Lakers Trade For Luka!

[00:00:23] It's Saturday, we are breaking in with breaking news. The Los Angeles Lakers have just acquired the services of 25-year-old All-Star and potential MVP candidate Luka Doncic from the Dallas Mavericks.

[00:00:42] The complete breakdown is right here, let me get that for you, sorry we are getting all this information as we go, but the trade goes as such. Anthony Davis and Max Christie in the 2029 first round draft pick unprotected goes to the Dallas Mavericks.

[00:01:06] The Utah Jazz are in this deal as well. Their portion of this deal is they're getting Jalen Hood-Shifino, which was the Lakers first round pick three years ago. They're also getting the 2025 second round pick from the Los Angeles Clippers that the Lakers had, and they're getting back their 2025, or they're getting Dallas' 2025 second.

[00:01:34] And that leaves the Lakers, and what do the Lakers get? They get Luka. They also get Maxi Kleba, and they also get Markeith Morris as well. Markeith was a Laker during the championship bubble year, so he'll be rejoining the Lakers. Rob Palenka did it. We were skeptical.

[00:02:02] We thought that Rob was being very too careful, but for him to pull off this deal and to give up one first tells you how much AD this year has grown.

[00:02:21] He looks like a MVP candidate. Now you can say Shea Gilgis Alexander, you can say Jokic, and you can say other people, but also Anthony Davis has played so well this year, and he has deserved the accolades of being an all-star. He has deserved being basically the first option on the Lakers as of this year, but there is no question about what you're getting in Luka Doncic.

[00:02:48] You have basically turned back the clock six years. You get a 6'8", 240-pound point guard. This is one of the best players in the NBA, no doubt.

[00:03:08] You know, when we start talking about Jokic, SGA, Luka's name is right there amongst the highest of pantheons of NBA-caliber MVP candidates. Now, why is this happening? Why would Dallas do this? What is going on? There are going to be many stories that come out in the next couple days.

[00:03:35] You're going to hear a lot of things about Luka Doncic that you probably will either glance at and shrug your shoulders, or you'll look and be appalled. I'm here to tell you that the day that Mark Cuban stepped down was the day that Luka Doncic decided that this was probably not going to be somewhere where he wanted to be long-term.

[00:04:01] I've heard that the new ownership was displeased with Luka's conditioning. They were not thrilled with the way he handles getting himself into shape during this season. They think that it's a part of some of his injury luck that he's had during his career.

[00:04:25] But the one thing that Luka does that is different than any other player is that he brings a type of offense to your team that is really hard to deny. And what I mean by that is that Luka is the type of player that he's an offense onto his own. And now you're teaming him up with one of the smartest players in the NBA in LeBron James.

[00:04:55] Now, does this mean that the Lakers are done? No, because they still have a first-round pick to give up. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the era of the Lakers. Now, I understand that I'm supposed to be very, very impressed by the Oklahoma City Thunder, which I am.

[00:05:22] I am also very impressed with the Memphis Grizzlies and the firepower that they have. No doubt. But if you're telling me that we're going to pair up Luka Doncic with LeBron James in Laker uniforms and they were able to keep Austin Reeves in this deal.

[00:05:49] So, again, Rob Palenka, who has been much maligned on this show, we have really been a show that has been critical. We have been, we've asked questions about what was going on. I do remember saying something to my wife. I want to say maybe about five or six days ago.

[00:06:14] I said, when Rob and everybody goes into media availability darkness is when cool stuff starts to happen. Now, I also said in the same vein tonight to my wife, if Rob Palenka does not come out of February 6th

[00:06:43] and he does not use those first-round draft picks, he's going to have hell to pay on this podcast. Well, we don't have to worry about that. We don't have to worry about that at all because Rob has done something. This is on the level of the Pyle Gasol trade. So, if you are a Laker fan, let's go back to the history books, right, a little bit? Because we pulled off some incredible trades throughout the years.

[00:07:14] People forget that the Magic Johnson situation was a trade. That we gave up Gail Goodrich and other people to get that draft pick. James Worthy was also a trade, even though it was a draft pick. We've done that in the past. Obviously, one of the famous ones, and obviously of, I would say, of latest situation

[00:07:43] is what they pulled off to get Kobe Bryant. The Lakers have a long history of doing this. Vlade Divac went to Charlotte for the 13th overall pick for a 17-year-old kid out of Lower Marin High School. And he became a legend in a Laker uniform.

