In Nico Harrison's Defense Of The Luka Gambit...

Tim Heitman. Getty Images.

To say the Dallas Mavericks trade of Luka Doncic was a disaster would be quite the insult. To disasters. 

From a public relations standpoint anyway. And a trade negotiation standpoint. I don't see a counter to either of these. But is it a disaster from a long-term basketball standpoint? Meaning - will the Mavericks have a better or worse chance of winning championships without Luka Doncic and with Anthony Davis and Max Christie (obviously with AD on a shorter window)? 

While everyone thinks no and just wants to keep dunking on Nico Harrison - I can at least see a path. 

Obviously, the main idea here is that the Mavericks feel they have seen enough both on the court and behind the scenes to not only question Doncic's commitment to conditioning, but to finally convict him of it. No one disagrees the dude is out of shape. But the counter is that he's only 25, so he has time to figure it out. And that right there is where I call bullshit. Maybe the guys who work with him day in and day out know better. This is year seven for Luka. If he's still not putting in the work required of a heliocentric backcourt super star to stay in shape by now, no one is going to change that. Not even LeBron. 

Style of play matters a lot here. Point to Shaq all you want being effective despite not being up to par on conditioning, but he was a old school center who didn't really need to move much aside from wafting up and down both ends of the court. Comically different scenario for a playmaking guard with the ball constantly in his hands. 

The best rebuke though for my money of this trade is "Luka just took the Mavericks to the NBA Finals!" It's a great point. Despite how bad he is on defense (and freaking annoying he is crying to the refs), he still made up for it by taking them through the Clippers, OKC, and Minnesota to get to the Finals. Then again - that series was a joke. Maybe Luka was just… out of gas? They started 0-3 before winning their only game of the series in a pity Game 4. No one can legitimately argue that series was in any way in the balance. 

Perhaps… the Mavericks knew a little bit better than any of us as to why. 

Meanwhile, Nico Harrison already showed something in trading for Kyrie Irving. No one liked that trade either. But Nico knew something seemingly no one else did. Maybe that made his head big and this Luka trade was a huge heat check on his big contrarian brain. But you could argue Anthony Davis was exactly the piece the Mavericks needed to join this "win now" squad. Sure looked like it in the first half of his first game. Hopefully not…only game…

This is the part where everyone says "well of course AD got hurt, he's 31 and made of glass". Let's pump the breaks on that just a bit though. While the memes on this were legendary, Davis played 76-games last year and missed just three games before the trade this season. And with 26-points in a just a little over a half in his Mavericks debut to go along with a 103 defensive rating (very good), it sure seemed Nico's vision starting to come to life, if only for a moment. 

Silver lining here is that even if AD misses a 4-5 weeks, this team as is can coast to hold a playoff spot without him. Maybe he'll be more rested upon returning for the end of season push and post-season. And if Davis is able to give the Mavericks the extra size they need to match-up with the juggernaut Thunder and make at least make a series out of the Finals, people will start asking if maybe Nico had a method to his madness.

I for one will be rooting for them. Luka pretty much represents the two things I loathe the most. He's uncommitted and complains like humans breathe air. Pretty much the top of class in both regards although I will accept Zion rebuttals on the uncommitted part. Meanwhile, the Mavericks are prioritizing something I love. Defense. Sure, it didn't look great when they gave up 91-points in the first half of the game after the trade. But if they can pull this off and win a championship this year or next year, this trade was a win. Caveat: unless the Lakers win one too. 

Everything is bigger in Dallas. And that includes shorting. Because this Luka / AD trade was the biggest short since Michael Burry. Burry got a lot of hate out of that too at the start. How'd that work out for everyone? If Luka really never commits to getting in top-shape condition-wise, there's a damn good chance he never wins a championship. That's the gambit Nico Harrison is betting on.

I'll never understand why he didn't at least shop Luka around to up the price even if the Lakers were the only deal they'd end up taking. But this thing could absolutely work out in Dallas' favor and no one seems to want to give that any chance.

I absolutely give this a real chance. Either way it'll be fun to watch it play out. Well, if AD ever plays…

@Stathole