There’s nothing wrong with wanting to reach the top: that’s how you achieve success from small beginnings. The Golden State Warriors are a perfect example of this, having won four titles in the last decade after going 40 years without winning one.
But aspiring to the top also brings expectations and disappointments if they aren’t met. From an NBA roster-building perspective, that’s what the Warriors have felt over the last six or seven months after deals for LeBron James, Paul George and Lauri Markkanen fell through.
According to According to NBA insider Marc Stein earlier this month, Golden State still believes it is in a position to make a major trade in the next 12 months. Fans may find that hard to believe given recent history, but it is at least realistic given that the franchise has retained its core of young talent and still holds the majority of future draft picks. What is less realistic is that the Los Angeles Lakers have announced their intention to try to lure one of the league’s biggest superstars to the City of Angels.
On a recent episode of The Mismatch podcast, The Ringer’s Kevin O’Connor discussed the Lakers’ desire to have Dallas Mavericks guard Luka Doncic as their franchise superstar after LeBron James.
“I’ve talked on this podcast and on The Ringer about how they plan to care for Luka in the future,” O’Connor said. “We’ll see if it works. Dallas just made the Finals, Dallas looks better than ever with their support team. It might not work.”
While things can certainly change over the next few seasons, there are few players in the league who are more stable than Doncic in Dallas. He’s the franchise star for a team that just made the playoffs and is under contract for at least three more years.
The Lakers may think their franchise history shows they can lure top players to Los Angeles, but right now that would be borderline arrogant considering they, like the Warriors, have missed out on big-name targets of late. They even tried to bring Klay Thompson to Los Angeles in free agency, but the veteran sharpshooter chose Doncic and the Mavericks instead.
The Warriors and Lakers are in a similar situation right now: Both teams are average, in the play-in tournament, and backed by an all-time great. Can either team turn things around with a big move? Los Angeles probably won’t if it’s going to pin its hopes on a fantasy target like Doncic.
