Rob Pelinka should get ‘statue’ in Los Angeles after fleecing Mavs to land Luka Doncic, says former player

Rob Pelinka did not give up much to the Dallas Mavericks for them to let Luka Doncic move to the Los Angeles Lakers.

Rob Pelinka should get ‘statue’ in Los Angeles after fleecing Mavs to land Luka Doncic, says former player

Rob Pelinka did not give up much to land Luka Doncic

The sporting world is still coming to terms after Luka Doncic ended up becoming a part of the Los Angeles Lakers. In a trade that saw Anthony Davis move to the Dallas Mavericks, the work of GM’s Rob Pelinka and Nico Harrison are being widely debated.

On one hand, Harrison has been the subject of trolls and backlash from all parts of the basketball world. Dallas Mavericks fans for instance placed a coffin and scribbled profanity towards their GM after letting go of their franchise cornerstone.

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Then others have questioned his motives after he gave a bizarre logic for trading away Doncic. He also doubled down on his insistence on winning now. However, not everyone is on board with his logic. On the other hand, it seems some are starting to realize that Rob Pelinka might have done the unthinkable.

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Rob Pelinka might get a statue now. To add Luka Doncic to your team, he’s been All-NBA for five straight seasons. I can’t believe they traded him at this point of his career.

Jalen Rose said

That was Jalen Rose discussing the trade while on NBA TV. He made a point to colleague and former superstar Vince Carter that he knows what it is to be traded. He also knows that once the franchise sends them away, they will inevitably release some negative news about the player.

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That is just to make themselves look good and deflect any negative backlash. However, Rose believes with the way Rob Pelinka has gone about in this trade, there is no doubt he is the winner. Therefore, he thinks the Lakers GM should get a statue down the line.

Rob Pelinka avoided giving away much in exchange for Luka Doncic

Once the trade was confirmed, many could not fathom how the Dallas Mavericks only received one 1st round pick for Luka Doncic. There have been instances of teams getting more for players not as great as the Slovenian. That led former NBA executive and analyst Kirk Goldsberry to analyze the trade.

One of my sources inside the Lakers was indicating that the deal was bigger. I think you guys were literally joking about this last night, that there were two firsts, and it was Dalton Knecht, and the deal got whittled down. Because I think Rob Pelinka was able to convince the Dallas Mavericks that Luka is a lot of risk.

Kirk Goldsberry said

While on The Bill Simmons Podcast, Goldsberry said that possibly the Mavericks initially asked for a lot. After all, the Slovenian is a 25-year-old five-time All-NBA selection. However, Goldsberry believes Rob Pelinka convinced Nico Harrison that it is better to get rid of a risk that is Luka Doncic.

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Therefore, it ended up with being just Anthony Davis and Max Christie along with one 1st round pick. That was a meagre return for Luka Doncic, Maxi Kleber and Markieff Morris who headed to the opposite direction.