[00:08:12] There are statues built to that man. And now the Lakers have done it again. They have utilized only one of their draft picks, by the way. The 2030 pick is still in play. The 2031 pick is still in play. They can still do things within this trade deadline season. And I expect them to be very aggressive

[00:08:41] by showing up their front line. J.J. Redick wants to play a different way. You can tell that he wants to put more emphasis on the three ball. If you look at the players that he got back in return in this deal, Maxi Cleva is a spacer. Markeith Morris can shoot the ball somewhat. You take away Anthony Davis,

[00:09:06] who really never regained his three-point shooting prowess that he had in New Orleans. And also Max Christie, decent shooter, but not as automatic as you would want him to be. So what does this lineup look like now? Well, first of all, who handles the ball?

[00:09:37] Yeah, we got other questions that we need to get to. Because here's the thing. LeBron James is the greatest decision maker of the 21st century. Luka Doncic is the contemporary of that now. So they will have things to work out. Does this make the Lakers a title contender? I don't know.

[00:10:06] We got to see the rest of the moves. If this is it, and then they're kind of waiting until into the offseason to do some other things. At this point, I honestly, as somebody who roots for this team, I'm trying to keep my analyst hat on right now. But as somebody who roots for this team, I can definitely be patient. What I would say is that obviously the work is not done. There needs to be some front court reconstruction,

[00:10:36] obviously, with this team. They don't have rim protection right now. You know, unless you're including what they have with Coloco and or Jackson Hayes. Personally, I think they will need to go ahead and get an upgrade when it comes to that. There's so much coming out right now. So just let's just read the tweet

[00:11:05] from Shams, though. Yes, this is real. Sources tell ESPN full trade Lakers Luka Doncic, Maxi Cleva, Marquise Morris. Mavericks get Anthony Davis, Max Christie, 2029 first round pick from the Lakers. And the Jazz get Jalen Hood, Chifino, the 2025 second round pick from the Clippers and the 2025 second round pick of the Mavericks.

[00:11:35] To have Shams come out and say something like that. To have people in complete disbelief right now as you start to see the world start to Ramona Shelburne right now is saying I'm trying to wrap my head around this like everyone else. I'm looking at the contract situation

[00:12:05] right now and I'm looking at what the Lakers gave up. It looks like they sliced salary too in this deal which also makes that very important. Mark Stein is reporting that he did that Luka Donch did not request a trade. So again I'm trying to tell you that this came from ownership this came from Mavericks ownership but I will

[00:12:34] say that once Mark Cuban was no longer the governor of the Mavericks Luka Donch just did feel different about the leadership of who was taking over and how much did they care about basketball. Was this a business or are we actually trying to win? Are we trying to compete? So if he was not getting the answers that he was looking for

[00:13:04] maybe they you know they were playing poker too they maybe saw something in his eye that they were not too thrilled with with that situation but I will tell you that is when the idea of this started to germinate again I will reiterate I have heard from my sources that ownership or some people in ownership were a little concerned

[00:13:33] about Luka's habits and how he gets himself ready to start an NBA season you will hear more stuff more stuff will come out might hear some other stuff but that is what I have heard could it be wrong my source is usually really good about this kind of thing but we're all trying to wrap our heads

[00:14:03] around it now I guess you had given ball handling responsibilities to Austin Reeves and I wonder by getting Luka Donchus obviously this changes the dynamic of the team again LeBron and Luka will have to figure this out I know that Luka will probably bring the ball up the court more and then

[00:14:34] maybe this will be a situation where those two have to figure out is it going to be my turn your turn or does LeBron just hand over the keys to the kingdom sort of speak to Luka Donchus who is now the new king of Los Angeles Laker fans as much grief as we've given Rob how happy are you now is it

[00:15:03] in Rob Retrust or does the next deal have to be just as good to get you to believe because like it or not even if this is the only deal that Rob does this season and this was a doozy and kudos to that front office kudos to Jeannie Buss for making a bold move

