In the last three seasons:
- Luka took the Mavs to the WCF in 2022 (losing to the eventual champions Warriors, where he was arguably the best player in the series)
- Luka took the Mavs to the Finals in 2024 (where he was definitively the best player on offense in the series).
I don't understand why y'all keep putting all this emphasis on his weight issues and lack of commitment on defense. It's completely irrelevant in this context because he's a top-3 player and has proven himself to be the #1 option on a contending team. He brought that franchise back from irrelevancy, both on the court and their monetary value as an NBA aegis.
Even if the perceived issues you had of him didn't exist, nothing would've changed over the last three years, so what possible logical reason could there be to trade him?
There isn't one.
The best that AD could do leading a team was get them out of the 1st round, one time. He couldn't even get the Pels on the map, in any sense of the word.
Beyond how lopsided this trade is in a vacuum, when Kyrie and AD both end up inevitably declining and the Mavs need to retool, what star is going to willingly want to go to Dallas after how they disposed of Luka like they did? This is going to deter free agents and any players who're they're wanting to draft in the future as long as the Adelsons own the Mavs.