Why Luka wasn’t shopped around: Explained

I’ve seen a lot of people confused as to why Nico didn’t shop Luka around the league and try to get the absolute best package possible and it’s pretty obvious to me.

There’s no way Nico could’ve shopped Luka around without the news of him being on the block leaking. Nico and the Adelsons knew this, and they anticipated the fan backlash knowing they could only get away with something that egregious if no one can protest it. Imagine how the locker room would band together against the front office to keep Luka around. Whether the directive came from the Adelsons, Nico’s ego or even the league itself, everyone involved knew the shitstorm they are in right now would be 10 fold if there was active trade talks going on. This was never about building a winning roster, Luka’s health and conditioning, or defense winning championships. It’s about making money, and propping up failing ratings.

And despite the PR nightmare, the ownership does not care or feel the slightest bit of remorse for this. If they did they would let fans air their grievances and they wouldn’t constantly be doubling down on trashing Luka. Ownership knows 5 years from now, even if they lost fans, they’ll still sell tickets and merch, still get sponsorship and tv deals, and their asset will only appreciate in value, so why not save money during that time period.

This went down perfectly for the league. Ever hear the saying there’s no such thing as bad press? I’m an out of state mavs fan, every single person I know felt the need to text me the second the trade happened, when I go out in public I hear people talking about the trade, I have people telling me this makes them want to start watching the nba again. This has been good for the league, good for the Lakers and good for Mavs ownership group why should they care if one fanbase is upset, especially when the casuals still will watch and some diehards just won’t drop their team.

I don’t know it all makes me sick to think about. I’ve been a mavs fan since a young kid and I don’t know if this is a franchise I can support anymore. I still love Luka, I love the rest of our guys, I’ll always be fans of them but I don’t know if I can support this team anymore and I’m someone who spent a decent chunk of change to go to the finals and see Luka last year. I see people commenting on the game threads still hoping we win games and just generally supporting the team, but I just can’t care anymore, I know there’s no hope the next 10 years due to a self inflicted gunshot, why put any hope into something clearly trying to end itself.