[00:15:34] again I don't know if this leads them to a championship this year but I do know this the future of the Lakers is very bright because of thinking outside the box and this is something that the Lakers historically have done again I reiterate they traded an all-star center for a 17 year old kid in 1996

[00:16:01] in an apropos that 28 years later a gentleman from another country who was an absolute offensive genius will don the purple and gold for the Los Angeles Lakers and he will give us visions and he will give us reminders

[00:16:31] of days that have gone by with Irvin Magic Johnson he will delight us and give us scintillating performances like Kobe Bryant and Kareem Maldud Jabbar welcome to what the next five to six years looks like with the Lakers and they're coming off such a great performance because they

[00:17:00] beat the brakes off the Knicks tonight LeBron in his infinite this guy is incredible dudes 40 years old 33 points 11 rebounds 12 assists he shot 14 of 26 tonight Austin had 27

[00:17:30] Rui Hachimura had 21 and the Lakers rolled in New York City 128 to 112 when I saw this game I thought to myself damn is really going to allow this team not to reach its fullest potential and 20 minutes later there is a Luka Doncic Laker trade

[00:18:04] we're going to take a step back for one second we want to look at this from the Dallas Mavericks perspective they just lost Derek Lively for the year getting a Anthony Davis to pair with Kyrie Irving is a completely lethal kick and roll offense that you will be able to utilize now does the role of Jaden Hardy

[00:18:33] change right what does Klay Thompson's role look like and now here's the other thing with the Dallas Mavericks the Dallas Mavericks just got very old Anthony Davis is 31 we always talked about Anthony Davis fragility with his injury

[00:19:03] history but last year he played in a bunch games and this year up until the abdominal strain that he just just received he was playing in a bunch of games again so I see I see it from their point of view I'm trying to figure out who is the third guy for them that's what I'm trying to figure out let's kind of look at their

[00:19:33] roster real quick again if you are just joining us Luka Doncic a just the perennial all-star has been traded to the Los Angeles Lakers for Anthony Davis and as we continue to see information fall in as far as that's concerned we are wow this is

[00:20:02] amazing okay I'm gonna read something by wow this is from this is the GM of the Dallas Mavericks I believe that defense wins championships I believe that getting an all defensive center and an all NBA player with a defensive mindset

[00:20:32] gives us a better chance and we built to win now and into the future and that is from Nico Harrison via Tim McMahon of ESPN so there is news coming out again this you're gonna start hearing things like this you're gonna start hearing is this a good defensive you know was he locked in on defense and things of that nature we understand

[00:21:02] that Luca could definitely use a way you know he can definitely get his intensity level up on the defensive end of the ball but he had so much responsibility on the offensive side of the wall that it was hard for him to give up that energy he did do it in the playoffs you did see some different levels of defensive intensity from Luca in those situations now we gotta get back to this

[00:21:32] roster and what this is gonna look like for the Mavericks going forward because if they're huge right now I mean Anthony Davis and PJ Washington Daniel Gafford now does this mean that Daniel Gafford plays the center AD plays the power forward because AD has been clamoring for a center and I wonder again Yeldvan Buha made this point it's a

[00:22:02] point I made Anthony Davis profiles as a center now I know that his wishes is that he wants to play the power forward position but if you look at his percentages in the paint if you look at his touches if you look at the way he likes to get the basketball how he likes the basketball administered to him he projects as a center now he has made a bunch

[00:22:32] of cries about and when I say cries I'm not saying he is a crack baby I'm saying that he has made a bunch of pleas for a center well he got one I mean as soon as he walks into Dallas Daniel Gafford is there so he'll have a rugged guy to sit right next to him as far as that's concerned now with that being said Kyrie is now going to have to play a bigger role it was cool when you were

[00:23:01] the number two ball handler now you're the number one ball handler and I'm not saying that he cannot handle that role Kyrie is one of the most gifted ball handlers we have in the NBA today and he will be able to defer to Anthony Davis at any point in time as far as that's concerned so I don't think we'll have a problem there it will be the role players it will be the Klay Thompson's of the world it will be the Najee Marshall's of the world it will be the

