I don't know what political affiliation they have. Wouldn't surprise me being down there in Texas, would it surprise me? But who the hell knows? In the end, it is what it is. Luka Doncic is in Los Angeles. Luka Doncic is now the face of the Lakers franchise. LeBron James has to take a back seat. I've been told he could care less. Doesn't matter to him. He wanted to take a backseat to Anthony Davis, so he damn sure ain't gonna mind taking a backseat to luka Doncic. He's LeBron James. He'll find a way to get his. One would assume that's true, but I got to tell you, there's a lot of interesting twists that come with this.
- [10:08]
Greg Rosenthal
What's up, everyone? It's Greg Rosenthal and I'm teaming up with the king of spring, Daniel Jeremiah. He requires me to say that we're going to be bringing you 40s and free agents, the only podcast you'll need this episode. NFL draft season. From DJs mock drafts to my top 101, free agents will have it covered for you with all new episodes every Thursday. Keeping you up to date as we head to the NFL Draft. Listen to 40s and free agents starting on March 6th on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.
- [10:39]
Julie Swearingen
What's up, everyone? Julie Swearbinks here, along with former NHL player Nate Thompson.
- [10:44]
Stephen A. Smith
We're doing a new podcast together. Here we go.
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Julie Swearingen
The Name Energy Line with Nate and jsb.
- [10:49]
Stephen A. Smith
Each week we'll get together and talk about hockey life. All topics are fair game, right?
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Julie Swearingen
Exactly. And you'll never know who will drop by to join us.
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Stephen A. Smith
Julie is pretty well connected. She has text threads going that you wouldn't believe.
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Julie Swearingen
Listen to Energy Line with Nate and jsb on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.