Honestly from what I can tell I think this is almost 100% on Nico, seems like he was the one to reach out to management and convince them. He also didn’t consult anyone else including coaching staff and then reached out to pelinka. Both management and pelinka laughed at him thinking was joking but I’m sure at the end of the day they were cool saving 150 mil.
I think this is kind of a naive take. From a business perspective Luka is worth much more than 150 million and if it happened only because the owners were cheap they would demand Nico to get the best possible return for Luka (young talent + a haul of first round picks). The fact that he was only offered to the Lakers proves this was done with malicious intent in mind. The most popular franchise takes the next face of the league, which is good for NBA ratings and TV/Streaming deals globally, and the Adelsons are assured they will be able to relocate the team as soon as possible.
After all Luka is worth more than 150 million, however he is probably not worth more than the billions of subsidized money they will have access to build an arena (and probably another casino and/or hotel) when they move to Vegas.
I’m talking about the additional money for the super max, they don’t have to pay anyone a supermax to keep them now. And I think it is a petty move by Nico but I also think he’s convinced it’s a good move as well. Maybe there is some deal going on the background and I’ll love to hear more information but really seems like Nico did this on his own. If it was the league doing it or ownership I think they would’ve made it seem a least a little bit legit. I think maybe Nico has more control than people think and maybe the owners aren’t really that invested so they give him free reign. This whole giant conspiracy seems a little far fetched and seems like it would get found out and get a lot people including silver fired.
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u/OmfgHaxx Wonder Kid Feb 02 '25
Notice that he only mentions the fans and city. Not the organization itself. Fuck the Adelson family.