[00:23:31] Quentin Grimes of the world that's how they're going to do it unless there's another trade out there for them as well but Max Christie also coming over so you have a back court of Christie and Irving if you want to go that way you also have who is PJ Washington going to play a small forward I don't think they'll turn it over to Jaden Hardy I don't think that his defensive situation has caught up to

[00:24:01] his offensive productivity as of yet so I think both these rosters are in flux at this time 25 year old dude let's look at the Lakers roster real quick okay so they still

[00:24:31] have Rui obviously they got LeBron they lost Max Austin you're putting Luka Donchus in that lineup your biggest hole is the center spot and that means that either A you're going to go all in on Walker Kessler and you're going to use that 20 31 first round draft pick and you're going to put no protections on that and you're going to also release

[00:25:01] the protections on the 20 27 pick as well and what is going to happen then is that the Lakers are going

[00:25:56] play that that jj desires to play and he cannot play that way with anthony davis on the team doesn't mean that anthony davis is a bad player it's just a philosophy of how jj wants to play he wanted to get more three-point shots up he wanted people to be more aggressive and free

[00:26:20] flowing in shooting the three and it was just really hard to get this team as currently or as it was currently constituted to buy into that you're gonna have a little less of that with luka donches luka will let it fly uh he will be very um boisterous and communicative to his teammates

[00:26:48] to let it fly if they if he throws them a pass as far as that's concerned which he will we got two maestros can you imagine just think about what this looks like like look at your 2k get on your 2k right now and put luka donches and lebron james on the same damn team and just look at your playmaking ability man i'm gonna tell you right now if you play for the lakers

[00:27:16] and you are without the ball and you are not moving shame on you because luka donches and lebron james court vision these other than yokich these are the two guys in the league that have the best court vision other than yokich so that's very exciting again they're probably going to be a

[00:27:44] lot of small ball we're going to see a lot of jocks jackson hayes we're going to see a lot of christian coloco laker fans so you guys are going to have to like do some some woosah you're going to do some woosah for that center position for a second until till there's something else done but to my dallas maverick fans out there hit me up on twitter at frontrunner pc also hit our producer up at

[00:28:12] raya underscore funch frpc let me know how you feel about this trade you just got rid of a 25 year old offensive supernova and your president of player personnel is telling you defense was championships and we have a defensive mindset and we just built more into that which you did you got an incredible

[00:28:41] center you got an incredible defensive force in anthony davis but you also got six years older so that is what is going on now obviously we thought that the first trade would be either jimmy butler

[00:29:07] or daren fox but leave it to the lakers and leave it to the dallas mavericks the mavericks living up to their name obviously mavericks by the way anybody know how they got their name there was a old tv gentleman by the name of james garner and if you heard the name before

[00:29:32] you probably remember now this is for my old heads out there the rocker files right james garner played in the rocker files he also played this movie called maverick and he was a part owner of the mavericks at one point and they were trying to find out what their name should be and they named it after basically a tv movie that he did so

[00:29:59] well just a little tip there but we reiterate this is big big big news luka donches is a laker ad is a dallas maverick we need to hear from you hit us on blue sky at frontrunnerpc.bsky.social

[00:30:17] or frpc-raya.bsky.social right we will be back if there's any more news to drop if something else happens you know you know that frontrunner podcast collector will be all over it but the lakers got luka donchich ad is a maverick all hell's breaking loose in the nba and we still have no idea where

[00:30:44] dieran fox and jimmy butler are going so if you didn't know about this podcast until right now welcome and you have come at the right time because this trade deadline is gonna be silly i have got my trusted coffee in hand your boy will be doing a burning a lot of the of the late night

[00:31:11] oils he will be doing it because when there are trades that are going down you can depend on one podcast to get you the information you need and to come with the heat that you want to have with it and that is frontrunner podcast collector so for my producer soraya i am vince this has been a big

[00:31:38] ass trade we are excited i can't wait to get more information on it and drop it on monday so you guys hang tight and uh we will see you hopefully on this feed on monday but do you think we're gonna leave you without our closing phrase no the best part of you is you make sure that you surround yourself

[00:32:03] with supportive people supportive people that are additive to your life in kind please appreciate those people who are doing those due diligence situations in your life go out and do some good in this world and we'll see you back on this feed on monday lakers god luke uh we are excellent dose dose dose dose dose